How to Build and Manage a Successful Outsource Team

For many companies, offshoring offers a genuine solution to many business problems. Outsourcing delivers effective cost and performance improvements, resulting in significant savings without sacrificing productivity. In fact, driving productivity gains through the ability to enhance services, and hire ahead of the curve.

In 2021, outsourcing is an increasingly powerful option for businesses – the efficiency in managing essential operational processes with visibility, flexibility, transparency, and control and the ability to tap into specialists with lower cost levels. Here are some tips on how to start outsourcing.

People Tips

While outsourcing can be an effective business strategy in numerous industries, finding the right approach to your outsource team and managing it the right way is important to ensure success. Working with a remote team does not need to be difficult, stressful, or complicated. All it requires is good business planning and the right approach to managing your people. Here are tips on how to manage an offshore team:

1. Allow a learning curve

   Outsource teams are working remotely, so it is important to give them some time to fully acquaint themselves with your business before they can function effectively. Train new team members and give them time to familiarise themselves with your products or services and adopt your business culture as theirs.

2. Communicate with them regularly

   Regular communication is critical to building a successful outsource team. Developing good communication rhythm brings a huge amount of comfort, connectivity, and engagement with your outsource team. A 10-minute catch up via Skype, a daily “huddle”, or a weekly Zoom meeting can make a huge difference. With so many virtual tools available today, it becomes much easier to communicate with your team. Meetings can be:

   • 1-on-1 schedule
   • Daily huddles
   • Weekly catchup
   • Monthly meeting
   • Quarterly review

3. Share valuable feedback

   Recognise your team’s accomplishments and give them positive feedback when they do good work. Celebrate small victories with your team to show appreciation and to keep them motivated, engaged, and enthusiastic. Doing this makes them feel valued, fosters loyalty, boosts morale, increases their productivity, and motivates them to work harder for you and your business.

4. Monitor performance

   Monitoring the performance of your outsource team is critical to ensure its success. Sitting on the other side of the world makes it challenging to manage the day-to-day tasks of your employees. At optiBPO, we have implemented a Performance Review Program called optiASSESS. In each stage, team members go through an evaluation process. The performance review process helps align staff, resources, and systems to meet the organisation’s strategic objectives.

5. Promote continuous training and development

   Continuous training and development should be part of your outsourcing strategy. One way to build a high performing team is to encourage employee growth. Invest in your outsource team and equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to become high performers. Enrol them in training programs to help further their education and learn new skills. In a recent online event, optiBPO team members in Clark, Manila, and Cebu attended a webinar sponsored by optiBPO promoting Personal Self-Mastery. Knowledge-sharing sessions like these help team members to build their confidence and trust among their team and the organisation.

6. Keep them engaged and motivated

   When team members are offshore, it is easy for them to feel isolated and alone when working remotely. The real value for an outsource team is making them an integral part of your company. Here are some tips to do this:

   • Treat your onshore and offshore teams equally
   • Invite your outsource team in team meetings
   • Allow them to collaborate with other team members onshore
   • Listen to what they have to say – suggestions, opinions, bright ideas

Structure Tips

Organisational structure is important for companies starting or expanding a business overseas through outsourcing. Outsourcing serves as a growth enabler, allowing you to redefine your structure to meet global objectives and goals.

1. Assign a team lead / onshore lead / POC

   While you may have multiple points of contact with your outsource team, having one person who is responsible for the general cohesiveness of your outsource team is an important ingredient. Time should be taken to select the right person. The role of your onshore lead may include:

   • Daily, weekly and monthly catch ups
   • Be the first point of call if issues arise
   • Provide ongoing process support
   • Lead regular status reviews
   • Identify improvement initiatives
   • Provide input and advice on the extension and optimisation of your team

2. Drive accountability

   When working with an outsource team, it is necessary to clearly define their roles and responsibilities. Take the time to explain to your outsource team what your expectations are of them. Brief them on the assigned projects, discuss KPIs and goals and ensure they are aware of activities to prioritise. This will ensure expectations are aligned and enable your outsource team to take ownership of their work.

Process Tips

Having well defined and documented policies and procedures play an important role in effectively managing offshore resources and maximising the efficiencies that an offshore team can offer.

1. Build standard policies and procedures

   Having standard policies and procedures  play a significant role in building an outsource team. It allows you to seamlessly incorporate the outsourcing strategy into your business.  Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs provide a baseline against which processes can be managed, performance reported, and continuous improvement embedded. optidocs is the easy way to rapidly and cost effectively build Standard Operating Procedures for your business.  Well-documented SOPs have many benefits including: Here are some examples of business areas that you may need an SOP:

   • Accounting tasks like invoicing and purchasing
   • HR functions like recruiting new employees
   • Customer service functions like responding to inquiries and requests
   • Sales functions like processing sales orders
   • IT tasks like maintaining IT solutions and services
   • Logistics tasks like managing inventories and warehousing

   Check more example SOPs from optidocs.