Managing Multiple Business Locations

Companies increasingly feel the need to expand their reach into new markets—both domestically and internationally—from a very early age. One direct result of this expansion is that you may now be forced to manage multiple locations and oversee employees in distant offices—a fact that can cause quite a few challenges and headaches.

No matter how widespread your organisation becomes, you need to work hard to retain team cohesion and the philosophy that everyone is on the same team regardless of where they work.

1. Out-of-site-out-of-mind syndrome.  When things get busy at your primary location, it can be hard to give your employees based at other locations the time they deserve.

2. Loss of spontaneous communications. Because you do not see your employees in the hallway or at meetings, there is very little natural or unplanned communication.

3. Attenuated logistics. Anything that cannot be sent electronically, must be mailed, which causes time delays and increased effort.

4. Complicated work assignments. It is harder to perform certain types of jobs or collaborate on them when employees are based in remote locations

5. Lack of team cohesiveness. Your team members will not know each other as well. This can easily lead to an “us-versus-them” mentality.

6. Concerns over general supervision. If you have a remote office that clients visit, it’s virtually impossible to see if your employees are arriving on time, working appropriate business hours  or wearing proper business attire.

To tackle these and other challenges, then, organisational leaders need to focus on three key areas: systems, technology, and communication.