Managing Virtual Teams the Cybalink Way

 

The BPO Industry started as a sunrise industry —and it’s growing and expanding!

It’s not uncommon for business owners to believe it’s tough to manage a remote team. We’re here to prove otherwise. When debating whether to form a remote team, business owners may have management concerns. For Australian businesses, the offshore team will likely be thousands of miles away. It’s natural to think you may not be able to create a streamlined workflow with it.

But you’d be very surprised to find out how simple it actually is. With the right tools and processes in place, managing a remote team can be quite effortless. In certain cases, it can be just as easy as managing your onsite team.

In this article, you’ll read about some of the best practices for managing your remote team. You’ll also discover how Cybalink Solutions’ tools can make this process much smoother. But first, let’s dive into one of the cornerstones of successful management.

Communication Is Key

How do you manage your onshore or local team?

Of course, there’s going to be some form of communication. Effective communication is at the core of management for all businesses. However, a good number of people consider face-to-face communication to be the only effective way to manage teams. While this might be true in the past, a lot has changed in the past few years. Technology has advanced to a point where you can communicate virtually face-to-face with all of your employees anywhere. This is part of why remote teams have become so popular. You can have the benefits of offshoring without disrupting your workflow or company culture. In fact, offshoring can further streamline your workflow if done appropriately.

For the most part, it’d require the proper integration of your offshored team into your onshore team even with the distance. Your offshore team can feel like they belong in your business and subscribe to its culture as well as your onshore team does. If this sounds too good to be true, it’s probably because you balk at having to tackle all of this on your own. Outsourcing, and offshoring in particular, does require a bit of effort to set up. But you know it’s going to be worth it in the end. But you don’t have to do it all alone. Most companies did it with the help of an outsourcing and offshoring provider. That’s the role of Cybalink Solutions, which specialises in the construction and engineering industry.

Let’s see how Cybalink Solutions’ solutions can make setting up and managing an offshore team enjoyable and hassle-free.

1. Onboarding Support

Effective onboarding is the key to successful long-term management. Even the most talented employees aren’t going to perform well if your company makes them feel out of place. You need to make sure the outsourced employees understand everything about your business and their roles. Cybalink Solutions can help you with this in a number of ways.

First of all, we get to know your business inside out before we start looking for your future team members. This allows us to find people whose skills and values are in alignment with yours. To be doubly certain, we make the final selection together with you. You can see for yourself if the prospect is a prime candidate to become an integral part of your business for the long haul. However, our support goes beyond this. We’ll go over the onboarding process with you every step of the way. We’ll make sure that your goals are clearly communicated to the remote team and that they know exactly what to do. At the end of onboarding, you should have an offshore team that fits the local team as well as possible.

2. Cross-Cultural Workshops

Many people are of the opinion, perhaps rightfully, that cultural differences can prevent them from managing a remote team with any efficiency. You’ll be working with people whose culture you may not know anything about. Can you even be sure you’ll be able to get your point across? That’s only true if you make no effort to know the other culture and you don’t have anyone to guide you along. Talk to the business owners who have successfully offshored with Cybalink Solutions and they’ll tell you that there’s no reason to worry.

Our clients haven’t had any trouble aligning their culture with their team’s. Part of that is that we don’t allow any room for misunderstanding. We set up cross-cultural workshops that will take care of this problem for your company and the outsourced team. These workshops have been so designed to put our clients and their teams on the same page. You’ll learn about your team’s culture and what motivates them to do their best work. This is a vital component of the effective management of your outsourced team. Of course, we’ll also make sure each team member understands your local and team cultures perfectly. This should help eliminate potential confusion or interruptions in communication. Along with our other solutions, the workshops aim to make your new team feel included and valued.

3. A Transparent KPI System

Key performance indicators (KPIs) agive you clarity and allow your business to focus on its main strengths. Besides, you can track your progress with the help of your KPIs and see if you’re going in the right direction. If not, your KPIs will guide you. You must have a clear KPI system that all the key people in your company have access to. This is another thing that gives everyone the same frame of reference regarding your vision and goals. 

Plus, the system shows the team members their individual contribution to the company’s success. With the right KPIs in place, everyone can find out exactly how their work influences some of your most important metrics. We’ll help you set up a KPI system that accounts for all of the above. Both your onsite and remote teams will have access to the system so that they can all work cohesively.

