Managing teams is a skill most founders pick up in their start-up journey. As the business grows, teams expand into other countries, and employees from various backgrounds join in. With remote work being as prevalent as it is today, cross-cultural teams are inevitable for companies expanding globally. This is where the real challenge of managing cross-cultural remote teams starts.
Cracking the code for managing cross-cultural remote teams is a must for business leaders today and in the future.
Before we get into how leaders can sail through managing cross-cultural remote teams, let’s see why these teams are important and how they bring in more business for you.
Here’s Why Cross-Cultural Teams are Valuable
We’ve all read that building cross-cultural teams is good for businesses. However, what are the major reasons why you should start hiring internationally? Below listed are some of the most important benefits that come from onboarding across borders.
Brings in diversity:
Cross-cultural teams result in a very diverse workforce with multiple nationalities working together. This helps every employee communicate effectively, understand various cultures, and learn new things on the job. Working with employees across borders also helps founders understand the nuances of the talent in each country and gives them the opportunity to explore business in different areas.
Helps get access to global talent:
Typically, an organization only hires local employees who can work from the office every day. But that’s not the case with cross-cultural remote teams. When a business taps into the global hiring pool, the opportunities to hire the best talent in the world open up.
Enables hiring experts across domains:
One of the pain points when building teams is looking for the best leaders who have the right experience and skills. While this may be possible locally, a founder may not find the best experts. For example, the APAC region is very well known for roles like Software Engineering and Sales, and a founder in the USA may not be able to consider these experts unless they are working with cross-cultural remote teams.
Keeps your business running 24/7:
Yes, multiple time zones are difficult to navigate through, but there’s a huge silver lining to it. With employees across the globe, a business can practically run 24/7. Irrespective of when a client has a query or when something in the back end needs attention, someone will always be there to step in and do the deed.
When you look at it from a global perspective, having cross-cultural teams in your organization is probably one of the best ways to drive in more business. It will help you attract more international talent and will inevitably lead to a stronger workforce.
Mastering the Art of Managing Cross-Cultural Remote Teams
The Oxford Dictionary defines culture as – ‘the customs and beliefs, art, way of life, and social organization of a particular country or group.’
Yes, keeping all of this in mind whilst managing remote teams may seem difficult, but we’re here to help.
Cross-cultural team-building activities, training, and a few other core points can help businesses effectively manage teams.
Below are some practices that businesses must follow to ensure a smooth functioning of a cross-cultural team.
Provide cross-cultural training
It is imperative that your crosscultural team interacts and interacts the right way. Yes, communicating within different cultures isn’t always as smooth as one might think. However, there’s one easy solution; cross-cultural training. This training will help team members understand each other and get better cultural insights, and it will be a huge step toward managing cross-cultural teams.
Develop a global work environment
Each member of a cross-cultural team should be aligned with the same goals, expectations, and way of work, irrespective of their location. The best way to do this is by setting global standards across the organization and by ensuring that each member acknowledges and understands this culture. The team may be cross-cultural in nature, but the policies should help the team collectively be part of the overall company culture.
Maintain cultural sensitivity
This is absolutely essential when managing cross-cultural remote teams. A good way to ensure cultural sensitivity is by ensuring that team members take an active interest in the different cultures around them. Organizations should also observe and accommodate various local holidays and festivals. Respecting different traditions is the key to maintaining cultural sensitivity.
Deal with conflicts ASAP
One of the best conflict management techniques is to create an environment where employees can freely reach out and share any problems within the workplace. However, if an employee doesn’t feel comfortable reaching out via text threads or email, encourage them to reach out to their managers on a personal level. Leaders should also follow a zero-tolerance policy for any cultural remarks that may create conflicts within teams.
Organize team-building activities
Team-building activities are not only fun, but they also boost employee engagement and help employees get to know each other on a deeper level. This can be anything from small games, quizzes, or even a casual catch-up. Clubbing employees together on different projects and organizing knowledge-sharing sessions are also great ways of encouraging intercultural interactions in the workplace. Apart from this, having conversations that aren’t always work-related is an excellent way to unwind and develop relationships.
Managing cross-cultural teams is not as difficult if you keep the above-mentioned points in mind. Cross-cultural teams bring in a lot of benefits for your organization, and these efforts are a small price to pay for the results.
How can Multiplier empower your cross-culture team-building efforts?
Well, the first step to building cross-cultural teams is hiring internationally, and that’s where Multipler shines. We take care of any hurdles you may face in your remote hiring journey, and much more!
Multiplier has a massive portfolio of over 150+ countries that you can hire from without setting up a single foreign entity. We take care of onboarding, IT asset delivery, benefits, and payroll. You get to work with the employees you choose, in the countries you choose!
We can generate 100% compliant, multilingual contracts employment contracts in any country in just a few minutes. Contract generation can take days, or even weeks when an employer moves to international hiring independently.
Our legal team ensures that all the labor codes and mandatory tax deductions are followed and keep you away from any compliance issues.
Sounds interesting? Book a demo and start your journey to building cross-cultural teams now!
