Whether it is for onsite teams or offshore teams, communication is the key to getting work done effectively. It becomes all the more essential when your team works in different time zones. To curb the communication issue, you need to foster an environment that facilitates smooth communication and collaboration between the teams.
Having an ace offshore development center is a dream come true for several firms. And why not? They get the benefits of low costs, high quality, and tight collaboration.
But there is a caveat. To get the most from your offshore team, you need to ensure that the team is motivated, engaged, and therefore, highly productive all the time.
Here’s our take on five ways you can make your offshore development teams highly productive:
Keep Your Onshore Teams Close, The Offshore Teams Closer
One of the fallacies of managing an offshore team is treating them like outsourced workers. Don’t create the “great divide” and treat your offshore teams just like your onshore teams and not as an outside vendor. Involve them in every communication related to the company and circulate newsletters internally. Catch up with them regularly through online tools. Take feedback from them about how things are going, and what can be done to streamline various processes. Say, for instance, daily morning meets or brainstorming over a video call are some of the simple ways to get everyone to kickstart their day high on energy.
Assign a Local Team Manager
One of the possible challenges of having a dedicated offshore team working from a different location (and a different time zone) is that there is no one to watch over the projects. To make sure that everything is in place and to monitor the processes, there needs to be a local team manager. This manager will act as the bridge between the onsite and offshore teams. This is the person the offshore team can go to for day-to-day challenges or issues.
Therefore, it is a given that the person handling this role and responsibility, has exceptional communication skills, strong professional acumen, and has significant experience as a team leader.
Along with this, the manager also needs to ensure there’s no micromanagement happening at any point in time. They should trust the team to do the work efficiently and keep motivating them from time to time.
Use the Best Collaboration Software
With a large number of companies going remote-friendly, there’s no shortage of collaboration software on the market. Trello, Skype, Zoom, Ryver, Bitrix 24, and Dropbox are some of the often-used collaboration tools that help offshore teams stay organized.
These also make it easy to plan and distribute tasks and have a systematic approach to streamlining the project workflow. This, in turn, ensures that the deadlines are met and endless possibilities are achieved. You can also ask your team to suggest any new collaboration software that can be used within the organization and increase productivity.
Arrange for Team Building Activities from Time to Time
Team lunches, ice-breaking activities, and face-to-face meetings may take place frequently when the teams are located in the same town or city. However, with an offshore
team, the game changes - but not too much. You can still host team lunches that are exclusive for the offshore team. Reward them with corporate outings, conduct workshops, or have them gather for various celebrations in the office. This will keep break the monotony and keep them engaged and happy. Moreover, it will also help them build a great rapport. And that’s not all - it can also retain the employees and improve the bottom line.
Make Communication the Key
Whether it is for onsite teams or offshore teams, communication is the key to getting work done effectively. It becomes all the more essential when your team works in different time zones. To curb the communication issue, you need to foster an environment that facilitates smooth communication and collaboration between the teams. One of the primary requirements to ensure this is to have a robust online communication and collaboration platform. That apart, you can use an internal chat system and various productivity tools where all the stakeholders can also participate (such as Basecamp) and opt for video conferencing.
At the same time, make it a point to establish some ground rules for communication and ensure that everyone in the team follows it to the T. There are several tools and techniques to make real-time communication with your team located anywhere in the world. Take the pick and select the best of the lot. It is a good idea to test the waters first and see which of the tools and techniques work best.
Build a Proficient and Productive Offshore Development Center
These are some of the ways you can ensure productivity for your offshore development teams. These pointers will help you manage the team properly and ensure maximum contribution from them each day at the workplace.
For more information on how to build a highly motivated and engaged offshore team that increases your revenues, get in touch with us.
With many years of overarching experience in this industry, we can positively help you make the most of offshore teams irrespective of your business niche.
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