Q:  I am the manager of a San Francisco branch sales and service office for a company with its head office in Atlanta.  Overall, it is a good company to work for.  The problem is that on many occasions we seem to be left out of the corporate loop.  I have voiced my concerns to senior management and they always say that they will correct the communications gap and they do for a month or two.  Then it goes back to the way it was.  Is there anything that I can do get managements attention?

A:  You are not alone, mushroom farming in multiple facility businesses is more common than not.  Most branch offices, whether they are part of a small or large company feel that they are the foster children of their parent organization.  The vast majority of information disseminated by a company, especially a small business is done informally.  In general, the staff finds out who is leaving, what changes to the organizational structure have been proposed, major capital investments and what orders have been received around the coffee machine or at the lunch table.  Although memos may be written by management to advise the staff, employees are usually well aware of any announcements long before they are committed to pen and paper.

It’s not that they want you to keep you in the dark.  In most cases, you are facing what I like to call the out of sight, out of mind syndrome.  I know how frustrating this can be to you and the branch staff.  It leads to a low moral that equates to reduced productivity.

Rectifying the communications problem is not an easy task and requires on-going effort.  The first thing that you must realize is that although senior management is the group implementing change, in most cases they do not directly disseminate the information.  That tasks falls to administrative assistants and secretaries.  It is important that you cultivate that group of people.  On your next visit to the head-office invest in some lunches and promote the need for inter-office communication with them.  Make sure that there is a mail slot for inter-office correspondence and ask the person who is responsible for sending whatever is in that mailbox to you, to throw in copies of any general company memos that they get.

It is a two way street.  You should also be aware, that the staff at the head-office feel that they have no idea what is going on at their branch offices.  It is equally important that you keep the head-office advised of branch happenings.  With some concerted effort, you may be able to convert the mushroom farm to a rose garden!