When faced with challenges that present themselves in the form of skill gaps or insufficiently experienced in-house employees, companies often turn to the extended team model. The latter comes in handy especially for businesses that wish to maintain full control over their teams while, at the same time, acquiring talent and building a long-term collaboration.
But making the extended team model work is no walk in the park, especially if you’re new to it. And although every company is different and there is no instruction manual on how to build the perfect partnership, there are however, a few aspects that you should be considering in order to get the best out of your partnership with an extended team.
A typical success story begins just before hiring the company that will provide the team extension outsourcing services. And because this solution aims to fill skill gaps and complement existing employees’ competencies, the contracting business must first conduct a thorough analysis on its needs and shortcomings, and clarify its objectives.
Only then will it be able to identify exactly what it’s looking for, and ask the vendor for the missing pieces to its puzzle. Some companies offer to do this for their clients, carrying out such an assessment themselves, which will give them deeper insights into the contracting party’s situation, before assembling the right team for the respective businesses.
Now that the hired company can begin to track down the specialists whom its client is waiting for, it will move forward and hand-pick the best candidates to fit the needed requirements. Its contracting partner can then personally interview each one of its potential remote employees, and choose the professionals that it considers to be the right addition to the company.
However, both parties should be mindful when it comes to the candidate’s skills, in the sense that not only technical, but also soft skills such as openness, adaptability, or communication, are important. Depending on the way that it selected its remote professionals, the hiring business will have a tougher or easier time making the extended team model work, therefore, this step is essential and should not be rushed.
Special attention needs to be paid to the next phase as well, which consists of the onboarding and integration of the extended team. The newly added specialists need to feel like part of the team, and be encouraged to speak their mind freely, and express their dissatisfactions, if there are any. Moreover, constant meetings, video calls, and frequent communication are key for a productive partnership.
But we should not neglect the in-house team either; there may be pre-existing employees that aren’t exactly keen on change, so constant support is mandatory for those who are having a hard time adapting to the new way of working. Speaking of which, both partnering companies need to be aware of each teams’ workloads, and make sure that responsibilities are equally distributed, so nobody feels wronged or overwhelmed.
Another part of making the extended model team work is related to scalability. The hiring company needs to take advantage of this major benefit, and scale its extended team according to its needs. The ever-changing demands in projects, that businesses have to face on a regular basis, are no match for this model, but only if used correctly. The hiring company needs to know when it’s time to let someone go, and this applies the other way around too, because knowing when to ask for an extra hand is equally important.
Conclusion
Getting your business’ collaboration with the company that provides you with extended team model services, to run smoothly, can be troublesome if you don’t put in the extra effort. Keep the wheels turning by making sure both in-house and remote employees are working towards the same goals, choose your extended team wisely, and scale it according to your company’s needs.
With 350+ IT consultants, over 250 delivered Agile projects, and over 10 years of creating successful project teams for customers in various industries, TechTalent’s experience speaks for itself. By having access to a rich network of talent, that we have set up over the years, we are ready to provide highly skilled professionals, in a timely manner, that will perfectly fit your company’s needs.