As we head towards the end of the year it is a good time to sit down and evaluate how this year has been, and begin to prepare for the next year. Too often we put things off that we need to do, and if 2011 has been for you as it has been for me then it has gone very quickly. We are now beginning to realize there are things we wanted to achieve this year that have not happened.

I hear of too many people putting off getting started with a remote team and outsourcing their work, but I truly believe this is one thing you should prioritize and not delay. With that in mind, here are the three things that you need to do to get started today with outsourcing.

 

1. Determine your needs.

There are a number of strategies that I have outlined previously (also in our eBook) about how to determine what you need in your remote team. Basically they all come down in to one principle; you need to staff your weaknesses.

Your weaknesses could be skill sets or experience that you lack yourself or even it could be the fact that you are over worked and need some assistance from a staff member.

In its simplest form, all you need to do is get a list together of tasks that you either do not have time to do, or are overwhelming you and you need assistance with. Create that list and turn that into a job description ,and that is the person, or the team that you need to build around you.

 

2. Find your people.

This is the recruitment stage.  After you have determined who you need; you then need then to find them. First step is to decide the capacity that you need; are you looking for a permanent full time or part time staff member, or is it a project or contract based?

If you need a permanent staff member, then look for referrals from existing teams or colleagues of yours that are already using remote staff. Alternatively you can look at websites like easyoutsource.com or onlinejobs.ph and recruit directly from them. If it is a project or only short term need, then look at sites like Elance, Odesk or Freelancer. Post your project and wait for the proposals to come in.

 

3. Induct them.

Although these 3 steps are equally as important as each other, induction is one of the critical keys to long term success. You need to start with the right foundation and with a view to long term commitment.

Once again this is a simple process, grab a piece of paper and write down what things are important about your team, such as:

• what behaviors do you want to see
• what culture do you want your team to have
• what time of the day do you want them to start
• how do you want them to report to you
• what methods of communication do you want to use.

Once you have scratched out all these information with a piece of paper, type it up into a nice document, and there you have your Induction program.

 

Of course you can expand upon all these things over time but get started today! When I first started recruiting my permanent full time team I did not have any of these things in place, I made it up as I went.  Over time I improved the ways that I create job descriptions, interviewed and inducted new team members. Don’t delay doing this simply because it seems overwhelming. Just follow these three simple steps and get started today.