Tips on How to Effectively Manage Your Offshore Team in India

It is quite common for American & European businesses to set offshore teams, especially when employment costs are quite high in their home country. Their businesses at times cannot afford to hire permanent employees or contractual workers for special projects due to cost constraints or the need for top-notch talent. Hence, they prefer to have offshore teams’ set up in India.

Thanks to the global economy & the internet, companies can now set up remote teams in a different location where talent pool availability and cost are in favour of the company. By having a global team, you will also be able to have your business operate round the clock, in different time zones & work hours.

Managing an offshore team does not have to be difficult or stressful, but it requires a lot of determination & a flawless strategy to make sure that everything will work seamlessly. Once you have built & set up your team, the next step is in finding the right dynamics between headquarters & the offshore team.

An agile methodology is an effective approach to project management that emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, continuous improvement & high-quality results. It provides an efficient & flexible approach to software development & to help offshore teams produce better software. Today there are several models, or methodologies, that can be used to structure offshore teams for maximum productivity. The team should be aligned to the product vision, have a clearly defined road map & conduct regular demos. An Agile team will continuously deliver small chunks over set time intervals, called sprints.

Data security is crucial for any business especially when its accessed by the offshore team. Contracts, legal agreements & sensitive documents need to be strictly confidential. Physical & network security need to be emphasized as well, and this can be challenging when dealing with an offshore office. It is necessary for the teams to be secured against Trojans or viruses embedded in software and penetration of offshore system defences by hackers & unauthorized access by offshore personnel into parts of the network. Prevention of IP theft can be done by signing strong NDA’s. Secure network monitoring by training employees in cybersecurity principles, use & update antispyware & antivirus software. Use Internet firewalls & period backups of valuable business data is a must. Put a Control to physical access to network components & computers, Secure the Wi-Fi networks and make sure you change passwords regularly.

Todoist, Trello, Google Keep, Basecamp are all good task management tools. It is at times difficult to regularly be in touch with your team without being there in person to keep track of their daily activities & many a times tasks can be missed or over run due to oversight of forgetfulness. Using a task management tool helps to keep track of each team member’s list of deliverables. When you give this responsibility to the offshore team & leaders, it encourages them to be more proactive with work & gives senior management a platform to view everyone’s progress. Have a fixed turnaround time for every list for each project & make this the basis of managing your offshore team in India.

Your offshore team maybe at different time zones, however it is important to establish set timelines, TAT’s & Deliverables for what you expect them to accomplish. Do not set unrealistic deadlines which over burden, just because it is convenient for you. By providing set due dates & scheduling when tasks need to be reviewed by you or the team leader, you will be able to manage your own expectations and manage the team effectively. During onboarding & orientation for each new team member to your offshore team, be sure to provide a timeline of what to expect in the coming weeks or months to come. You should lay down the output or projects expected from each team member as well as set due dates to establish a sense of urgency.

Visiting your offshore location periodically is a very good idea & preparing a get together for your team would definitely boost up their morale. Your Monthly, Quarterly, or annual visits could help strengthen the relationship between you & your offshore staff. It is also a great opportunity to do strategic planning, Breakouts, Brain storming sessions & Ideation with your team and get to know more about your people.

Companies make the mistake of just assigning work items to the offshore team in India, without sharing the bigger picture. It would be a mistake of not giving them the Company’s vision, mission & goals. The offshore team needs to understand the goal & the project. Sharing the vision, mission & goals gives them the complete picture on where the company is and where its heading.

Understanding the needs of your team is highly crucial. You need to empathize with the teams that are involved. Make sure you have meaningful conversation with them, talk to them about their problems & issues. Make sure that their voice is heard & bring in a sense of belonging and being part of the “Global Team” & offer suggestions that could help them. A dedicated HR or a Professional organisation to manage this would really help boost the morale of the offshore team.

Understanding the needs of your team is highly crucial. You need to empathize with the teams that are involved. Make sure you have meaningful conversation with them, talk to them about their problems & issues. Make sure that their voice is heard & bring in a sense of belonging and being part of the “Global Team” & offer suggestions that could help them. A dedicated HR or a Professional organisation to manage this would really help boost the morale of the offshore team.

No matter what tasks are required from your offshore teams, being able to provide clear instructions makes the jobs easier for you & your offshore team. By clearly communicating the instructions for each task, fewer mistakes will be made. It is important for the teams to have a clear structure of their KRA’s & KPI’s. Goals need to be set during their onboarding and within the Probation periods. For your offshore team, clear delegation & understanding of the scope of each project ensures more efficient work aligned to your business goals.

It is important to be able to maintain an open communication with your employees. Tools such as Skype, Zoom, Goto meeting, FLOCK, SLACK, ASANA & Trello are always good tools to use for team collaboration from communication to project management. Set up periodic Video Conferences with your team. Do not put yourself in a situation in which there is a language barrier. Find candidates who have good English communication skills. When screening candidates, utilize the tools to determine whether they are conversationally adept or not. You need an offshore team that can avoid as many misunderstandings as possible that could negatively affect work outcome.

Keeping your offshore team motivated is very crucial. Just as you would spend time on your company culture & employee happiness at home, do not leave out the rest of the offshore team working hard. The quality of work you will receive from your offshore team directly depends on how you treat them. The benefits, perks & Incentives you provide matter a lot to the offshore team. Try to build a relationship with your offshore team just as you would in the home office.

Do your best to imbibe your company work culture within your offshore team. Provide Recognition when team members do a great job & likewise reward them for it. When there is room for improvement in their work, give constructive feedback & open opportunities for a dialogue rooted in mutual respect. If you show your offshore team that you appreciate them just as equally as everyone else in your company, they will put more effort into their work.

With today’s online technology, it is now easier to manage an offshore team. Geography & Work Location no longer matters. There are various ways to reach out to your team even if they are halfway around the world. Everything will be under control if they are properly guided, nurtured & managed by an effective management that will lead them to continuous growth & prosperity.

InsourceIndia will help build your own dedicated offshore team in India so that you can focus on your core business. We take care of everything – Setting up your team, workspace, payroll, compliance, hardware, software etc. You will have direct control on what your team works on every day, everything else is managed by us.