Building a strong partnership with a business process outsourcing (BPO) provider can be a game-changer for any organization. But making that relationship really thrive requires dedication to open, consistent communication flows between your internal team and your BPO team.

As someone who’s worked on both sides of these partnerships, I’ve seen firsthand how critical communication is to unlocking the full potential and value of these relationships. When seamless collaboration is powered by productive communication rhythms, it’s incredible what can be achieved together. But without that bedrock of mutual understanding, things deteriorate fast.

In this post, I’ll share the communication strategies and best practices I’ve found to be most effective for aligning with your BPO partner. Whether you’re just starting a new engagement or have an established relationship, I think you’ll find tangible tips here for smoothing out wrinkles, overcoming common pitfalls, and setting your partnership up for shared success.

Let’s dive in!

Why Communication Really Matters in a BPO Partnership

I know, I know – communicating well is important no matter what kind of partner you have. But I believe it’s especially crucial when collaborating with an outsourced BPO team.

See, BPO engagements live or die based on the ability to seamlessly coordinate and integrate workflows across company boundaries. Compared to an internal team down the hall, it’s inherently harder to build cohesion and understanding with an outside partner. Geography, culture, processes, and priorities may differ. You lose the benefits of impromptu conversations at the water cooler or your VP wandering the halls.

That’s why you have to be extra intentional about communication flows when embarking on these complex cross-company relationships. Both sides must invest time and effort to foster transparency, clarity, and rapport. Otherwise, here’s what happens:

• Missed objectives – At its core, a BPO engagement is about achieving business goals – whether it’s cutting costs, improving efficiency, gaining expertise or anything else. Those results won’t magically happen without meticulous communication and coordination.
• Process breakdowns – To deliver value, your BPO team needs to mesh smoothly with internal systems and handoffs. Any communication gaps or delays means you’ll have duplications, bottlenecks, and processes unraveling.
• Poor tracking – How can you monitor progress or performance without a steady stream of KPIs, metrics, project updates, and feedback? Radio silence means flying blind.
• Lost opportunities – The best innovations and process improvements often come from candid conversations between partners. Without an open dialogue, you lose out on those creative sparks.
• Damaged relationships – When communication lacks, mistrust and resentment fester. People take things personally and you end up with an oppositional, “vendor” dynamic rather than true collaboration.

I think you get the point – slacking on communication is like pulling random Jenga blocks from your partnership’s foundation. Things might seem fine briefly, but eventually the whole structure comes tumbling down.

So in the next sections, let’s explore battle-tested strategies for proactively strengthening those communication foundations so your BPO relationship stands on bedrock.

Assessing Your Current Communication Channels 

First, objectively evaluate your current communication workflows with your BPO partner. Consider creating a communication matrix to map out:

– Stakeholders – Who needs to be kept in the loop on both sides? Don’t leave out key decision makers and implementation teams.

– Frequency – How often do stakeholders need to communicate? Daily, weekly, monthly?

– Direction – Is communication one-way or reciprocal?

– Formats – What methods are currently used – email, phone, meetings, instant messaging, etc.?

– Touchpoints – Map out specific touchpoints, events, and milestones that require communication. 

– Metrics – What data needs to be communicated – KPIs, reports, service tickets, etc.? 

Analyze your matrix to spot potential gaps, inconsistencies, bottlenecks, or weak points. Look for areas to optimize, consolidate, strengthen, or re-align communication flows. The goal is identifying what’s working well versus what needs improvement.

Establishing Clear Objectives and Expectations

Lack of clarity around objectives and expectations is one of the main communication pitfalls when working with a BPO partner. That’s why it’s critical to align on the “what” and “why” upfront. 

– Define business goals – Ensure both sides understand the tangible business goals behind this partnership – reduced costs, higher efficiency, improved quality, new capabilities, etc.

– Map processes – Detail the specific processes, deliverables, timelines, and hand-offs required to hit objectives. Document procedures. 

– Assign responsibilities – Clearly delineate roles, decision authorities, and oversight duties on both sides. Who is accountable for what?

– Agree on metrics – Determine the KPIs, service levels, milestones, and reports to track. This creates standards for success.

– Communicate expectations – Set clear guidelines for expected communication styles, response times, escalation protocols, and engagement preferences. 

Taking time upfront to tightly align on goals, processes, metrics, and responsibilities will help sustain seamless coordination. Revisit and refine these expectations periodically as needs evolve. 

Choosing the Right Communication Tools

With clear objectives set, the next step is choosing the right mix of communication tools and channels to facilitate productive interactions between teams. Consider setting up:

– Instant messaging – Platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams or Skype allow for quick responses and ad hoc conversations. Great for time-sensitive interactions.

– Email – Still essential for formal memos, meeting notes, deliverable submissions, detailed discussions, and status reports. 

– Shared workspaces – Solutions like Dropbox or Sharepoint centralize key documents, allow real-time collaboration, and provide content transparency.

– Virtual meetings – Video conferencing through tools like Zoom, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Teams, or Skype enable periodic face-to-face alignment. Especially useful for relationship building. 

– Shared calendars – Calendaring apps like Outlook/Gmail help coordinate schedules and ensure availability for meetings, trainings, escalations, etc.

– Knowledge bases – Searchable internal wikis or SharePoint sites serve as repositories of processes, training materials, and reference documents for self-service access.

– Project management – Platforms like Trello, Asana, or Jira give visibility into delivery timelines, task management, and project health.

– Ticketing systems – Help desk tools like Zendesk facilitate, track, and centralize service requests, issues, and bug reports.

