The Benefits of Small Teams

There are a number of reasons why bigger isn’t always better, especially when it comes to offshore staffing. The benefits of working with a small team stretch well beyond just the cost savings.

Increased engagement

There is a reason big companies are often called faceless. Once you are in a position where you do not know your co-workers, or everyone who works for your company, you lose valuable engagement. Employees work more intensively when their role and contribution makes a difference to the company.

The exact same thing can be said for remote teams. Due to working remotely, the real engagement they have with the company is through the people they interact with. If they know their team, and their work, is an integral part of the overall business, they will work accordingly and go the extra mile when needed.

Increased accountability

Diffusion of responsibility is a phenomenon where a person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when others are present. It is a form of attribution; the person assumes that other people are either responsible for doing the job or have already done it.
Diffusion of responsibility becomes even more pronounced when dealing with larger groups of individuals who are all tasked to ensure a project is delivered on time.
In a small team, there is nowhere to hide. If an employee fails to complete a task, there is no one else who can take the blame. This has a related upside – if an employee performs exceptionally in their role, they are easier to identify and reward.

Improved communication

The fewer people a message has to go through to get to its eventual target (or targets) the less likely it is to be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Small teams generally know one another’s names, their communication styles, and what channels will best get their attention.
This is particularly important when you consider that communication is one of the keys to successful outsourcing. By having small local teams and remote teams, you are more likely to foster good communication in ways that work best for your employees

Better results

Smaller teams also deliver projects for a lower cost with higher quality. While bigger teams get things done faster, they produce projects with more problems which cost more and take more resources to fix. When you need to move your focus quickly from one project to another; smaller teams are more flexible and more adaptable.

If you want to offshore a small team, or structure an existing larger team to downscale and remotely re-position part of your business, talk to us about building the perfect remote team for your organisation.