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“You want someone who’s capable of building something from scratch and seeing it through. Finding these people frees the rest of your team to work more and manage less,” the book explains. Expecting your teammates https://remotemode.net/blog/10-tips-on-working-in-different-time-zones/ to be “always-on” doesn’t create the best culture and might make them feel disrespected. So, to avoid this, minimize the messages you send after hours and be patient if you don’t immediately get a response back.
This is why it’s paramount to keep detailed written records of all the processes and projects. Also, ensure every person involved has the right admin access to avoid late-night calls, hold-ups, and rescheduling. Teams employing a globally distributed workforce should pay special attention to learning and optimizing for different cultural specifics. Your employees’ communication styles, collaboration methods, and work schedules are largely impacted by their cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds.
Why do time zones exist?
Of course, differences in locations and backgrounds can also add another layer to the misunderstanding and distrust. If left unattended, this malpractice can take root and degenerate further into team silos. Similarly, working across time zones is beneficial to companies on a larger, operational level. Having distributed teams working across time zones essentially implies round-the-clock workflow.
Some companies have introduced a 4 days a week policy in their effort to take off the pressure that comes from working across time zones as compensation. This in many cases has improved productivity in more companies that have employees that work in different time zones. When working to establish functional global teams, organizations need to primarily focus on optimizing their communication. Teams working in multiple time zones can’t rely on synchronized communication, facial expressions, or non-verbal cues to decipher the message. As mentioned earlier, this can cause misunderstandings that can seriously affect operational processes and cause unnecessary delays. An overwhelming amount of research has been conducted over the past year to analyze the effects of the pandemic-mandated remote work.
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Maintaining culture is a vital component of every company’s business success, but it is especially critical for totally remote teams. Understanding the distinctions between creating and maintaining a dynamic culture in a remote work setting vs an office-based environment is of utmost importance and companies can not ignore it. Working across time zones brings unique challenges rarely encountered within the more traditional work models. As the rewards largely outweigh the drawbacks, it’s worth exploring the best team practices provided above to make working across time zones work. They will help you craft your perfect blend of flexibility, asynchronous work, and inclusive mindset to push your distributed team towards perpetual success.
- A remote team’s culture is conveyed in what you think (your values) and demonstrated in how you behave every day (your actions).
- It outlines the core vision, guiding principles, beliefs, and priorities of the organization as the essential driving force.
- Many business leaders are re-calibrating and tailoring their operations to best support a dispersed workforce.
- When you’re not in the same place with your teammates and you don’t have set work hours, one thing that becomes really important is frequent, clear communication.
- When attempting to develop functioning global teams, firms must first prioritize communication.
