Four Employee Interactions that Don’t Happen Naturally
Posted by Liz Strauss · 6 Comments
The first time I worked at home was in the early 90s. I had a strong network within the publishing industry. The transition from organization to self-employed was essentially seamless. I set up an office and let people know that my skills were available.
Having done freelance work before, while employed at another job, I was prepared that the work and responsibilities that would come my way would be significantly different from those working on site. Though I had known things would change, I was still surprised by how much I felt the loss of these four employee interactions.
- Social Interaction. Simply talking to people every day gave me input, information, and ideas — all of which were fodder for thinking and problem solving.
- Formal and Informal Meetings. The ability to debate and consider questions that I had and to hear questions other folks were working through kept my mind sharp and invested in what I was working on.
- Interdepartmental Collaboration. Working at home meant that I was the only one responsible for my ideas. The idea I started with was the same when I finished. In an organization at least one other person has a vested interest — ideas move and change over time. They’re constantly being challenged by “what if?” questions and the different time/goal orientations of interdepartmental collaborations.
- Communication and Feedback. Often work done off site is assigned and completed in isolation. Unintentionally when the world in the client business changes that information is not communicated. Freelancers often don’t get appropriate or in-depth feedback.A sense of closure can be lost from working in this fashion.
The mentioned employee interactions make us feel part of something — part of something bigger than we are. They provide relationships beyond what we need to make our work happen. They fulfill needs we have as human beings to get feedback, to know that our work is well done and appreciated, and to know that we are heard.
These thoughts also brought me to developing the Perfect Virtual Manager service.
Liz Strauss
Liz – I couldn’t agree more. The first two were the hardest for me. That’s probably why I started “collecting” people in the virtual world with whom to have informal meetings and bounce ideas around. It’s like you have to find your virtual network of colleagues (not just clients!). It’s something mother never told you when you worked in a corporation!!!!
Hi Ann,
I know. There are so many invisible supports in a traditional organization that we take for granted that getting out on our own can be real cuture shock. Some people find they don’t what to do first. Some folks find they just can’t cope without other people around them to talk to.
Liz,
Just this week I retired from my career job in law enforcement and now am trying to expand a small website design business that I run from my home. Your points in this post seem spot on, or at least they do in the first week of being removed from the “office”, such as my previous work was. Thanks for another interesting post.
Ann,
I like your idea about “collecting” people from the virtual world…something I have been doing for some time, but quite subconsciously. I am now making a greater effort to expand those contacts.
Hi David,
Let me know whether you want to be part of the Beta test that I’m doing. my rates for the test are significantly lowered so you might find that attractive.
I do appreciate your comments. It’s nice to you have you around as regular reader. I hope this means I’ll see you more often. Maybe I should hire you to keep this place secure when I’m over at the other blog.
Liz,
My affiliation with *anything* related to law enforcement ceased at 3:00pm EST on October 30, 2006! Twenty eight years was enough!
Congratulations! You’ve earned a rest from public service. Thank you for taking care of us.