How to Build an International Team

Thinking about building an interna tional team? The first question you should ask and consider carefully is Why do you believe you need an international team?If your answer is akin to “keeping up with the Joneses” or portraying a more robust, global corporate size, then you may be in for an expensive, frustrating and disappointing experience.

Global presence factors into the decision-making process of many large corporations. Some companies need to manage particular types of work more efficiently, while other companies need an international team as a result of a merger or acquisition. Despite having a compelling reason, creating an international presence effectively cannot be done overnight. 

The last several years have seen a dramatic increase in companies creating international teams spanning cultures and continents. This is especially true in the language industry. As language service providers, we manage international teams on a daily basis as we draw from worldwide resources in the form of subcontractors and vendor partners. However, we face unique challenges when building a more permanent proprietary team responsible for operational aspects such as sales, production, administrative support, fiduciary oversight and legal compliance.  

Successfully building and directing an international team involve more than simply assembling people from varied cultural backgrounds and expecting them to be efficient and productive. We should thus consider some key questions: Who will comprise these teams? Where will these teams be located? How will you interact and communicate with these teams? Who will manage these teams?

While we all can recognize the more obvious issues, such as language, time differences and geographical distance, factors such as cultural values, work ethic, leadership, management and interpersonal interaction are just as important to consider. A robust technical infrastructure is paramount to managing communication and information appropriately to ensure that you are building teams and not simply international workgroups. You want to ensure that all team members are using approved materials consistent with your corporate image as well as providing a method to monitor and interact with other team members. Therefore, before taking the plunge and building an international team, consider these factors.

Opportunities of building an international team. In some cases, the unique skills of the workforce in a particular geographic area lend themselves to forming an international team. In other cases, accessing the efficiencies and cost benefits of outsourcing services such as a call center, translation or production facility makes an international team attractive. In addition to cost benefits, you gain the capability of being able to respond to international client needs effectively. International teams also allow you to develop internal skills via a diverse group of leaders who can solve international problems.

Establishing teams in various locations throughout the world can be very beneficial, especially from a production point of view. Obvious factors come into play, such as lower overhead and labor costs when dealing with countries such as India or China, as well as the ability to recruit talent in these regions and leverage time zone differences. 

Challenges of building an international team. Establishing satellite offices raises additional considerations, such as lease costs, insurance, security and so on. You must also consider factors such as employment and wage rules and regulations, ensuring that correct business forms are filed in each jurisdiction. You must pay attention to exchange rates and payment methods, as well as taxation and fees associated with registering your business. In Mexico, for instance, the generally accepted work week is 48 hours. Double time is typically paid on the next nine hours, and triple time is paid for any hours above that. Holidays are usually paid triple time, so these are important considerations in analyzing the costs of employing in Mexico. 

The same issues that impact a fairly non-diverse, domestic group will be compounded exponentially with international expansion. You’ll experience individuals putting forth effort towards their own perceived mission rather than what you expect them to accomplish.

You’ll also experience the cliques or “inner circles” that develop in many organizations.

There’s the “in-crowd,” and the others in their outer circles. People in the outer circles can develop a sense of isolation, which can negatively impact morale and productivity. Add factors such as language and cultural differences, not to mention gender, race and religion, and the issue becomes more complex.

Types of international teams to build. Once you determine that the opportunities outweigh the challenges of building an international team, the next decision to make is what type of team to build: a virtual team or a physical staff.

Establishing a slew of international addresses and phone numbers by engaging business centers, hiring various individuals to work from home as satellite offices, or establishing a client service or production office in various locations and staffing it are typical ways of building a virtual team. If you plan on a physical presence, consider how you will recruit and train personnel to staff your international teams.  

Bear in mind, too, whether virtual or not, additional employees have costs above and beyond salary, so make sure you perform a cashflow analysis of any option you are considering. Ensuring that you have reliable legal and accounting resources is paramount, but much more easily satisfied than the more challenging issue of leadership and human resource management.  

Regardless of industry experience, a strong manager capable of being sensitive to cultural nuances while ensuring that the corporate mission is followed is critical to success. This cannot be accomplished by a few e-mails, phone calls and postings on an internet job board. You must have reliable, experienced and, most importantly, trusted feet on the ground in any country where you are considering establishing a presence.  

