10 Tips for Effective Teamwork When Working in International Teams

Working in teams is an essential part of modern business life for many people, and there are extra challenges involved when working in international teams. In this article, we present ten ideas for making your teamwork more effective.

1. Clarify roles and responsibilities

For the team to succeed, it is essential to know what your role and responsibility is in the team, and what the roles and responsibilities of others are. It helps prevent situations such as overlapping on tasks and the less desirable tasks being avoided. Furthermore, this will enable you to focus your energy, and help other people to understand how they should collaborate with you. This will lead to effective work process.

2. Set clear goals and objectives

A team that has specific goals and completion deadlines for tasks will work together more effectively than a team without goals. A team that also has an agreed mission and purpose with clear expectations for how the team should work together to achieve the desired outcomes is important for effective teamwork.

Working internationally often means dealing with the strategic objectives of organizations. Try to learn about strategic thinking and move beyond a “local” prespective.

3. Focus on relationships

It’s important to get to know members of your team individually, not only on a professional level, but on a more personal level too. When you put the effort in to get to know a bit more about how your colleagues are doing and what they are interest in, it will build a much better rapport among the team. The closer your team, the better they will work.

4. Maintain good communications

Employees want to be kept in the loop about ongoing projects, goals and deadlines. As a team leader, it is essential that you communicate well with them and inform them about goings on within the organisation. It’s also important that you encourage feedback and that your staff feel that they can approach you about any questions or issues they want to address, so making yourself accessible to your staff is key. Regular open communication, in which group members share their thoughts, ideas, and feelings, is a must for successful group work.

5. Manage potential conflict

There are many types and sources of conflict in teams. Some come from within individuals (stress, anger) or organizations (inadequate budgets), while others are between people (personalities, attitudes to politeness) or organizations (price battles). In teams, it is too easy to blame the other team members when things go wrong (for their inefficiency, for example, or their lack of competence or commitment). Successful teams try to identify potential sources of conflict and manage them constructively and supportively.

6. Don’t trust language

This may seem like a strange tip for team members that use English to communicate. But your focus should be on improving your communication skills rather than simply learning more English. Using the correct words and grammar does not guarantee that your message will be understood or that you will have the desired impact.

To be a good communicator, you should do the following things:

• Speak clearly, using short sentences and precise language, without talking for too long.
• Make clear the positive intention of your messages.
• Make your messages relevant to the needs of the listener.
• Engage others in dialogue, with a request for feedback.
• Listen to other carefully while checking your understanding and showing appreciation of the views of others.

7. Be virtual, but smart

Many people’s experience with virtual communication is negative. They complain about the number of emails they get, inefficient conference calls, working with people they don’t know, aligning the workflow in different countries and the lack of support from managers. Here are some tips for your virtual communication:

• Use the phone more. Avoid emails for complex or sensitive subjects. Instead, use the phone to talk things through in a constructive way.
• Transform your conference calls. Don’t overuse these calls for complex decision-making or discussions. Instead, have detailed discussions on a one-to-one basis or in small groups.
• Have a virtual cup of coffee. Arrange short, virtual catch-up meetings, just like the informal meetings or quick lunches that people working in the same building can have. Such meetings should not have an agenda but should focus on getting to know more about people’s backgrounds and interests.
• Use sub-milestones. People in teams often have a heavy workload, which can lead to key milestones being missed. Introduce smaller “sub-milestones” to act as an early warning system when problems arise.

8. Support others

Large organizations generally prepare their staff poorly for international teams. Selection and training tends to be ad hoc, with people chosen according to availability rather than suitability. As a result, team members may fail to deliver the desired results. In such situations, criticism is very common, but is both unhelpful and unethical if team members haven’t been prepared properly. And such criticism is unlikely to lead to improved performance. Instead, team members need relevant forms of support from the group. These may include a personal development plan to identify competencies that need to be developed, individual coaching relationships within the team and regular spontaneous offers of support from other team members.

During the early stages of team building, all team members should answer these two questions:

• What support would be useful for me to fulfil my role?
• What support can I offer to other team members?

9. Motivate with success

Many teams make the mistake of not celebrating what they have achieved. Instead, they focus on what was not done well enough and what still needs to be dealt with. This can easily lead to a team culture within which people feel that they are taken for granted, and their motivation and performance is undermined. Yet, feeling appreciated and respected are core human needs. Acknowledging workers for their efforts in working as a team can provide the proper motivation for being better team players.

10. Respect diversity/differences

Since a team is comprised of different members or national cultures, differences in personalities and background are quite natural. To enjoy effective teamwork in business such differences should be respected and in fact, every member of a team should be seen as unique and their contributions should be respected. Everyone has different experiences, skills, knowledge, opinions, and this is exactly what helps a team be more successful.

Do you have any other tips for effective teamwork that you would like to suggest? We welcome your thoughts or questions in our comment box below.

More About Teamwork

• How to Build Teamwork among Your Employees