SELECTED WORK 02
Rebuilding Connection in a Dispersed Division
Supplementing the contact that happens organically
Division of Financial Assistance, State Water Resources Control Board · Deputy Director · 2021 - 2026 · 325+ staff, including approximately 70 managers
Situation
By 2023, after three years of remote work, the division was moving to a hybrid schedule. Most staff interacted primarily through screens. The hallway question, the new employee learning the culture by observation, and the brief conversation that resolves an issue before it grows had largely disappeared. Engagement surveys also showed that staff wanted greater visibility into decisions and clearer communication from management.
Constraint
Connection is not something a leader can mandate. Attendance can be required; a sense of belonging cannot. Staff valued telework flexibility while statewide in-office requirements increased over time. My responsibility was to implement those changes, help staff make the transition, and make in-person time useful rather than treating physical presence as the objective.
Leadership approach
Created shared direction. I introduced a strategy map connecting the division’s mission and annual priorities to four values: Finding Solutions, Learning and Improving, Teamwork and Collaboration, and Helping Communities. I adapted the format from one developed by a section chief.
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Built a listening system. A committee of staff and managers conducted division-wide engagement surveys and translated the findings into an action plan. My Assistant Deputy Directors and I assessed the recommendations, assigned responsibility, and incorporated feasible actions into management routines.
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Made communication predictable. We established a recurring cadence for all-staff meetings, annual priority-setting and progress reviews, and communications that made individual staff members and their work more visible across the organization.
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Supplemented organic contact with intentional connection. I welcomed new employees in small groups, held informal coffee conversations with staff, and created recurring conversations across management levels. I also learned that these practices need an operating system of their own: when urgent matters displaced standing commitments, I had not established strong enough procedures to protect or promptly reschedule them.
Result
By 2026, the engagement committee, recurring staff meetings, manager conversations, and annual survey had become part of how the division operated. What began as a response to remote work became a more durable system for listening, communicating priorities, recognizing contributions, and maintaining connection across a large, dispersed organization.
When an organization’s cultural norms are disrupted, leaders need to recognize what has been lost and deliberately supplement the mechanisms that sustain connection, communication, and trust.
EXECUTIVE INSIGHT
What this means for a client
Hybrid work does not eliminate organizational culture; it removes many of the informal mechanisms that once sustained it. Leaders cannot rely on physical presence alone to sustain connection. They need deliberate routines for listening, communicating priorities, recognizing contribution, and building relationships - and enough operating discipline to keep those routines from being displaced by the next urgent issue.
Information current as of October 2026.
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This case study describes work performed by Joe Karkoski in his official capacity as a California state employee. It reflects his personal account and analysis, not the views or endorsement of the State Water Resources Control Board, any Regional Water Quality Control Board, or the State of California. Agency actions described were taken through collective staff, management, executive, and governing-board processes.