This week I’ve been on a 3-day-trip to Poznań, Poland visiting the developing team of the system that is the focus of the project where most of my effort is placed right now. I’ve been thinking about the value that can be found in this kind of events and I’ll be sharing my personal experience in this post.
Takeaways (TL:DR)
Invest money, energy, time and focus on a business trip is not strictly necessary, but surely provides several benefits, streamlines some processes and fill a lot of communication gaps. It provides a lot of casual situation over which you can bond and influence your stakeholders when they are slightly off guard compared to their usual office time.
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Weekly retrospective
A product manager, a head of design, a sales engineer and a UX consultant enter a bar…is it a joke, no it is a business trip.
Why a business trip?
So, my client is a big group, and 5 years ago acquired another company in Poland. Now, the system developed by this acquired company is crucial in the strategic roadmap of the company, and some efforts are being invested into redesigning parts of the system: the mobile application (who’s the project I’m collaborating in) and some connected products.
The official reason for having 4 people flying to another country was to run a ideation workshop with some users, run a couple of quick user tests and share with the team there some presentations about strategic long term decisions.
Was this trip necessary?
Maybe not. I previously worked at a full remote company, and I’ve seen and experienced successfully running workshops, user tests and presentations remotely in the past. If we stop here, maybe flying four people abroad for 3 days seems like a waste a resources. Maybe, but…
…there’s a but
Considering only the official reasons of the trip is superficial way of discussing the return on investment of a business trip, at least this one.
First of all, there are also actual unofficial reasons behind the trip and furthermore, there are several collateral advantages and opportunity for extracting value from this kind of events in general.
The business value of the business trip
As anticipated there are some unofficial reasons. Since the acquisition 5 years ago there hasn’t been clear and strong effort to incorporate the acquired team into the ecosystem of the acquiring company. This led the team to proceed with quite some freedom and independence despite contributing to the overall business of the owning group. Business units are acquired to satisfy a business need, no efforts is placed to include and integrate several acquisitions into an organic and orchestrated eco-system, and the result is a siloed company with several islands nurturing their own garden.
This is true until the business unit becomes strategic in the vision of the future of the company, and the expectations suddenly change. A business trip like this one serves the purpose of demonstrate the headquarter presence, trying to send a complex layering of messages:
Here we are, we are real people, not strange creatures or monsters behind the screen giving you orders from afar. (Connect)
Here we are, we care about you, we want to be near and present for you as well. We spend money to be closer and listen and interact with you (Include)
Here, we are closer than you think, our attention is on you, the days where you could do whatever you want without supervision are at end (Control)
Considering the “official” activities of the trip, we can’t exclude there’s also an efficacy and efficiency component to add in being able to squeeze so many meetings, discussions and group activities into a few hours. This is for sure true even if remote alternatives exist. Being there face to face, with the support of indirect communication, streamlines confrontations, helps understanding each other and makes way easier to align and take important decisions. Even more considered the distance created by cultural and language differences.
The relationship value of the business trip
Talking about the complex layering of messages conveyed by presence, what is true at an organisational level is also true on a personal level. In a few hours I was able to meet, give a face and a body to names and voices I’ve been meeting for the past few months. Having dinner together, and some relaxed time to connect on a personal level it’s an invaluable outcome that I hope will streamline future communication by adding transparency, trust, and some sort of confidence. Increase engagement and spontaneity in communication solves a lot of problem, reduce bottlenecks and opens up opportunities to align on expectations.
I personally believe this in not a prerogative of in person meetings and a business trip can be justified by this. I’ve build some of the most intimate and valuable relationships of my last years through a screen with my former colleagues working remotely. But this kind of in person events are for sure faster in achieving these connections by forcing people to spend more time together. What’s more, they become necessary in the context of an “in presence” company culture that doesn’t put any effort whatsoever into implementing structured solutions to allow remote connections on a personal level.
In my case, it also allowed me to bond with the people traveling with me, the stakeholder from the headquarter team I collaborate with on a daily basis here in Italy. It was a great opportunity of networking, building trust, and influencing them by bringing up conversations outside the more rigid context of workday hours. This kind of networking also earned me a great opportunity for the future.
The personal value of the business trip
Traveling always have the greatest return on a personal level. Get to know different cultures, discover new places, nurture curiosity. A wise and very important person once told me
working on yourself is the best way to work with others and for others
this same person is also very passionate of traveling, and I’m convinced that traveling is surely one of the best way to learn, to put yourself in uncomfortable situations in pure “Already, Yet” style. Travel is a great opportunity of growth.
I don’t know if sending four people to another country for three days is worth the money, time and effort. But I’m sure there’s a lot of value in this kind of experiences, and should be explored as a solution if the context makes it necessary.
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Thanks for reading to the finish and see you next week!
Tobia