Communicating with Offsite Workers

How do you, or would you, communicate with employees who work offsite?

Perhaps you have telecommuters reporting to you, or sales reps who work out of offices in other cities. How do you communicate with them?

Let's start with the strategic issues: what do you want to accomplish by communicating with them? And, why would they want to communicate with you?

Strategic means you'll probably want to deal with issues like productivity, accountability, and predictability. You want to know what the offsite employee does, how she does it, and what she will do in the future.

Still in the strategic vein, you'll ask yourself why she would want to communicate with you: some reasons might include the need to maintain human contact with the office, to get resources from you, or to work on her productivity.

To return to our sales reps example, you might want them target the certain prospects or to focus on high-margin products, From the other side, you might ask them about their needs and discover they need to know about product availability and a competitor's new products.

Once you have a clear, articulated understanding of why you're communicating, you can move to the tactical issues. Issues such as: how often, what issues to raise, and by what means.

Normally, you'll find the tactical matters tend resolve themselves if you do a good job on strategy. That is, the answers to tactical questions tend to flow out of the decisions made in setting up the strategy.

Using our offsite sales reps example, you might decide to send a group email once a week, and in it provide information the sales reps want. You'll also add information that you want to convey to them, especially information about the benefits of targeting and margins.

In addition, you'll also call each rep individually once a month to review his or her personal performance. In these calls, you'll deal with their individual performance. You'll also ask about their particular needs and wants, and try to satisfy those needs.

As well as developing strategies and tactics, you'll also schedule some evaluations. Periodically, you'll sit down and ask yourself how well the offsite people are targeting and what proportion of their sales come through high margin products.

If they're doing well, you'll stick to the course you set earlier. On the other hand, if performance doesn't meet your standards, then you could look at increasing the number of contacts, and the duration of each contact. Maybe you need to bring everyone into the office once a quarter, while still maintaining your weekly group mailing and individual contacts monthly.

In summary, as the number of offsite employees and service providers increases, the pressure to develop plans to communicate with them will grow as well. To make the most of this communication, start with strategic issues that define why you want to be in contact with them, and why they would want to be in contact with you.

Robert F. Abbott writes and publishes Abbott's Communication Letter. Learn how you can use communication to help achieve your goals, by reading articles or subscribing to this ad-supported newsletter. An excellent resource for leaders and managers, at: http://www.communication-newsletter.com

---

Improving Patient Sensitivity in Doctors and Hospital Staff

COMPANY/ORGANIZATIONA South Florida hospital. The CEO of the hospital saw... Read More

How to Create a Positive Work Atmosphere

Positive versus Negative WorkplacesWe have all worked in places where... Read More

3 Steps You Can Use Developing Leaders In Your Industry

With the economy bordering on a recession, every company is... Read More

Jewelry Use by Employees

Many companies have dress codes, which include jewelry. Some companies... Read More

Organisational Culture for Continuous Improvement

I have been working with leading Business Improvement guru, Tim... Read More

Do the People in Your Organisation Dress For Success?

What really amazes me, with all the personal and professional... Read More

Lower the Bar

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." Ralph Waldo EmersonI'm... Read More

How To Delegate for Fun and Profit

Ah, the wretched pain of delegation. It comes easy to... Read More

Great Hires: Avoid Costly Mistakes

Picking people for a job is like going... Read More

Performance Appraisal - Ten Stupid Things Managers Do To Screw It Up

Performance appraisals aren't fun. But a lot of the time... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - Conflict Becoming the Norm ? Part 2

A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that... Read More

Rules for Running a Meeting

As an experienced manager, I can announce without a doubt... Read More

Ten Relationship Traits And Skills For Good Leadership

An important aspect of good leadership is the ability to... Read More

Keys to Feeling Powerfull In An Uncertain World

Life has always been full of uncertainties. Over the last... Read More

4 Tips on How to Avoid Communication Lines Breakdown

For example, in a small, two-person company, there is often... Read More

Credibility - A Golden Key to Becoming More Influential

You have been named a new leader in your organization,... Read More

Get It Done! Soft Skills not Hard Tools are Required

If your organization has people, then interpersonal skills are needed.I... Read More

Crisis Management Essentials - How to Communicate Effectively During a Crisis, Emergency or Disaster

A crisis, emergency or disaster can happen at anytime and... Read More

Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly Important

Use your time for problems that are truly important.Hard as... Read More

Six Sigma Training 101 ? Better Management Basics

What is Six Sigma?Six Sigma is a quality management program... Read More

The Dripping Faucet in Every Organization

Each day millions of workers spend 8 hours or more... Read More

Why Businesses Fail - And What You Can Do About It!

Have you unintentionally set your business up for failure?No one... Read More

Recognition: A Quick, Low-cost Way to Motivate Employees

Recognizing good performance through praise or other positive action is... Read More

7 Steps To Hire The Best

You can use this step-by-step method to hire applicants who... Read More

Einstein, The Universe, And Leadership

Every since serving a hitch in the military, I have... Read More