4. Performance Management Sessions

When you work with Cybalink Solutions, you don’t have to do anything related to outsourcing on your own. Of course, this includes managing your remote team. Our performance managers can help you manage your employees with ease and effectiveness.

The performance management sessions are only one of our many tools. During the sessions, our managers will assess every aspect of the work your remote team is doing. During the sessions, you’ll be able to see how the remote team contributed to your success. And if there are any issues, our managers can help you sort them out right there and then. 

5. Frequent Communication

Thus far, we’ve talked about your communication with the remote team. But who are you going to contact if you need any help?

Cybalink Solutions, of course!

As mentioned, our goal isn’t just to find capable people for your remote team. On top of that, we’re also committed to helping you manage your team in the long run for you to achieve lasting success. Naturally, communication is the key to this. This is why we stay in touch with our clients on a regular basis.

We have clear touchpoints with each client to make sure that everything is running smoothly. These sessions occur weekly, fortnightly, and monthly. This shows us how your remote team is performing and the impact they have on your success. With Cybalink Solutions, you’ll always have the support needed to manage your remote team effectively.

Expanding the Right Way

Remote workers should be more than just a faraway team to your business. The new outsourced employees should be an extension of your local team in order to have a perfect fit. And with Cybalink Solutions, you should have no problem making this happen. As you can see, our solutions can help you in a number of ways. From finding the right people to managing them in the long term, we’ve got you covered. Find out why the companies who used Cybalink Solutions for their offshoring needs have achieved outstanding success.



Get in touch today to book a confidential call with our co-founders Kim Lombardi and John Rodgers.

 

Cybalink Solutions Calculator

If you want to know how much you would save from outsourcing with Cybalink Solutions, use our engineering and construction offshore savings calculator FOR FREE.

CALCULATE


Ready to Transform Your Business?

Discover how Cybalink Solutions can help you achieve up to a 70% overhead reduction through our Philippine outsourcing solutions. Let's explore how to optimize your operations, lower costs, and increase margins.

Book a free consultation!

How to Deal with Skill Shortages in 2020

 

The shortage of workers in construction and engineering continues to grow. Luckily, there’s a lot that you can do to overcome this challenge.

Back in 2008, the construction industry took quite a hit. The housing crisis put a dent in the sector as a whole and everything was slow for a while. Luckily, the industry has not only recovered but even flourished more than ever. Over the last few years, we’ve seen a construction boom on a global scale. And this trend looks certain to continue in 2020. All around the world, numerous projects of all scopes and sizes are underway. Since experts pretty much agree this growth is set to go on in the near future, it’s a good time to be in the construction industry. However, with growth comes another challenge, which actually isn’t anything new.

The Growing Labour Shortage

In 2006, reportedly 600,000 construction workers and engineers left their professions. The consequences of this mass exodus industry is still felt today. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics even reported 434,000 vacant construction jobs as of April of last year. That’s in the US alone. These skill shortages might already have affected you, putting up many challenges in front of your business. Your timelines get longer, which can be problematic on its own. Numerous projects are facing 30-day delays, going up by 150 days in the worst cases. Of course, this adds to your overall costs, which can be substantially higher. Not only do you have to pay the workers more, but retaining them is another challenge. The skill shortage has increased staff turnovers in the construction industry as a whole. Many companies are struggling to keep projects running smoothly and without interruptions. If you recognise any of the above issues in your business, you don’t have to worry just yet. There’s a simple and convenient way to overcome the skill shortage.

How Cybalink Can Help

One of the most effective ways to counter skill shortages is to outsource. In recent times, many construction, engineering, and mining companies have gone down this road. And a good percentage of them got excellent results. For more than 17 years, Cybalink Solutions is the preferred outsourcing specialist for construction and engineering businesses. We’ve worked with top ASX-listed companies in helping them expand beyond their onsite team. You may wonder how our services can help you overcome the skill shortage. Here are the top benefits of working with us:

1. You Can Find the Exact Talent Needed

Cybalink can help you fill just about any vacant position. Our aim is to ensure that you have all of the support needed to create a streamlined workflow. To make this happen, we connect you with capable professionals in the relevant fields. Your remote construction and engineering staff can handle specialised tasks, like:

  • Engineering design
  • Architecture
  • Estimating
  • Structural detailing/drafting

We can also provide an offshore HR team for handling all of the processes related to recruitment and management. From background checks to KPI tracking, our professionals can make HR management a lot more efficient. Furthermore, we can also connect you to professionals in the following areas:

  • Data management and processing
  • Finance and accounting
  • Administration support
  • Marketing
  • IT

If you run into any bottlenecks, we can expand your team in a way that ensures seamless workflow.

