In the past years, outsourcing has become a crucial part of business management and a prime mover of business growth in many industries.
Outsourcing is an excellent strategic tool that offers multiple benefits like competitive access to skilled professionals. It provides costs reduction, reduced risk, and focus on core business activities. However, managing an outsourced team can be pretty challenging without effective strategies to ensure that work gets done.
The idea of delegating essential tasks to a remote team may seem discouraging. After all, how can you ensure your team’s productivity isn’t affected when you’re in an entirely different location? In this article, we’ll show you that it’s possible. We prepared a list of nine things that you can do to increase your outsourced team productivity and keep them engaged and motivated.
1. Create a clear organizational structure
Establishing a leadership hierarchy and clearly defining team roles and responsibilities is especially important when managing an outsourced team. Appointing an experienced project manager will ensure the project is completed on time and within budget. The right team structure will help you organize your workflow and maximize your time.
Communication becomes more straightforward. When your team knows what is expected of them, they cooperate more efficiently with fewer misunderstandings and conflicts.
2. Communicate frequently
When you’re managing an outsourced team, staying connected and communicating efficiently should be a
top priority. Often, when an outsourced project fails, it is not because of the team’s lack of technical skills and competence but poor communication and coordination. That is why managers should encourage frequent contact between their in-house and outsourced teams. They should also encourage
their employees to express their opinions and make sure they feel like they’re being heard. That creates a positive working environment and happy employees, and a happy team is a productive team. Without solid and regular conversations and discussions with your remote team, you reduce the opportunity to receive necessary feedback, which can affect teamwork. Good communication guarantees issues are resolved efficiently, problems limited, and results delivered as expected. It boosts morale and output, helps build trust, increases loyalty, and prevents significant matters. Luckily, there are many communication tools out there to facilitate communication with your outsourced team. Daily or weekly voice meetings or video calls is an effective way to get the team together to discuss updates and double-check that everyone remains on task.
3. Implement a flexible working schedule
Supporting a flexible schedule gives employees the accountability, empowerment, and reassurance to focus on results rather than attendance. When they have control over their schedules, they can work when they feel the most energized and motivated, thus being more productive, focused, and quicker. Also, flexible working hours promote and facilitate a healthier work-life balance and, as a result, better performance.
4. Give feedback
Providing feedback is necessary and beneficial, especially when the team works remotely. Ongoing feedback is the best way to let your employees know how they perform and what is expected from them. Clear and constructive feedback will help your remote team learn from their mistakes, build confidence and continuously improve. That will keep them motivated, engaged, and enthusiastic. Also, it fosters loyalty, boosts morale, and increases their productivity.
5. Keep tasks simple
When the team is working on an important project, they can easily feel overwhelmed by the volume of the tasks they’re responsible for completing. This feeling can make them feel overwhelmed, and the tasks seem insurmountable. The work is more manageable and less intimidating by providing clear, detailed instructions, setting priorities, and breaking the bigger project into smaller tasks. This critical process will help maintain productivity while managing an outsourced team. It will also enable thorough project progress tracking and ensure that work is completed on time.
6. Promote continuous training and development
Make constant training and development part of your outsourcing strategy. Your company is constantly changing, and that is why outsourced workers need to stay up-to-date with new products, services, or processes so they can deliver a consistent experience. Valuing and encouraging your employees’ growth and personal development will make them feel supported and inspired at work, and they will naturally become more productive and satisfied with their work. Don’t hesitate to invest in your team and equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to become top performers.
7. Define clear objectives and expectations
A healthy relationship with your outside team begins with defining clear goals and expectations. Make sure to communicate the vision and the goal for the project. Clarify expectations around measurable goals and how they align with organizational objectives. Explain each person’s role in contributing toward making progress. That will ensure a successful project outcome and put you one step ahead of the competition.
8. Allow a learning curve
It is vital to allow your outsourced team to acquaint themselves with your products and services, gain competence in their work, and adopt the organizational culture. That will build their confidence and productivity, and over time, their skills will feel like second nature.
9. Choose the Right Outsourcing Partner
The choice of your outsourcing partner is a crucial step for the development of your company. The right outsourced team will effectively meet your needs to achieve optimal results. It will increase your business productivity, reduce development time, and tackle overall competition. Renowned companies like Cosmic Development have numerous benefits and programs to keep their entire outsourced workforce motivated and productive. We offer strongly qualified and motivated teams. Many companies proved successful cooperation with our teams worldwide.
Contact us today to assemble the right outsourcing team to boost your business growth.
Final thoughts
Using these tips when managing an outsourced team will increase their productivity, but it will also help improve your relationship with them. Knowing how to increase their efficiency and keep them motivated successfully is essential. Motivated employees are adaptable and more willing to put in the work and time required to run a successful business. We hope that this piece of advice will be helpful in your way of becoming an excellent manager to your outsourced team. You just have to follow it.
Looking for an experienced outsourcing partner?
Your company’s success depends on your outsourcing partner and the dedicated teams they offer. They are the lifeline of your organization. Partnering with the right provider can enable your organization to address key business challenges and respond to emerging trends effectively. Cosmic Development can offer you highly skilled and reliable dedicated teams. Our scalable team of talented professionals will be a valuable extension of your in-house team and help you achieve your business goals.
Schedule a free consultation today and learn more about our process, services, and the advantages of our business model.