Having business branches in other countries says a lot about your accomplishments. It says that you have achieved your entrepreneurial goals and visions. It tells everyone that your business idea is significant and that it is prized and recognizable.
Some days, you may feel that managing your offshore business is quite challenging — and it can be, especially when it comes to synchronizing. However, things should not be always difficult. You can actually employ some methods to make sure that each branch will work the way you want it.
If you are looking for some ways, here are some of the pointers worth considering:
1. Get fast internet connection
Internet connection is everything when it comes to offshore team management in New Jersey (NJ). There will be times when you will need to contact each other through voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) services. That’s one of the ways to make sure that you and the other parties are on the same page in terms of communication.
2. Schedule properly
You need to remember that your business branches and offshore teams are not in the same time zone. As such, you need to make sure that the schedules for meetings and approvals are in sync — that the schedules are something that everyone has agreed on.
3. Consider time zones
Having offshore teams mean staff members spanning different areas with different time zones. So, in terms of scheduling meetings and such, this has to be a factor considered. In the same way, consider the time differences when setting deadlines and waiting for emails. People in different countries sleep, too.
4. Make English skills a priority
To make communication easier while at the same time avoiding miscommunication or misunderstandings, vet for members who have good English language skills — both in writing and speaking. It is hard enough to manage a team virtually, don’t make it harder by getting people who have difficulties understanding and communicating.
5. Visit offshore branches
As a manager, you are leading these people not just in terms of making your business or project a success but also in terms of their professional growth — whether with or without your company. Make time to visit the offshore branches and build rapport with the people you work with.
6. Assign a “head” in each branch
No matter how good your management skills are, you will need someone physically in the location to help you manage your offshore teams. Their responsibilities can include training, overseeing project timelines, organizing team-building activities and so on. Just imagine you, but there.
7. Take it to the cloud
While you have many branches throughout the world, there is a great chance that each of your branches will use the template issued by the main branch. Documents, such as internal rules, contracts, and blueprints should be consistent across all branches. Each branch should have access to such working files, and this is where the cloud comes in.
These are just some of the things to keep in mind when managing offshore teams. You may also review your internal policies and streamline protocols for efficiency.
