In recent years, more companies have expanded their teams across multiple locations. Embracing international diversity can provide benefits, such as building specialized teams that offer new perspectives, broaden expertise, and help businesses compete in global markets. Our partners at Caraway, Brooklinen, and Tranzact have explored the perks of having a dedicated partner to help manage their international teams, achieving remarkable results and streamlined operations.
Let’s explore the benefits of having a global team and how to navigate the challenges.
How does having a global team help my business succeed?
Managing a multiple-location team can be a fulfilling experience if executed successfully. Companies that operate with dispersed support teams have reported enhanced productivity and the cultivation of a strong work culture. This model offers numerous other benefits:
Ensuring your Risk Mitigation Strategy:
Unexpected shifts and challenges in the market are inherent to every business. However, by having team members spread across various locations, the risks are significantly reduced due to your team’s capacity to provide a wide range of skills, insights, and resources across diverse locations. Where operations are located in countries with a high probability of natural disasters or political strife and unrest, a multi-country team might be a great way of ensuring a resilient and adaptable business.
Around-the-clock support for your clients:
As businesses expand into new markets, the demand for 24/7 client support has become vital. With team members located in multiple geographies, your company can provide uninterrupted assistance, leading to enhanced customer satisfaction.
Access to broader talent pools:
Finding talent remotely allows your company to tap into a global pool of diverse skills and expertise, taking you one step closer to finding your next team member.
Leverage multilingual capacity:
Having a culturally diverse team provides you with the opportunity to establish a multilingual workforce that fulfills your client’s language requirements. This has been particularly advantageous for companies like Tractive, a GPS pet tracking company, that expanded its operations into new countries while providing localized support with multilingual teams.
Increased diversity:
Cultural diversity in the workplace is essential for breaking stereotypes through the exploration of new cultures, perspectives, and work styles. Multicultural teams can foster a strong work culture and enhance collaboration.
Maximize cost efficiency without compromising on quality:
Remote work can reduce expenses considerably. Operating a distributed team leads to lower expenses related to infrastructure, utilities, and office spaces. By reducing overhead costs, companies can allocate resources strategically, and invest in growth initiatives for their business and the development of their teams, resulting in increased quality and improved customer satisfaction with their services.
Improved communication and management skills:
When managing a global team, many skills are put into practice such as communication, coordination, and collaboration. Operating in different time zones requires planning and a strong sense of leadership. This experience contributes to the professional growth of your outsourced team, as well as your in-house team.
Navigating the challenges and myths of working with global teams
Leading teams spread globally can provide many benefits, though managers face some challenges. Miscommunication and a lack of direction can severely affect your team’s capacity to operate effectively. These are the most common obstacles that require careful navigation to ensure successful results with your global team.
Communication with multiple-location teams
The first step to setting your team up for success is mastering communication. Technology has simplified many aspects of our lives, especially in this domain. Tools will become your allies as you establish an effective communication channel. Video conferencing software, project management tools, and cloud storage are essential for seamless operations or tracking productivity in remote teams.
After implementing the right tools, it is important to establish guidelines that define how and when communication takes place as well as define the purpose of each channel and response times. By setting clear expectations, you create a framework that promotes efficiency within your team.
Time-zones
Navigating through time zones can be a bit tricky. One of the most crucial steps to ensure smooth operation across multiple time zones is setting precise deadlines and timelines for your projects, considering the time difference. By being mindful of your team members’ working hours you can plan proactively and define due dates.
Cultural awareness
Cultural awareness is vital when managing culturally diverse teams. Understanding your team members’ cultural traits and backgrounds will strengthen communication and boost creativity. Engaging in these cultural considerations fosters a more harmonious work environment. One way of doing this is by honoring their holidays and traditions to improve their sense of belonging and adopting a flexible work style.
Building a multicultural team
If you want to expand your market globally, you should first answer the following questions: Is your chosen location in line with your business goals? How familiar are you with the industry and the region? Is my target audience in this location?
Once you’ve made an informed decision, it is time to build your team. Most businesses plan and strategize for this expansion by relocating a few team members. Others choose outsourcing companies to manage the logistics of recruiting and finding global talent and managing their team members.
At Boldr, we constantly look for methods and tools to help improve each team member’s satisfaction. Today, we offer support in over 14 languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), German, Italian, Dutch, Mandarin, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, and French. With the ability to immediately expand linguistic offerings based on our strategically diverse locations in the Philippines, Mexico, South Africa, and Canada.
We specialize in building global teams, no matter the size of your organization. If you are looking to expand your business to new locations, reach out to us.
Aitana Rangel Garibay is Boldr’s creative writer and she is passionate about writing purpose-driven stories.
