12 Best Practices for Managing Remote Outsourcing Teams [2023]

12 Best Practices for Managing Remote Outsourcing Teams

A company’s leadership team must define each work process to enhance remote and outsourced work. It is crucial to define roles and responsibilities for each function clearly. For example, who is responsible for what task? When is the task due? These answers help establish a unique monitoring methodology.

When monitoring remote teams, it is crucial to understand your team and your customers. Strong relationships are essential to effective collaboration. Each partner and workgroup have their unique approach to work, so building trust in a way that works for them is crucial.

Foster a culture of open communication, accessible leadership, and effective team-building dynamics. Even with differences in time zones and locations, creating a sense of closeness is necessary. Teams need to know that they have the space to listen and communicate.

Above all, invest in your team, wherever they may be. This means investing in training, technologies, training, and improving processes.

For example, agile methodologies and management dashboards can streamline tasks and improve operations. By implementing these strategies effectively, teams will feel empowered to take responsibility and work autonomously.

Best Practices for Remote Outsourcing Team Management

Remote teams are changing the business landscape. However, they perform well only when you take care of their needs and manage them well, right from the on-boarding stage.

Here are some of the best practices and strategies for managing remote outsourcing teams.

Establish Guidelines

Establishing clear guidelines for both your on-site and remote team members is essential to ensuring that they understand how they should perform and behave. In addition, communicating workflows and deadlines clearly to set clear expectations is crucial, and sharing project progress regularly can help maintain momentum.

Since your team members may be working from different locations, ensuring everyone understands their and their colleagues’ roles is crucial. Creating a shared group calendar where everyone can indicate their daily tasks can help facilitate communication between teams.

Build a Culture of Trust

Encouraging trust and inclusivity can have a positive impact on employee performance, engagement, and work quality. Conversely, a survey showed that nearly 55% of business leaders believe that a lack of inclusion and trust in the workplace can negatively impact operational efficiency.

However, some managers may fall for the temptation to micromanage their employees, which can be counterproductive. Rather than promoting productivity, micromanaging can decrease employee engagement and erode their confidence.

It is essential to show faith in your team by giving them the freedom to perform their tasks on-site or remotely. Avoid the urge to micromanage and let them feel confident in their job, which can boost morale and productivity.

Keep the Communication Alive

In a conventional work environment, team members can easily approach their manager’s office to seek clarification or discuss issues. However, team members may only sometimes know the manager’s availability remotely. Therefore, it is essential to establish clear communication channels and remove any communication barriers.

To ensure that communication is consistent and efficient, managers can set specific blocks of time for communication and let team members know when they are available for short sessions. You can easily accomplish this using a shared calendar to indicate when specific blocks are full.

To facilitate effective communication within a remote team, it is crucial to create a communication strategy that outlines how communication will occur and what tools you will use to facilitate it. Then, communicate this strategy to the entire team to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Always Ask Your Team Members for Ideas

It is a universally agreed concept that establishing procedures and expectations for remote team members is essential. However, every situation is unique, and each team member knows best how they work and achieve their goals. Therefore, it is prudent to seek their input when creating a framework for remote work.

Offer Growth Opportunities

Keeping employees engaged in professional development is essential to prevent discontent and turnover.

To achieve this, it is crucial to provide your staff with a clear understanding of their career path. Understanding their motivations can guide them toward professional advancement opportunities.

Professional development prevents burnout, improves business value, and boosts employee productivity. One way to support their growth is by providing access to training programs or certification courses. Periodic assessments can also help you track their progress and ensure they are on the right track.

Investing in your employees’ development shows that you value them and are committed to their success. That can increase job satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately benefiting your organization.

Define a Structure

In any workplace, productivity relies on predictability and structure. However, it is easy to feel disconnected in a remote work environment, where employees work in different locations. To mitigate this, it is essential to establish a team rhythm.

That means creating a clear timetable for meetings and ensuring that employees understand the tasks and roles of their colleagues, so they can see how they fit into the process.

However, when creating a rhythm for remote employees in different time zones, it is crucial to ensure that one member does not bear the burden of inconvenience. To avoid this, you should rotate meeting times so employees can avoid the hassle of meeting either too early or too late.

Fostering Open Dialogue

Encouraging openness in the workplace is crucial in fostering team connections and improving employee engagement. It also helps prevent issues from escalating and facilitates faster resolution, leading to improved organizational productivity.

One effective way to promote transparency is to seek employee feedback actively. For instance, you can create anonymous polls and ask your team members to share their experiences on a specific project. By identifying successful and unsuccessful elements, employees feel valued and heard. That can help motivate them to perform better at work, benefiting the company.

Overcome Communication Challenges

Managing a hybrid team presents communication challenges, particularly in building connections with members working from different locations. However, it is possible to address this gap by taking specific steps. Leveraging technology plays a crucial role in managing remote teams.

Regular virtual meetings foster team familiarity and allow remote workers to participate in conversations they might otherwise miss out on. Consider starting each week with a brief Monday morning team call to catch up, which is especially beneficial for remote workers who miss out on casual conversations in the office.

Additionally, virtual team-building activities can improve morale, encourage creativity, and enhance communication. Regularly check in with each team member, regardless of location, as job satisfaction levels may vary, particularly among remote workers. Keep the time going by before touching base with everyone.

Provide the Right Tools and Resources

Efficient and productive teams are essential to the success of any business. Thus, prioritizing providing proper tools and equipment to in-house and remote employees is crucial. Equipping them with the right tools and setup can enhance their productivity and efficiency.

Investing in technology for your teams also facilitates collaboration, a vital factor in improving organizational productivity and generating revenue.

For remote employees, collaborative tools such as webcams, headsets, online collaboration platforms, and video conferencing software are essential. These tools allow for fluid and strategic conversations, accelerating project completion. They also promote team connectivity, leading to improved coordination and faster problem-solving.

Promoting Strong Team Culture

Managing a hybrid team can be challenging, but establishing a solid, inclusive team culture can boost employee engagement and improve organizational productivity. With the best practices we discussed above, you now have the relevant knowledge to manage your on-site and remote teams effectively.

Set Roles and Schedules

Effective communication of work schedules is crucial in ensuring that team members understand their tasks and deadlines and can manage their time accordingly. That facilitates efficient task management and ultimately speeds up project completion.

To promote accountability among team members, it is crucial to establish a culture of commitment to organizational goals. One of the best ways to achieve this is by running virtual meetings at the beginning of each week to align everyone’s focus and priorities.

It also helps to regularly communicate progress updates and feedback to ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same objectives.

Recognizing Employees’ Achievements

While treating everyone on your remote team equally is essential, it is also important to recognize high performers and those who embody your company values.

Since you will not bump into your remote employees in the hallway, make a deliberate effort to acknowledge their achievements during team and one-on-one meetings.

The Takeaway

When we delve into the staff augmentation vs remote outsourcing debate, hiring remote employees seems more profitable for businesses. Remote work is a relatively new concept, and best practices and technologies will continue to emerge to help us improve. But, as always, it is essential to keep an open mind, focus on removing barriers, and promote greater collaboration to get the most out of your remote teams.