How to Hire and Manage a Dedicated Development Team?

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(Newswire.net — November 1, 2019) — This adage known to all, is a reality to take into account even in the management of your company. But how do you build the team that can pull the project as high as possible?

Whether you are a small, medium or large company, it will happen that you need to recruit a dedicated development team. As a manager, your success depends of course on your ideas and especially your ability to surround yourself with high potential. Attracting the best talent and hiring the dream team ready to take on any challenge is a delicate task.

This article helps you to understand the key issues of the recruitment project of your employees, in order to understand the analysis tools of the social context of the dedicated team. It also allows you as a manager to better understand the way of working when you manage different culture teams in order to align your processes through repositories.

Key issues of the outsourcing project

  • Distance, a variable to integrate into your recruitment project.

The recruitment of a dedicated team is considered a very flexible alternative in the context of outsourcing or outsourcing of services. In this type of project, the impact of distance in the management of your team is a central variable to take into account if you want to optimize your resources.

Managers who take this into account, get to better involve and federate their team. It requires putting in place processes and procedures that make your service more efficient. The relationship of a remote collaborator may seem enviable if you anticipate what might hinder the fluidity of your interactions.

The autonomy allowed by the remote mode can be a risk of losing the link. Because in the distance, the perception of being isolated can be reinforced. This loss of link can hinder the cohesion of the teams and it is useful in your managerial role, to “compensate” the distance by moments where teams meet and renew this ability to think and act together.

It is important to understand then that being at a distance implies a very controlled organization that shows that you are always involved and involved. To cope, some companies provide physical meeting points.

Cultural differences, a key factor in the success of your projects

It is good to choose collaborators who can help you accomplish your mission. When you are together with your teams, you have a lot of ease interacting, but it is not always easy in the case of a team far away from you.

There are different ways to take on the role of leader and adapt so that your entire team can work at its best. Moreover, they resemble the methods of managing local teams. The only nuance lies in the application of these techniques and their adaptation to your dedicated team. You can tap into your experience and analyze the times when you have experienced failure or success.

The second fundamental point is productivity. A remote employee manager must guarantee the following two characteristics: an autonomous productivity that frees him from wasting too much time monitoring the activity of his team.

To do this, use file sharing, via Google Drive or another cloud technology to know when and by whom, a document has been viewed or edited. It’s an effective way to control the productivity of your team.

Note that opportunities for remote team management are increasing, forcing managers to adapt their management approach to this new way of working. To manage employees remotely, it is important to master the basics of productivity management.

This calls for adapting your leadership style to dedicated team management that you are not physically in touch with. You need to implement tools to measure the performance of your employees remotely to monitor developments.

Working methods

Hiring a dedicated development team requires the establishment of a governance system and adapted working methods. You do not need to be certified TOGAF or COBIT to successfully establish positive relationships with all your employees. These tips will help you build that kind of connection and make your life easier and build a partnership based on trust.

First, communication technologies such as Skype, FaceTime, WebEx allow you to see and talk to you. Schedule one-to-one meetings by setting an order for him to know what to expect and for you both to prepare. This time saving is very valuable from a distance if you pass on your expectations that guide how to work together.

Try several approaches, like setting deadlines for answering SMS, phone calls and emails. This type of very specific expectation favors positive and productive relationships.  
You can also opt for another mode of communication. Develop a schedule of contacts with your team to be reliable. Schedule team meetings in person as they strengthen professional relationships.

Last step towards positive relationships: follow up regularly, based on consultation of your team between your meetings, clarification of decisions, confirmation that you and your team agree. These habits are crucial for creating a healthy, effective and positive connection.

Social context of the dedicated team

  • Succeed as a remote manager

In your role as remote manager, these four planning tips will help you better manage your employees remotely.

The first is planning. Although it may seem trivial, it is likely to have a considerable impact in case of missteps. In order not to have any surprise you will have some rules to respect.

First, incorporate your time differences into the planning. It will allow you to manage more easily, this aspect of your collaboration. Then do everything to follow the agenda of your employees.

Finally, consider holidays that vary by country. Last but not least is your communication. Identify the purpose and purpose of your communications in order to choose the most appropriate approach.

