Managing Outsourced Teams: Key Strategies for Success
Outsourcing work to external providers has become a common practice for companies looking to reduce costs, gain efficiencies, and leverage specialized expertise.
While outsourcing can provide many benefits, it also brings unique management challenges, especially when it involves coordinating outsourced teams.
In this post, we’ll explore key strategies for effectively managing outsourced teams.
Why Outsourced Team Management Matters
When you outsource work, you are relying on an external provider to deliver results. However, these external teams don’t have the same vested interests, motivations, or organizational context as your internal staff.
As a result, managing outsourced teams requires a different approach compared to managing in-house employees. Failing to adapt can lead to missed objectives, quality issues, cost overruns, and strained working relationships.
On the other hand, when done right, outsourced team management unlocks the full potential of your external partnerships. The keys are aligning expectations, facilitating collaboration, monitoring progress, and nurturing a spirit of shared mission.
Challenges of Managing Outsourced Teams
Here are some of the most common challenges faced when managing outsourced teams:
1. Lack of organizational alignment
Outsourced teams work for a different company with its own priorities and incentives. This can make it difficult to get outsourced staff invested in your organization’s goals.
2. Communication barriers
Language differences, geographic distance, and cultural gaps can hamper communication between clients and outsourced teams.
3. Unclear requirements
Insufficient project scoping caused by lack of client insight into their own needs. This leads to unrealistic expectations.
4. Lax governance
Without proper oversight, it’s easy for outsourced teams to stray from agreed processes, leading to delays, quality issues, and cost overruns.
5. Weak relationships
Building rapport and trust across organizational boundaries takes work. Without it, collaboration suffers.
8 Key Strategies for Managing Outsourced Teams
Let’s look at some proven strategies for overcoming these challenges:
1. Set clear objectives and requirements
Leave no room for ambiguity about expected outcomes, responsibilities, timelines, and success criteria. Document everything thoroughly.
2. Maintain ongoing communication
Schedule regular status updates via phone, email, collaborative portals, or virtual meetings. Be responsive to queries.
3. Assign client-side relationship managers
Dedicated staff to liaise with outsourced teams daily. They will provide support, track progress, and head off problems.
4. Use project management tools
Online tools help centralize communication, documents, task lists, and workflows for enhanced visibility.
5. Conduct progress reviews
Evaluate team output and performance regularly to realign efforts, if needed.
6. Build personal connections
Get to know the outsourced staff. Onsite kickoff meetings and team-building exercises help nurture mutual understanding.
7. Incentivize desired behaviors
Structure contracts to reward performance, knowledge transfer, and other priorities through bonuses or penalties.
8. Standardize processes
Jointly develop playbooks governing workflows, quality standards, collaboration methods, and governance protocols.
Tips for Managing Offshore Outsourced Teams
If your outsourced teams are offshore, unique strategies can help bridge geographic and cultural divides:
- Overlap a few working hours for real-time collaboration. Schedule calls when teams are online simultaneously.
- Use collaboration technologies like video conferencing, instant messaging, and file-sharing portals.
- Conduct occasional onsite immersion visits to build relationships and alignment.
- Offer cultural training and language classes to enhance understanding.
- Define communication protocols and clarify etiquette expectations.
- Share context about holidays, office hours, and local workplace norms.
- Document requirements meticulously to minimize ambiguities.
Key Takeaways for Outsourced Team Management
Managing outsourced teams takes work, but pays dividends if done right. Remember these keys to success:
- Set crystal clear expectations upfront. Leave no room for interpretation.
- Facilitate ongoing communication through multiple channels.
- Designate client-side staff to coordinate daily with outsourced teams.
- Use project management tools to enhance oversight and alignment.
- Review progress continuously. Course correct when needed.
- Prioritize relationship building between client and outsourced staff.
- Structure win-win incentives based on performance and collaboration.
- Jointly develop standardized processes and governance protocols.
With the right strategies, outsourced teams can function as seamless extensions of your organization. The keys are commitment, communication, and collaboration. By investing time into managing outsourced teams, you can build effective partnerships that deliver robust results.
