Despite all the benefits of outsourcing projects to remote teams, managing them can be challenging. Especially when it comes to communication. Communication is the key to the success of any project. And poor communication between teams can cause costly problems within a business.В
Luckily, some communication secrets can help to integrate offshore team members into businesses’ workflows and make the partnership run smoothly.В
How to ensure smooth communication right from the start
Communicating in a remote work environment doesn’t have to feel impersonal and rushed. Communication processes in remote teams can be sustainable if they are well-thought-out. Here are a few of best practices for success in communicating with remote teams:В
- Put effort into the onboarding process
The first step in ensuring proper integration of remote teams with in-house employees is introducing the outsourcers to your company. This includes explaining how the business operates, who is responsible for certain tasks, as well as the goals and objectives of projects and meeting the people they will be working with.
It is extremely difficult to “undo” the first impression. Cutting corners on the onboarding process tends to result in a lot of friction and may even impact the team’s morale. You may end up having people on your team strongly opposing the outsourcing because the initial experience was sub-optimal, or a strong outsourcer quitting because they don’t see themselves as a good fit.В В
- Choose the methodologyВ
The way a project is managed can have a major impact on how employees perform. As a result, it is essential to communicate exactly what the methodology will be (for example, Agile, Waterfall, or RAD) and let the team members know about the activities and the rules involved in the process.
Make sure to communicate your team’s processes and protocols and clearly set expectations on both sides. Be prepared to amend your existing processes because it is unlikely they will fit the outsourcing model as-is. This may sound scary, but most companies can accomplish the desired effect with just a handful of small tactical changes.В
- Delegate responsibilities and set deadlinesВ
Employees work most efficiently and effectively when they know exactly what is expected of them. Therefore, it is important to set out detailed responsibilities for different roles and establish deadlines for each task.В
- Over Communicate
Unlike an in-house employee, your outsourcer may have limited access to the rest of the team because they tend to work on different schedules. What if they have questions or run into a blocker when the rest of the team is offline?
Certain things that can be easily resolved when everyone works in the same office space or in the same time zone may kill your efficiency with the outsources. This can be fought with over-communication on the outsourced work. Give them as much context as possible so your outsource team can use their best judgment and make educated decisions rather than take unnecessary risks or waste time having to wait for your response.
Quite importantly, this is a great habit that goes a long way with your in-house staff members as well! A little extra upfront planning and documentation will reduce communication overhead, as well as interruptions and the number of work cycles regardless of who is doing the work.
- Make regular updates a priorityВ
Depending on the type of work, implementing short daily conference calls can provide a space for employees to discuss ongoing tasks, resolve any issues and ask pertinent questions. This is also a great time for managers and team leaders to offer encouragement and support.
- Make the next day’s agenda accessibleВ
Valuable time can get lost if employees have to constantly consult with team managers to find out what needs to be done. To improve productivity, an agenda explaining the next day’s tasks should be set up and made available for everyone.В
- Don’t micromanageВ
No one likes to be watched every minute of the day. A big part of successful remote working is to allow team members to finish their tasks and not to bombard them with calls and emails. They must feel trusted and wanted.
Tools to use for successful communicationВ
The tools used to communicate information depend on each specific team. They should decide what they prefer based on their needs. The below points can help to guide teams in the right direction:
- Use one application for daily communication
There are literally thousands of communication applications available. Some of these, like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Skype, are all popular and work very well when working with employees in different locations. However, it is important to choose only one tool that is most accessible and easiest to use for everyone in a team to ensure smooth daily communication.
We strongly advise AGAINST using email for communication on outsourced work. It creates confusion, makes it difficult to track progress, and works against accountability.В
- Make use of tracking toolsВ
Tracking tools are great for keeping everyone updated on certain tasks. With tools such as Jira, Wrike, Asana, and Trello, teams can collaborate to monitor moves, challenges, updates, and deadlines.В
- Use email when applicable
Many businesses are moving away from emails because of the lengthy information overload and lack of personal touch. However, it can be useful to send out important minutes after a meeting or to share information with a large group of people. This way, everyone has access to the required info in writing. Even better, a copy of those minutes can be posted in an internal WIKI system, such as Confluence.
- Use videoВ
Video calls are not always possible, but every once in a while, it is a good idea to check in with teams face to face via video. It is also easy to record video calls for future reference and to send to employees who may have been absent during meetings.В
- Use screencasts, images and rich text formatting
No matter which communication tool is used, it is wise to stay away from long text descriptions and bullet points. Using annotated images to explain concepts can be much easier and more effective.В
Another efficient way to convey information is recording a screencast. This way, you can explain your ideas in great detail without scheduling calls, which are known to create interruptions and waste valuable time.
Last but not least, neither images nor screencasts can replace written text. When it comes to business requirements, technical specifications, marketing strategies, etc., make sure to put extra effort into these documents.В
Long unmarked texts are known to be difficult to process and may even be intimidating to people, especially if English is not their first language. Make sure all of your documentation is well-structured and use rich text formatting such as bullet lists, bold and underlined text, to highlight the key points of the document and make it easy for everyone to scan.В
It’s critical to understand that it is not enough to just create accounts for team members. Managers and team leaders must make sure everybody knows which platforms and tools they should use and how to use them.
Other factors to consider for successful communicationВ
Of course, there are many other ways communication can be enhanced between businesses and remote teams. Some of these include:В
- Implementing weekly reports
Reports can help to get a bigger picture of how a project is progressing. Therefore, it is useful to ask teams to send weekly reports containing achievements over the week, a plan for the next, as well as milestones achieved and issues experienced.
- Having emergency contact information readily available
There may be times during any project’s lifespan where emergency work needs to be done or issues need to be fixed urgently. For these times, emergency contact information must be readily available and accessible to anyone working on the project.
- Reducing heavy documents
Attached documents and hard copies can clutter up workspaces and overwhelm employees. With modern Cloud technology, there is barely any need to send attached documents and work with hard copies at all.
Follow a communication strategy for success in remote partnerships
Along with the best practices, a strong communication strategy is a key to the success of any project. Ideally, this strategy should list the communication process, the steps to keep communication alive, the obstacles that may appear, and tips for any individual to communicate effectively in a team.В
Every business and team setup is unique. The strategy to manage and support remote employees and how remote team communication is approached must factor in the size of the business, its mission, and core values, as well as the unique needs of employees.