The biggest challenge in building your team. Regardless of the type of team you choose to build, once you’ve fully considered all of the logistical and fiscal issues, the biggest challenge is ensuring that there is continuity in your business operation and communication and that there is a definite plan in place for multicultural team building,  

leadership and management. Bad management and direction will rear their ugly heads if you do not plan accordingly, regardless of location or number of personnel. Without a carefully drafted plan for training and management and without ensuring that each member understands your mission and corporate values, often these multicultural teams aren’t necessarily working toward a common goal.  

The best salesperson doesn’t necessarily make the best sales manager, and the same is true for determining who will coordinate and oversee the activities of your external teams. While we’ve established the importance of working towards common solutions, there must be ongoing development and team building, especially when dealing with multicultural workgroups. Not only will you need to deal with cross-cultural communications problems, but the team leader will also have to manage internal communications, cultural differences and change, which may be dealt with differently than you are accustomed to.  

Creating your corporate culture and managing your international team. A key to international success is creating a corporate culture that people in other locations can easily identify with and understand. As you would with domestic team members, you should account for a variety of motivational factors aside from income, such as sensitivity to work schedule, methods of employee interaction and the modes through which you communicate.  

There is normally little point in establishing multicultural groups if team-building and leadership issues are not given due attention. Some of the areas that should be addressed include setting clearly defined productivity levels, identifying the factors that motivate each team member and outlining a continuous improvement plan. These are all things we address to some degree with a domestic staff, but they become even more important when managing a diverse group of international employees.  

When addressing intercultural team building, additional factors to bear in mind that will impact success include how you will manage change, ways of monitoring and increasing productivity, what the reporting structure will be, what is the decision-making process going to be for these teams and how are the limits of authority outlined. Team-building exercises and ongoing professional improvement will also be critical as each person must fully comprehend the processes by which the corporate culture and image is disseminated.  

On the cultural level, this involves team members coming to a full understanding of the processes in which they are involved, how decisions are made, how problems are solved and how their individual efforts contribute to the common goal of the company. When considering incentives or rewards or developing a plan for constructive criticism and feedback, remember that cultural mores can have an impact on how such things are perceived and accepted.  

Bear in mind the nuances of electronic communication. This can become an issue if not recognized and handled appropriately when dealing in a multilingual, multicultural setting. There is truly no substitute for face-to-face communication. Technology provides many options for ensuring cohesion. Video conferencing is a very effective way to conduct meetings since body language and expression play a critical role, especially in intercultural communication.  

When operating in China, for instance, remember that the Chinese are very much relationship-based whereas we, as Americans, are typically transactional and have a tendency to enter relationships from a position of perceived strength. Your manager or team leader, whether Chinese or not, must be familiar with the concept of guanxi, which is a central concept in Chinese society which describes the interpersonal relationship between two people. Guanxi is also used as a descriptor for an individual’s connections, which can be called upon when a favor is required. Being aware of these societal concepts and using them to your advantage are critical in managing a team effectively in that culture.  

Each international team member brings unique attitudes, perceptions and cultural values/beliefs to the table. These differences can cause major headaches, especially when leadership and styles can vary so greatly. Concepts such as trust and authority can have different meanings in other cultures, so again, a clearly defined role, responsibility, management and training path must be established. This leads to perhaps the most important point: you must have an individual in charge whom you fully trust with not only business decisions but with his or her ability to manage people and to determine what individuals’ beliefs and attitudes towards work are.  

Managing diverse teams for competitive advantage is critical since team members working collectively with a feeling of community are productive and beneficial. Team members who feel as though they are part of the decision-making process and clearly understand their roles and the goal of the company are more likely to take ownership in what they do and are more likely to enjoy working with the team. Never make the assumption that everyone understands.

Regardless of how you choose to build your international team, make sure the expectations of each team member are very explicit — and in writing. Create teams wherein people of diverse backgrounds must collaborate and provide incentives for reaching goals. Establish clear lines of communication and opportunities for feedback and continuous development. Ensure that the work environment is inclusive and does not alienate any team member, especially with regards to cultural diversity. Lastly and most importantly, make sure that you have a solid team leader who both understands the corporate mission and plan but has a proven track record of managing a culturally diverse group of people.  

Source: "Guide to Going Global 2008" by Multilingual Computing