2. Quick and Simple Recruitment

We at Cybalink Solutions understand how valuable your time is. Our goal is to help you complete your projects with maximum efficiency. For this, we always do our best to provide you with the professionals that you need in a timely manner. After we get to know your business and its needs, we’ll help you recruit the best people for the job. Better yet, we can put them to work as quickly as possible. Our short turnaround time is something that our clients particularly appreciate. With other outsourcing providers, you may have to wait up to 100 days before you can get your outsourced team up and running. With Cybalink Solutions, that’s down to 2-4 weeks only. Of course, we won’t make any important decisions and changes without your input. To make sure our clients take on the right people, we encourage them to participate in the final recruitment stage. During the second interview round, you get to make the final selection about who to hire for each of the positions available.

3. Specialist Knowledge 

Most outsourcing and offshore providers attempt to cover multiple industries at once. Because of this, they might not have a full understanding of what’s required in the construction industry. But not Cybalink, as we specialise in mining, engineering, and construction. Cybalink’s founder and managing director Kim Lombardi spent five years on a wide range of construction and engineering project sites. This gave her first-hand knowledge of the challenges that these businesses go through. She spent another 11 years working with a burgeoning construction and engineering company. With her help, the company grew to a one-billion-dollar business. Since the founding of Cybalink, she has been using her knowledge to help many businesses achieve their goals. This put Cybalink in the leading position of providing mining, construction, and engineering businesses with workforce solutions. When you work with us, you have a provider that understands your specific challenges. More importantly, you have a company that can help you overcome them.

4. You’ll Get a Dedicated Team

As mentioned, our goal is to smoothen your processes and remove inefficiencies. Toward this end, we’ll be doing a lot more than providing you with an offshore team. Through it all, you’ll have our ongoing support regarding all outsourcing matters. We’ll help you bring new people on board and make sure that everyone understands their role. In addition, we can guarantee that every person we connect you with will be working exclusively for your company. You won’t be sharing resources with other businesses, which is how outsourcing should ideally work. You can expect an outsourced team dedicated only to your needs.

5. You Get to Save Money

Cost-effectiveness is near or at the top of the list for any company that chooses to outsource. This is even more prominent when going offshore, where lower labour costs are to be justifiably expected. Hiring a remote team can bring significant cost reductions right away. However, this is not the only way that our services can help you save money. As mentioned, we handle all aspects of the recruitment process. Once we’ve gotten familiar with your business, we’ll go above and beyond to find the right ones in terms of offshored team members. Not having to deal with recruitment will save you both time and money. Moreover, the professionals will become an integral part of your team. They’ll understand your company culture and communicate it to future team members. This will help your remote team to integrate better with your onsite team. Of course, there are other things you can do to further ease the integration, which we’ll fill you in when the time arrives. 

6. Long-Term relationships

Skill shortages aren’t going away any time soon. You’ll need a reliable outsourcing provider that can help you with this in the long run. We believe in establishing fruitful long-term relationships with our clients. As a result, many of them have been with us for a number of years. Best of all, we’re proud to say we’ve played a role in their success. When you work with us, you’ll find out why this is the case. We’ll do everything in our power to help you find and retain the best professionals.

Don’t Allow the Shortage to Hold you back

Although skill shortages are certainly a major challenge, it doesn’t have to prevent you from achieving your goals. Working with a specialised outsourcing provider can help you break through the barriers put up by the shortage. If you haven’t yet, it’s high time to put together a capable remote team. You’ll get to work with increased efficiency and grow without interruptions.



Get in touch today to book a confidential call with our co-founders Kim Lombardi and John Rodgers.

 

Cybalink Solutions E-Book Link

If you are considering outsourcing and find talent like Karl, start your outsourcing journey today with this e-book.

Click here to download!

Ready to Transform Your Business?

Discover how Cybalink Solutions can help you achieve up to a 70% overhead reduction through our Philippine outsourcing solutions. Let's explore how to optimize your operations, lower costs, and increase margins.

Book a free consultation!