Tips for Better Teamwork across Time Zones
Eight simple ideas for helping your project bridge the time zone gap.
Finding the right balance for an international project requires planning, patience, and fairness.
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When holding mid-day meetings in your time zone means half the team is going to sleep and the other half is just waking up, how do you keep everyone on the same page? We've put together a short list of ideas that can help keep your multi-national workforce on track.
1. Use the Right Tool for the Job
Purpose-built online tools can identify meeting times that will work for everyone. Our Meeting Planner provides a simple, clear, and easy-to-use solution for coordinating across time zones.
For simpler time calculations, we recommend the Time Zone Converter; to see the current local time in the participants’ locations, set up a Personal World Clock.
2. Clarity Is King
Before work starts, everyone should know when they need to be available and the expected response time for communications outside core hours. Use the Meeting Planner to share local meeting times.
For meetings involving a large number of participants (or if you don't know everyone’s location and time zone), use our Event Time Announcer to communicate meeting times.
3. It’s All in the Plan
Once you have the right tools, the next step is to prioritize tasks and communicate that ranking to everyone involved. This step creates focus on what’s most important and lets your team structure their work efficiently.
4. Stay Flexible and Fair
The whole team will have to adapt to different timings. A good way to ensure fairness is to create an equal distribution of early or late meetings among the time zones.
5. Check In
Schedule regular one-on-one check-ins with team members to stay connected and identify time-difference challenges.
6. Use Summaries
Make sure everyone stays on the same page by sending summaries that include action items and decisions.
7. Don’t Forget Other Ways to Communicate
Take full advantage of your company’s email, video, or project management tools to reduce the need for online meetings.
8. Respect Local Work Culture
Finally, make sure you honor your team’s national holidays and work hour standards. Respecting local time structures and traditions is a great way to show you care about your team and help ensure the success of your project.