I used to love to travel.  Before 9-11.  Before we were required to check in a month before the plane leaves and twiddle our thumbs waiting to board- and then finding our flight delayed yet another hour or so.

And, the airlines could care less.  Because they’ve been able to bill us for the flight, for beverages, for food, for baggage, for early boarding, for everything- and blame all their failures on the weather, on the TSA- anyone but themselves.

Yes, I was the guy that got to the boarding gate with seconds to spare.  (Did you ever see those OJ Simpson commercials where he ran through the airport… he had nothing on me.  Not including the fact that he’s in jail and I’m not.)

But, I still travel.  Mostly because I learned long ago that I need to visit all our facilities on a frequent basis.  So that everyone knows I do care what happens in each office. That they are part of the whole team.

I even still bring the managers of each facility to headquarters twice a year.  So, that they can see everyone else with whom they communicate on a daily basis.  So, it’s not a them vs. us concept- ever.

And, we bring facility managers to our other offices for the other two quarterly meetings each year.  So, they can see what works and doesn’t work in these other locations.  So, they can come up with suggestions to improve their own operations.  It also helps keep our culture integrated – and healthy.

Admittedly, we placed our offices in key locations.  So, we could fly to Long Beach (CA) and stop off for 3 hours or so and visit facilities in Dallas, Atlanta, Kansas City, or Milwaukee.  Which meant one trip could let me visit three operations. Which also meant I could spend time with my family, my own office, and our client/customers the rest of the week.

And, don’t tell me you Skype your folks.  Because that conference call doesn’t work as well as being there.  Where you can see things that no video camera will pick up.  Where you can show up unannounced and see what really happens when “no one is watching”.  And, not just managers, but all the staff can interact with you and feel part of the entire corporate team, ask questions, and get answers.

But, the key plus- is that everyone sees the management team.  So, everyone stays on mission.  It will never be  “out of sight, out of mind”  as long as you follow these rules.

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