Work With People Overseas

The modern workplace is changing. Where employees used to work in the same office or in the same building, they now work in teams with remote workers, contractors and office employees. More and more businesses have overseas clients and employees. Although this flexible model seems to be working for many companies, it can pose certain challenges for "dispersed teams." There are some general communication rules that can help ease the pressures of working with someone in a different country or time zone. Learn how to work with people overseas.

Steps

Dispersed Team Organization

  1. Ensure that you and the remote worker are set up to achieve good lines of communication. Consult your mutual manager to discuss some ideas on how to improve communication. The following are guidelines that managers with overseas employees often follow:
    • Keep common office hours. Email chains can take a lot longer than phone calls, so in order to ensure that you are able to talk to an overseas worker daily, adjust your office hours. Ask your manager if you can come in later and stay later. Perhaps, you can propose a compromise in hours, with the overseas worker adjusting their time toward yours by approximately 2 hours and you doing the same.
    • Plan to check in by phone once per day during busy, productive times and once per week in general. The amount that you need to communicate with an overseas worker will depend highly upon the project. When tensions are high, check in daily.
    • Choose the phone over email for important information. You may feel as though phone conversations are time consuming; however, they are more essential for communication with remote workers than with office workers. A remote worker may not have made a meeting or talked about something at the watercooler, so make the extra effort to update the worker by phone.
  2. Get the best technology tools available to you. Virtual work is easier because of the cost effectiveness of teleconferencing and video conferencing. Consider these other technological tools.
    • Download an instant messaging program to your computers. Services such as Google Chat, Adium or Trillian allow you to communicate in real time without video or phone conferencing. Connect during shared office hours to share feedback. Make sure to set yourself as invisible if you are away and set limits if it becomes distracting.
    • Get a web camera for web/video conferencing. You can use a free service like Facetime, for Apple computers, or Skype. Many professional companies will deploy a high quality video communication solution that is more secure & immersive than free solutions, and ensures the solution has services and support attached. Talk to your employers to discuss video communication options to improve your remote connectivity.
    • Use a File Transfer Program (FTP). Emails with large attachments can clog up email systems or get rejected from servers. An FTP hosts a file for download from a remote location. Companies may choose to have an FTP bundled with their website services for ease of use.

Dispersed Team Tips

  1. Respond to emails quickly during office hours. Many people treat email as an instant messenger system. Prioritize emails from overseas workers so that you know to get to them more quickly, and you will be rewarded with a more efficient working relationship.
  2. Avoid sarcasm in written communication. Sarcasm is notoriously hard to convey via email. Rethink your phrasing to overseas workers more than you would to your office mates, because you'll have a harder time working through a miscommunication remotely.
    • Sense of humor is highly subjective. If the overseas workers are of a different nationality, you should not assume that they understand your sense of humor, especially by email. Try to control the amount of idiomatic phrases you use.
  3. Keep a clock on your desktop set to overseas time. Both Windows and Apple computers have applications that allow you to set a foreign time. Keeping it on your desktop for easy reference will help you to manage work with overseas workers or clients.
    • On Windows 7 operating system (OS) or above, go to your control panel. Select the "Desktop Gadgets" option. Select the clock. Hover over the clock on your desktop. When a small wrench appears, click it to change your clock options. Set the clock's time to your overseas worker's time.
    • On Mac OS, drag your dashboard application onto your desktop/shelf, if you have not already. Click on the clock. Click the small "i" for "info" in the lower right corner. Select a location and click "Save."
  4. Keep an open mind when working with people from different nationalities. Working with people overseas may seem daunting, but it also gives you the opportunity to learn about a new person and country. Deal with creative and cultural differences as they come up, instead of ignoring them.
  5. Plan an assessment of the overseas relationship 1 to 2 times per year. Consult your manager about the productivity of the work and any changes you'd like to make.
  6. Keep in touch with clients, customers & colleagues face-to-face via video. To start with, many people are uncomfortable with this, but after a few weeks, this can become very natural and keep you connected, build relationships and greatly improve business by enabling collaborative meetings wherever you are located, in an instant.
    • Not everyone works well remotely or works well with remote workers. If you have given it a good try to it isn't working, be honest with your manager. Remember that learning to work with remote workers can be seen as a valuable skill in the new business environment.

Things You'll Need

  • Common office hours
  • Phone
  • Instant messaging program
  • Web camera
  • Web conferencing account
  • File transfer program
  • Desktop clock
  • Manager assessment

References

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