Building an effective global team is challenging under most circumstances. When the team is formed after outsourcing and US layoffs, it can become even more challenging for the remaining (US) team members to work well with the new (offshore) members.
A major global media research organization had recently outsourced about 30% of the work processes in the production of one of its key products to a young team of analysts in India. In the course of the outsourcing, a number of US associates had lost their jobs or been reassigned. Predictably, there was resentment on the part of some of the key, expert, US associates who remained on the product team.
The new team in India received its training from the remaining US team. In the first months of the new outsourced operations process, there were errors, misunderstandings and delays. The quality of the delivered research product suffered badly.
Joining as the operations leader of this team, I spent time with each associate to understand their role, skills and challenges. Together we reviewed and modified the overall operations process – and better defined roles and responsibilities. We began to work more closely with the offshore team on training and skill building; and we established operational controls, metrics and touch points to insure that work proceeded on schedule and any issues were quickly flagged and resolved. Finally, we began regular teleconference sessions between all team members, addressing production issues, lessons learned and quality improvements.
As a result of the focus on better understanding, coordination and measurable KPIs, the operations process became more predictable and timely. Fewer errors occurred and issues were able to be addressed more timely. Several of the US associates became effective trainers and mentors – and all of the offshore associates’ skills improved significantly. And the overall communication and level of cultural understanding improved significantly across the global team.