We’re not going to deny that there are a lot of competitors in the offshoring industry that provide reasonable cost savings and highly skilled labour. But what sets the industry apart is the ability to establish high performing organisational cultures. Question is, how? What are the steps to building your high performing offshore team?
Develop a plan or business strategy
The best place to start is considering which existing processes within your business you could offshore with minimal impact to strategy and where offshoring would generate significant efficiencies. Most importantly, offshoring provides high availability of skilled people, resulting in faster turnaround of work through a global talent pool – the right talent improves work efficiency and completes any assignments as assigned by you.
The importance of team collaboration
Team building, and collaboration will increase the spirit, connection, sense of identity, and ultimately staff retention. When your offshore team has a structured environment to share information and are encouraged to participate equally within the team, a transparent and inclusive environment will emerge between the onshore and offshore staff. In return, it motivates everyone further and strengthens learning and development.
A suitable communication system
Strong communication is the key to team collaboration and success making it a vital part of offshoring. Set-up and maintenance of stable, thorough communication channels should be your priority when approaching international talent pools. With emails, video or teleconferences, the local team in Australia can easily communicate with remote staff in Asian or European countries whenever necessary to sustain smooth procedure and project development.
However, these common channels are not strong enough in isolation. You should consider other advanced project management tools and collaboration platforms like Trello, Basecamp, Asana, or Slack for an organised way of team communication across multiple offices. No matter where the staff are based, they’re able to discuss and be well-informed about the project in a professional and timely manner.
Participation in decision making
One of the most common dilemmas in managing offshore talents is that the local teams tend to be more involved in the decision-making process while the dispersed staff play more passive roles and can easily feel neglected. This deteriorates team collaboration and in worse cases, puts team culture at risk. The situation can get severe when the managers are based in a central location and are not regularly communicating to and involving offshore teams, therefore being blinded to potential conflict.
Enforcing team unity
Finally, trust and empathy lie in the heart of a successful high performing offshore team across global offices. As a global company, you want to identify and handle this right from day one of your offshoring journey. Team building occasions and company trips have proved to be effective in breaking these cultural barriers. Staff have the chance to personally meet colleagues they only know through emails or cold screens.
No matter what industry you’re in, the aim is to attract highly capable, self-driven individuals with the highest calibre for you to grow your extended team. Contact ASW Global today to explore further possibilities on how you can build your high performing offshore team. We look forward to a long partnership and attaining your business goals at the same time.