4 tips to make collaboration between global teams more effective
Global teams are more and more common today across most industries. There are some big advantages to having offshore teams but there are definitely some challenges in working with teams in different parts of the world as well. To work effectively with offshore teams it’s important to bridge the gaps both geographically and culturally.
I have been working with a Global UX team for the past 6 years and over time I have come to learn how to use offshore collaboration to my advantage. In the beginning, I spent most evenings and often burnt the midnight oil working with the offshore team. We had cultural differences, we had not managed to build a personal connection and all-in-all we struggled to get the smallest tasks done. This was unsustainable and unproductive, something had to change. With some guidance from senior members, friends in similar situations and blogs I found my own ways to flip the situation.
Having insight into the various aspects of offshore collaboration will help you understand what to expect, cultivate a unified culture and be more effective in working together. Below are 4 ways you can have a more effective working relationship with your offshore partners.
1: Time difference — you may ask, ‘how can there be any advantage to this?’
Along with your morning coffee, you receive a first draft of the design task you assigned the offshore team last evening. This same process could have taken a couple more days if the offshore team didn’t play a vital role. Well, while you and your onsite team are sleeping your offshore counterparts got the work moving. Hooray! For this collaboration to work smoothly, there must be great communication, relationship and processes. The process is key for this to work effectively; you can leverage the time difference to turn your global design team into a powerhouse.
On the flip side, different projects require different levels of communication. I work with our team in China and the overlapping work window between China and the US can be narrow depending on the working hours of individual global teams. Some companies have their offshore teams work their hours but that’s not always the case. This can cause significant delays in getting the answers you need in time. A one-day turnaround is normal and if it’s a complex problem or close to a weekend it can turn into days before you have an answer. This can be a catastrophic situation for a time sensitive project. Fortunately, this can be avoided to some degree by adjusting work schedules to increase the overlapping time for more interactions. For example, you can set aside 1 or 2 days in the week where you are available for ad-hoc meetings in your evening/nighttime and your colleagues can do the same. It’s not ideal for anyone but this is why you do this sparingly and only in critical situations. Mutual respect for each other’s personal time is key.
2: Cultural differences create different communication styles
There will always be some amount of confusion when working with people from different cultural backgrounds. For example: When I assigned tasks on a deadline to our offshore members in China, I noticed a tendency of them saying ‘yes’ more often than saying ‘no, this needs evaluation, can I get back to you later’ or ‘no, this is a bit more complex and needs more time.’ This is not always the case with all offshore folks but can be more pronounced when you are dealing with people from a certain background and/or junior team members. They may not speak up without discussing first with their managers.
I learned the importance of understanding that when they say “yes,” it actually can have a different meaning. In my experience, the offshore members are more likely saying “Sure, I understand, I’ll do my best” with the intention of getting it done in the given timeline but they can’t commit to the deadline at that moment without having some time to evaluate or checking their existing workload. This is why building trust with your offshore team will enable you to find ways where they are more comfortable in sharing their views and asking for more time if needed. Connecting with the offshore team on a personal level can go a long way; it will help you understand the nuances of healthy communication with your offshore counterparts. Empower them, and you will have a strong and unified global team. Also, it’s the right thing to do.
3: Leveraging the strengths and offsetting the weaknesses
Consider a situation when you are designing for a certain demographic/audience. You may have a lot more insight into your users work environment and how they may respond to situations. That doesn’t mean that your offshore team has the same understanding. It’s in your best interest to be extremely detailed and specific in your ask. This does not make the offshore team unknowledgeable–they just come from different environments and are experts in other areas. It’s important to recognize and assess their skills, capabilities and specializations and delegate accordingly. Leveraging on the team’s strengths and compensating for the weaknesses, will lead to a cohesive global team.
4: Be inclusive
Let’s face it, when you and your team are on opposite sides of the globe, face-to-face meetings are rare. This is the very nature of how a global team operates. Thus, including all team members in important decisions or events is key. Even though a team member cannot attend in person, keeping everyone in the loop via video recording or meeting minutes within your team channels elevates team communication and collaboration. It allows everyone to feel included and valued. It also allows for the offshore members to be more equipped and on the same page with their partners across the globe. We do this effectively at RingCentral with our world class communication and collaboration (message, call meet) app.
On the other hand, I do not want to underplay the power of face-to-face presence. One of the most successful projects I have been on has had some degree of in person interaction. For example, our team including (designers, product managers and key stakeholders) spent a week in the offshore office to kick off a redesign of a very big project that we were going to design and build along with our partners in China. It was magical; we were able to quickly make key decisions-based design iterations, prototyping and knowledge sharing. We worked hard but we also spent a good part of the time building relationships. Once we put a face to the people behind the keyboards things were different. Meeting in person can be an expensive affair and cannot happen often, but any amount is better than none. We now have a clearer understanding of how working with offshore teams can be beneficial.
In the end, including some of these communication best practices in the design lifecycle and process will help ensure that the teams are in harmony, successful and extremely collaborative.
