The Case for Visiting Your Offices Abroad

The Case for Visiting Your Offices Abroad
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“You have Skype, why do you need to visit?”

“I don’t understand why you just can’t use Webex to have a call.”

These are some of the responses I inevitably receive when I tell family and friends when I am about to travel to my company’s overseas offices.

With eight offices in Europe and Asia combined, I have an annual ritual of ensuring a visit to each of our offices at least once per year or more if a particular situation calls for it. For example last year I spent quite a bit of time in our Paris office to help the team navigate through a number of changes including the retirement of a well-respected Managing Director and subsequent management change. While at the time it was quite chaotic, I was fortunate to have been there for the team and to be an honest and impartial voice of reason. A year later, the team has worked through their angst and is now performing well, as I knew they would.

I realize from past experience and roles that even an announced and planned visit by the head of HR can produce anxiety from the local team. A vivid example of this, which I frequently recount, is when I was working in advertising and we had our medical education department in another building just four blocks away (that’s right four blocks) but it may have well been miles apart. When I joined this company and visited the division for the first time, I was surprised to see how many people were fearful or uncertain as to why I was there. I remember after one such visit, an employee of the division told me that the only time they saw a rep from HR it was usually to do a termination. I decided that would end with me and I made it a point of spending at least two days per week at the office, conduct training, help with recruiting, etc. By being there on a regular basis I quickly reconditioned the team that HR could also be a positive and contributing partner.

On my visits, I am not only traveling as the head of HR but also as an ambassador of the Corporate office and Management team. Luckily for me, when I visit our teams it is like going home to family. We have tight and cohesive teams and because of our size, I am proud of the fact that I pretty much know each person in each office and they know me. This creates for a positive and open environment for discussion during my visit. While I know these visits take me away from family and often I am doing double duty; heading back to the hotel in the evening to follow up on emails and deliverables from the U.S. team, these visits are always beneficial for a few reasons:

  • I liken these periodic visits to ‘walking the halls’ at your local office. You gain a lot of information from being present.
  • The employees of that office feel they are important. May sound trite but having a member of senior management spend time is usually appreciated by the team. The team will feel they have a voice and a representative that cares about their concerns.
  • You gain a better understanding of the local work environment. You can see if the work space is conducive to team work or does the office create silos. You can also witness organizational dysfunctions which could otherwise be invisible if you choose just to call or Skype.
  • You build trust and rapport. There is nothing more valuable than sharing a meal, spending time individually with the team members. Of course you can call and speak to folks over the phone but there is nothing like the value of face to face communication. You break down the barriers. You are able to see body language signals as well as eliminate barriers allowing you to truly listen.

My foreign visits do not end when the tires of my plane touchdown at home. This is the time when my notes and action items get executed upon. In order for my visits to be successful and to build ongoing future trust and support, it is vital for the teams to see action. This reinforces to the team that I listened to the issues and made the effort to address concerns.

You would never tell a salesperson not to visit a customer, and as head of HR our employees are my customers with these visits irreplaceable towards building a better, cohesive, and more transparent organization.

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