Launching a New Office While Maintaining Your Culture: 6 Things to Consider

When your startup’s growth scales and is ready to open another office location, whether domestic or international, it can be a whirlwind.

First off, if you’ve just opened another office, congratulations on getting to this point. But now that you are here and as you grow your new office, how do you make sure this office grows in line with the corporate goals and structure you have worked so hard to create? And more importantly, how do you make sure your new team members feel a part of the team, passionate about the product and have aligned goals?

As an employee of PitchBook working in the London office, the company does many things that make a big impact in helping our across-the-pond office feel united with our colleagues in the Seattle headquarter office and New York office. Whether you are embarking on a new office location or looking for ways to strengthen cross-office unity, here are 6 areas to consider:

1. Leadership.

You may choose to move someone from your current team to establish the new office or make an outside hire, but the leadership you choose for your new office is critical. This is the face of your office and someone you must have confidence in them handling a multitude of challenges and on-board new clients, new talent and work with vendors. Someone who is self-starting, diplomatic and positive will be able to deal with the challenges of a new office, attract and retain talent and be a mascot for the team as it grows. You must also trust this person will go to bat for his or her team’s unique challenges in addition to fostering a strong sense of company-unity and avoiding ‘us vs. them’ mentality.

2. Conference technology.

Until teleportation is possible, video conferencing is the closest thing you can get to in-person interactions. Conference calls can be quite frustrating when you are the single or few remote attendees on a call (we’ve all been in THATdreaded conference call), so it is necessary to have your video conferencing technology running in tip top shape. Set up a designated conference room in both the home-base and new office is key so employees don’t have to fiddle with the set up each time a video conference is called. You should ensure the sound quality, connection and video is consistent, otherwise you will be calling meetings with frustrated, disengaged employees that could be spending their time elsewhere.

3. Outsource the experts.

Your new office is likely exposed to different employment and legal regulations. While it is important to familiarize yourself with these regulations and certainly ensure the new office’s relevant leadership is aware, you are best to leave employment laws to a HR consulting and outsourcing provider until your new office grows to such a scale that they need an internal hire for these departments. Speak with other startups that have moved new operations to the area or local businesses to see who they may recommend.

4. E-mail lists.

E-mail lists are a great way to communicate across teams, whether you need to get a message out to your entire sales team or the company as a whole. In addition to sharing business critical updates, cross-office lists at PitchBook are a place to share celebratory news, such as an individual’s accomplishment that the rest of the team may not otherwise been aware of. Sharing such news builds a positive bond between the team and gives colleagues the chance to interact with, learn from and congratulate teammates they may not get to see in person on a regular basis.

It is necessary to break down these e-mail lists even further by office location to make sure e-mails are relevant and don’t unintentionally create divides, particularly regarding national holidays. Sending a company-wide “Hey guys, hope you all enjoy your barbecues and family time on your day off celebrating 4th of July! #1776, am I right?!” e-mail may not go over so well with overseas employees who don’t get the day off.

5. Facetime from HQ leadership.

HQ leadership team members regularly visiting satellite offices, on a yearly or biannual basis, make a huge impact on employees. These visits allow teams to bond and allow leadership to give a state of the union address, notifying the satellite offices of any updates and on goings.

It is particularly important for a strong relationship to already exist between the satellite and HQ management so that the messaging from HQ is coherent with what satellite offices hear from their local leadership.

6. Trust the locals.

Clients will have differing needs and challenges across regions. Whether marketing to this region needs to be tweaked or product needs are differing, the best place to get this information is from those clients and the employees that interact with them on a regular basis.

PitchBook maintains an open dialogue between all teams and offices to be in tune with such needs. All employees have a direct line to different teams whether it be product development, marketing or operations and submitted feedback gets a response within a day. The London office also maintains a running list of region-specific feedback that is communicated by our local leadership so that we make sure our local clients are represented.

Other ways to encourage globally united offices:

-Encourage employees from other offices to reach out and introduce themselves to new hires and invite them to dial into some of their meetings during on boarding. Training and employee inclusion rolled into one!

-Schedule joint meetings during the overlapping business hours when dealing with different time zones.

-Have global perks like an annual rewards trip or additional benefits that all employees can participate in if qualified.

Post also found on PitchBook’s Medium: https://medium.com/@PitchBook/launching-a-new-office-while-maintaining-your-culture-ce33e8745d5d#.79gh91ssx