Best practices in building high-performing distributed teams

Finding a balance between hiring locally and scaling your team abroad with Ubiminds has become really interesting and advantageous for tech companies.  Especially when it comes to building high-performing distributed teams. 

These teams are not only possible and promising, but also necessary.  The IT industry is relatively new, and there aren’t yet enough senior professionals out there. Seasoned specialists are in hot demand – and this means local talent pools in the US are drying up as we speak. 

A recent study pointed out that, by 2021, there will be a shortage of 1.4 million software developers and only 400,000 software developer graduates in the USA. And there’s more: it’s projected that this gap will continue to grow for at least the next ten years. 

That said, nearshoring became a brilliant solution for this scenario.  By opting for this expansion model,  you can have your local team and remote ones working together for real, in the same time zone. That is definitely not the case when hiring in Europe,  Africa, or Asia. 

After opting for nearshoring digital product teams, however, there are still some best practices your company can adopt to attract more talents and manage high-performing, yet distributed teams smoothly. 

That’s the balance we are talking about. Check it out! 

5 steps to build high-performing distributed teams 

To be able to do so, let’s focus on five pillars: 1) strategic Human Capital Management, 2) talent acquisition, 3) diversity and inclusion, 4) team autonomy, and 5) ownership and championing. 

1. Strategic Human Capital Management (HCM)

First things first, consider adopting a strategic Human Capital Management (HCM). It means to be data-driven when it comes to the process of recruiting, managing, developing, and optimizing employees. It is to think about people not as resources, but as assets, that bring knowledge and value to your organization. 

By establishing People Analytics, for example, you can set KPIs for  your HR – or OKRs for the company as a whole – and unravel metrics such as:

• Turnover rate;
• The time you take to finish each phase of the hiring process;
• How satisfied are your employees with the company;
• How your employees do see the company and talk about it to family and friends;
• Simulate multiple scenarios, fixing what’s not working and getting worthy insights, and so on.

Then why should you have a partner like Ubiminds, you may ask. Well, by counting on us you can optimize your hiring process and diminish the time you take trying to find world-class software experts. 

There will be no longer necessary for your Product Managers to find time to do, for example, 20 interviews per week. Neither to your HR to filter and screen 50 candidates. Ubiminds hunts hundreds of talents, increasing the chances of finding someone exceptional. And then filters all them by both technical and soft skills, funneling it at its best. 

We take care to really understand your needs and business goals to deliver on digital product teams that fit your company culture, at reasonable rates, and fast. That way, giving you time to focus on what matters: your core business.

2. Talent acquisition

It may seem obvious, but I’m going to reinforce it: to have a high-performing team, you need to have the best people with you. Every and each one of them has to be a top performer. And to get there, it’s essential to focus on Talent Acquisition.

Only by focusing on talent acquisition you’ll be able to attract those sought-after professionals. This attraction happens through a good employer branding strategy. 

Regarding that, a bit of good advice is to create an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) referring to the benefits and rewards employees receive in return for their performance at your company, for example. Other good ideas are:

• Take good care of your Social Media channels, remembering to show the audience things like the backstage of your company, campaigns that value your employees, moments of teamwork, celebrations, and so on.
• Secure a spot in your website to detailed talk about the open positions, career opportunities and options, and maybe even include some testimonials from a few of your current employees. 
• Find a partner like Ubiminds that helps you to promote your job opportunities. 

The more alluring your employer brand is, the better the attracted talents are. 

Last but not least, it’s important to have in mind that senior tech talents, nowadays, pick the company they want to work in, not the other way around. 

They are less concerned about the paycheck at the end of the month, and go for healthier, more flexible workspaces, with trusted leadership and Diversity and Inclusion – which leads us to the next topic. 

3. Diversity and inclusion

When you work with a high-performing distributed team, – by nearshoring, for example – it’s undeniable that the act of sharing knowledge and experience gets really amplified. 

By hiring Ubi, for example, you get to have your local and remote team combining senior software experts from the most different backgrounds. Counting in professional, cultural, and social life. 

Having a diverse, prejudice-free work environment extremely helps to promote good, innovative ideas. Also, a diverse team means a bigger fount of references and benchmarks. This impacts directly on your co-worker’s ability to be problem-solving and boost the chances of your team reflecting your users’ base, among other perks.  Keep that in mind. 

To enhance it, your HR can think of hackathons, trading experience events, working in temporary squads, or even setting up book clubs or contests. The idea is to get the best out of your high-performing distributed team and mingle them up.

4. Team autonomy

People at the top of their game want to be recognized as the senior professionals they are. In other words, they will only join companies that have relevant missions, challenges, and space to offer. 

That is why we highlight the importance of preparing a mindset and culture. But to put it into practice, what high-performing distributed teams urge is for a specific type of leader, one that is willing to: 

(a) relinquish control, granting more and more autonomy; and 

(b) trust peers and team members with ownership and accountability on their deliverables.

It’s much more about empowerment than managerial tasks. Leaders that are still controlling effort (idleness, schedules, etc.) and organizing to-dos (sprints, etc.) will definitely fall behind. 

The focus needs to be on delivered outcomes instead of deadlines, self-accountability, and proactivity instead of charging constantly and breaking your employee’s flux of ideas. 

5. Ownership and championing

Adding to the latter topic, it’s not only about the leader’s posture, but also the ownership and championing the employee will be able and encouraged to show. 

It’s about assuming every task they’re designed to, and then celebrate and owning the wins as well, embracing projects with mind and soul. When there’s no micromanagement happening, though, is up to the talent to make visible and tangible his efforts and accomplishments. 

To assist and nurture this mindset, the company can provide coaching, mentoring and external sources of support, such as Ubiminds. When relying on us, we take part in the whole hiring process of your organization, including:

• Hiring managers onboarding;
• Career ladder;
• Career coaching;
• 1-1 meetings with the talents after they’re hired and their managers, and more. 

We do it with the intention of strengthening the relationship, the ownership mindset and securing the well-being of both parts. 

We know it’s been a long read, but if you still have any further questions, please feel free to reach us with the form below. We’ll be happy to answer all of your inquiries asap! 

Scheila Farias Silveira

International Marketing Leader, specialized in tech. Proud to have built marketing and business generation structures for some of the fastest-growing SaaS companies on both sides of the Atlantic (UK, DACH, Iberia, LatAm, and NorthAm). Big fan of motherhood, world music, marketing, and backpacking. A little bit nerdy too!