During your meetings, give each employee the opportunity to present a topic: progress achieved, problem encountered, assistance needed, etc. Finally, plan a time to summarize past activities and anticipate future ones. The structure of your communication is the key to your success as a manager.

Test and manage the skills of your employees

Majority of tests such as Myers-Briggs or the Strength Deployment Inventory are, or can be, virtual. However, there are some rules to follow with the assessment tools. Test everyone or anyone. If you evaluate that some employees, you feed rumors that could be harmful, especially to virtual environments.

Then give a third party the first debriefing meeting with your employees. Your employees will be more comfortable.

The more honest they are, the better your investment will be. This more appealing approach enhances the learning experience and allows you to suggest areas for improvement.

Remember that the information collected can help you communicate better with them or even change your perception of motivation and skills. All of this allows you to build ever more productive relationships with each of your employees.

Establish team standards

Imagine how much parents love when their children adopt normal and predictable behavior. This makes it easier for them because they can count on a certain degree of reliability and trust.

These relationships are possible only when they all act on the basis of rules known and accepted by all. You can do the same between yourself and your employees to build a bond of mutual trust.

Adapt to the culture of the other

The cultural differences we have said is a fundamental element for international managers. It is very important to focus on the culture of the other. This unknowingly creates an effect of inestimable sympathy. Of course, you can search the web or ask your staff directly to talk to you about them. This direct exchange will allow you to create a positive link with your foreign collaborators.

Applying these tips and adapting them to your circumstances will greatly help you become the most effective manager.

Knowing how to communicate about achievements

Every team leader must give feedback on the deliverables and performances of his collaborators. It is important to do the right thing, so here are some suggestions that will help you. First, do it in person, that is to say with your employees remotely, especially not by e-mail.

Use Skype, make a virtual conference or call if you can not do better. The most elaborate tools help to ensure the proper perception of your returns.

Your employees probably have talents that deserve recognition. It is vital that your remote employees receive positive feedback, in addition to constructive criticism. Do not think they know the good that you think of them.

Finally, co-evaluate, if you give feedback, ask the employee: “What do you think has worked, failed? Then speak together about his answer. You may be pleasantly surprised by the similarity of your analyzes.

The specificity of IT projects

Understand why developing an IT strategy

The need to develop an IT strategy that is separate from an organization’s business strategy is the subject of much debate. Should not all divisions of an organization follow the same corporate strategy?

Although most for-profit companies rely on a business strategy to increase revenue, the deployment is done differently depending on the divisions involved. The marketing, sales, products, services, IT, and other divisions will play an important role in increasing revenues.

Each of these divisions must develop their own strategy to better highlight their plans and ensure that the entire division understands the basics of the plans and coordinates its efforts to execute the strategy.

It also helps each division focus on the projects, or initiatives, that make up the strategy. Often the business strategy is pretty vague.

It is underpinned by the idea that the tasks to be performed to execute it will be carried out in the divisions, since it is at this level that the actions of the company are realized.

In short, managers in other divisions must define “what? And IT executives the “how? These exchanges between IT and the other divisions must be as fluid as possible.

IT managers need to become more involved in the strategic planning processes of each division, and use these exchanges to define their own strategic plan.

If the IT department only reacts to the company’s strategy, it will not be able to assume the role of driving the direction of the company.

The success of development projects

The specificity in development team management is that you do not necessarily need to know how to code to understand how your team does its work. As a manager, it’s not the technical aspects that interest you, it’s rather their common obstacles, their favorite tools and their best practices that will be critical to know.

Learn to detect signs that something is going to get out of control. Create a good working environment Do your best to guide your team without controlling it. Smart project managers know that development teams do have their own unique needs and challenges.

Hiring and managing development teams we have emphasized is a task that requires a certain level of understanding of the management of driving such projects. With an understanding of the key issues of the recruitment project of your employees, the managers apprehend the tools of analysis of the social context of the dedicated team.

Such ambitions must be supported by a human resources strategy that sets up a management model that integrates cultural differences.

To successfully complete your recruitment project, you must integrate these variables into the strategy from the start.

  • The distance
  • Cultural differences
  • Your methods of governance and work
  • IT strategy

This will help you succeed as a manager who manages projects remotely. Let’s remember the saying “Only one move faster, together we will go further,” But do you know how to recruit and manage your team remotely.