8 Steps to Successfully Build and Maintain Multinational Remote Teams
In this article, Tatiana Cirio, head of people, Rocket.Chat, shares how remote-first goes beyond being a benefit to being essential for multinational companies. She also shares how companies can successfully build and maintain multinational remote teams.
Post-pandemic, many companies are eager to go back to being 100% on-site. A Deloitte survey of its top clients revealed that, despite most being fully remote in the near term, 89% plan to be fully back in the workplace sometime in 2021.
While remote-first companies reap many benefits, such as increased employee productivity and decreases overhead costs, for multinational companies, remote-first goes beyond being a benefit to being essential.
Being remote-first opens new possibilities in a world that is increasingly global and connected through technology. The inherent flexibility in the model gives companies a strong value proposition for attracting employees. Lifting the limits imposed by geography expands your talent pool. It lets you build sales, customer service and support teams in different time zones to help develop markets in those regions. It is a huge benefit to have employees situated close to clients and not 3,000 miles away trying to figure out what the culture is like.
See More: Lessons Learned: 3 Actions To Take if You Manage Remote Teams
With a wide geographic reach, you can also stay on top of technology trends happening worldwide and not only within the local region where your firm is based. Access to this cultural diversity can help bring new ideas into your framework and make your workplace attractive to engineers and software developers who want to work for a company that is at the forefront of technology.
However, becoming a remote-first company is not as simple as just declaring your intention. It requires a reimagined company culture. A completely remote workforce spread throughout the globe will face different challenges than one that operates in a single, traditional office environment. These challenges may include hiring the right talent, communication obstacles, ensuring objectives are met, and making sure people can adapt to the new work environment.
Here are eight recommendations to help meet those challenges.
1. Hire the Right Talent
Consider the type of person who is well suited for a remote-first environment, for example, an individual who is able to work from home. Many people count on their colleagues to be their support network. A high level of ongoing, hands-on support is typically not sustainable within a remote-first infrastructure. Working remotely is not for everyone, and it should not be forced on anyone.
2. Speak a Common Language
If your remote workers are spread throughout the globe, consider ensuring that all your employees speak a common language, such as English, which is the most widely spoken language in the world. To have true cultural diversity, we need to be able to communicate with one another.
Be aware that although everyone may speak English, words and tone may have different meanings in different cultures. In some cultures, being verbally direct is an asset, while in others, it is considered aggressive. HR may need to step in at various points if misunderstandings arise.
3. Keep Meetings to a Minimum, and Use Them Wisely
Scheduling meetings and keeping communication flowing can be complicated when you are a global company with people working in different time zones. Use all the different methods of communication available such as chat, to make it as easy as possible to communicate with one another and avoid scheduling too many meetings.
However, while you do not want to have a burdensome number of meetings, weekly meetings with your team are recommended. You can use this time to talk about areas where help is needed, and perhaps even more importantly, use the meeting as an opportunity to bond as a team. One approach is to use the first few minutes to share personal news and then go through the specifics of what team members are working on and how the week is going.
4. Manage Differences in Time Zones
Managing different time zones can be difficult, especially when there is one lone person working in a particular region. Hiring disciplined people is key. With employees working across different time zones, messages and emails may flow in at all hours of the day and night. If you are not disciplined, you will end up working all the time. Consider turning off phone notifications at night.
5. Ensure Access to Information
Keep the information in a place where everyone can access it. Create handbooks that contain everything an employee needs to work in your company, even practices for developing software. When working remotely, you cannot be as dependent on people as you would in an in-office environment. Ensuring that knowledge is easily accessible is critical.
6. Create a Company Culture
Tailor your onboarding process so that employees feel like they are part of a company. When you are on-site, it is easier initially to create bonds between people and be more collaborative.
To nurture company bonding, consider weekly All Hands Meetings, monthly “ask me anything” sessions with the CEO, virtual social events such as happy hour get-togethers, group video games, and even group virtual Samba or yoga classes.
See More: 5 Ways Remote Teams Can Collaborate Better and Meet Business Goals
7. Develop Clear Objectives and Deadlines
Use objectives and key results (OKRs) to map out monthly where you are heading and check in with people daily or weekly to follow up. Some areas need to have dailies because team members collaborate on projects, while other functions allow for more independent work.
8. Recognize We Are All Human
Sometimes we forget that there is an actual human behind that computer screen. Your employees are not robots. Make sure they have the space to speak and vent or even cry.
Becoming a remote-first company is not the right solution for every business. While there are challenges, for technology-based companies looking to globalization for new opportunities, adapting a remote-first business model can broaden your talent pool, help you become more productive and grow your client base all over the world.
What steps have you taken to build and maintain remote teams effectively? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
