By giving the team members the ownership of a project or a process, companies can help the teams be more productive. It helps the teams see the vision of the company and put in efforts to realize it. This way, the firm can propel forward without the need for constant micromanagement.
Over the past few years, offshore development teams are on the rise.
90% of the US workforce plan to continue working remotely for the rest of their careers.
The scenario is the same when it comes to teams working in different parts of the world as well. With this radical shift towards telecommunication, companies are looking for ways to make the teams more productive and keep them engaged by striking the perfect balance with collaboration and ownership.
Both these factors are pillars for the overall growth of the organization.
Let’s take a look at what makes collaboration and ownership key to the success of offshore development teams.
The Criticality of Collaboration
Getting your teams to communicate clearly and efficiently is one of the mainstays of offshore collaboration. But there is more to just communication and comprehension when it comes to collaborating with teams that are geographically dispersed.
Self-Analysis: The first and foremost advantage of collaboration is that it promotes self-analysis. The teams can use different collaboration methods and tools to think, be clear about their competencies, priorities, and goals. This helps them measure their strengths and weaknesses. Also, the reflection helps the teams work as one big team by complementing each other and filling in the gaps.
Better Problem Solving: Offshore development teams are a melting pot of talented individuals, who are greatly competent, and experienced. With effective collaboration in place, people from dissimilar backgrounds can thrive without any hassle. It makes the team understand the pain points and the sweet spots and how to leverage their best potential. It helps the teams utilize their skills, knowledge, and experience to find the optimal solution to various problems. This way, they can achieve all the goals on their agenda within the stipulated time frame, or better, accelerate the process manifold.
Lessons in Growth: Collaboration is all about getting to learn regularly. With streamlined collaboration, teams learn new things from each other and get the confidence to go past their comfort zones. It helps see things from a new perspective and, therefore, helps take the business to new altitudes.
Fine-Tuning Skills: Collaboration also provides the offshore team members the opportunity to fine-tune their skills as they all work together and interact with one another. For instance, they can see the methodologies used by fellow team members, how differently they operate and work, or think. This allows them to learn the skills and be on the same page as their fellow team members.
Greater Efficiency: Collaborating in the workplace can lead to better efficiency and help the teams in completing tasks within the stipulated deadlines. The handover of tasks between team members happens smoothly, people don’t waste time waiting for each other to communicate about tasks’ status, and the workflow runs smoothly – leading to enhanced efficiency for everyone involved.
Ownership - The Need of the Hour
Companies today are setting up both onsite and offshore engineering teams. There is an acute need for ownership as it helps build the strongest foundation of trust among the team members and empowers them to manage the core areas of the business. It brings forth responsibility and makes each of the members accountable and vested in the growth of the organization. At the same time, it is incredibly motivating. The other benefits of owning an offshore team are:
Makes Team More Independent: Ownership encourages the offshore team to think a way forward. It makes them more independent by allowing them to ask questions that are vital in decision-making. Without any day-per-day instructions, the team members can get sufficient time to bring forth new solutions and communicate with all the involved stakeholders. This way, there will be multiple inputs from independently thinking team members.
Well-Defined Responsibility: Well-defined responsibility is another important factor when it comes to defining the success of offshore teams via ownership. This is because a typical business will have numerous roles for the team members. Giving the team members ownership of their roles with clearly defined responsibility will lead them to have a more focused approach for the area of business and help them achieve more with minimal efforts.
The Big Picture
Whether your team is struggling with their tasks or looking for motivation, collaboration and ownership are two keys that can help them move forward with ease - especially when the team is working remotely. While there are no hard and fast rules as to how to implement these, you can always set clear expectations and provide all the necessary support to propel your offshore teams to success.