Determine which blend of tools best suits your workflow requirements, culture, and bandwidth. Train all users thoroughly. Set guidelines for responding within expected time frames. 

Fostering Open and Transparent Communication  

Beyond infrastructure and cadence, your communication style matters just as much. Some best practices include:

– Encourage transparency – Both sides should commit to fully open, honest, and proactive communications – even when it’s uncomfortable or negative. Suppressing issues leads to resentment and problems manifesting downstream. Reward transparency.  

– Promote informality – Rigid, formal communications may hamper relationship building and comfort sharing feedback. Consider weekly informal video chats or off-site meetups to enable candid brainstorming.  

– Clarify from the start – If anything received is unclear, speak up right away versus making assumptions that lead to misalignment. Ask clarifying questions respectfully.

– Share knowledge freely – Neither side should hoard information, data, or access that might help the other. Freely educate your BPO team on internal business drivers, culture, and new strategies.

– Adopt active listening – Make sure communicators truly listen, reflect, and validate perspectives before responding. Don’t just transmit one-way.

– Give constructive feedback – Share feedback frequently, candidly but respectfully. Make it specific, actionable, and focused on the work output versus personal attributes.

– Avoid blame games – If issues arise, focus on joint problem solving rather than pointing fingers or assigning fault. Solve, don’t blame.

With the right communication values, you can build understanding, bust silos, and unlock synergies together.

Encouraging Regular Feedback

Ensure communication flows both ways by proactively seeking feedback from your BPO partner:

– Solicit feedback – Regularly ask your BPO partner for suggestions to improve collaboration, processes, tools, or team interactions. Reduce friction points. 

– Discuss pain points – Get their perspective on what’s working smoothly versus what’s creating bottlenecks, confusion, or obstacles from their vantage point.

– Share survey data – Conduct periodic satisfaction surveys with your BPO team and discuss the trends openly. Address weak spots.

– Be receptive – If negative feedback arises, don’t get defensive. Thank them for speaking up and focus on resolving issues together.  

– Close the loop – Share how you’ve acted upon feedback and improved based on their input. Show that you’re listening.

– Give feedback too – Offer constructive suggestions for how your partner could refine processes, communications, deliverables, or workflows to maximize the relationship.

Regular reciprocal feedback fosters joint ownership of success. Both sides become invested in smoothing out bumps.

Building Strong Relationships and Trust  

At its core, effective communication comes down to strong relationships and trust between people. Some tips:

– Get to know people – Have informal video chats for both sides to share backgrounds, experiences, and interests to build familiarity. 

– Recognize teammates – Call out individuals who do great work and strengthen collaboration. Thank them publicly.  

– Empathize – Put yourselves in each other’s shoes to understand motivations and challenges. Bridge cultural or operational gaps.

– Share stories – Storytelling helps humanize companies and endears people to your mission. Share case studies, client wins, milestones, and setbacks. 

– Visit in person – If possible, visit your BPO partner’s operation periodically. Meet their team face-to-face. Tours and handshakes help build trust.

– Socialize informally – Gather for team-building activities or events. Virtual coffee chats, happy hours, or games help relationships mature. 

– Get to know stakeholders – Have key senior decision-makers engage directly, share strategies, and answer questions. Reduce uncertainty. 

With deeper personal connections, it’s easier to navigate bumps inalignment. Aim for true collaboration versus an arms-length vendor relationship.

Adapting Your Communication Style

People have varying communication preferences and styles. Keep these tips in mind:

– Mirror body language – Observe the energy level, formality, and tone your partner uses including gestures, expressions, and posture. Mirror back.

– Tune into preferences – Note how they prefer to communicate – email, chat, phone, video. Match their channel comfort levels.  

– Adapt to personalities – Some prefer facts and discipline; others relationship building. Adjust your focus areas accordingly. 

– Anticipate cultural norms – Research communication and workplace norms typical for their geography. Adapt accordingly.

– Clarify ambiguities – Don’t assume that silence means agreement. Confirm understanding.

– Use multiple formats – Reinforce complex or high-priority communications across multiple channels – email plus chat plus call.

– Avoid over-communicating – Find the sweet spot between too few and too many communications to avoid overload.

– Check for understanding – For critical conversations, ask them to summarize your points in their own words to confirm alignment.  

Customizing your style to individuals maximizes mutual understanding and synergy.

Communicating in Real Time When Needed 

While structured cadences are ideal for routine interactions, make sure to accommodate real-time communication as well: 

– Issue escalations – Define escalation protocols for quickly routing urgent or time-sensitive issues to the right contacts.  

– War rooms – For rapidly evolving situations like outages or crises, create always-on war rooms with key cross-functional leaders collaborating in real time.

– Easy access – Exchange mobile numbers, chat handles, etc. and establish norms for responsiveness, after hours or weekend contacts. 

– Chat features – Use chat tools that enable team-wide broadcasts, @ mentions for urgent notifications, or private subgroups. 

– Remote control – Enable screen sharing and remote system access to resolve issues in real time versus waiting for description back-and-forth. 

– Status dashboards – Display war room or system status on large screens to enable at-a-glance visibility for teams working in person.

– Removing silos – Discourage siloed communication when handling escalations. Bring the collective brainpower together.

With flexibility to communicate instantly as priorities shift, you can head off problems and limit disruptions.

Documenting and Storing Communications

While real-time communication is key, also carefully document interactions for reference:

– Write recaps – Summarize key decisions, action items, issues, and requirements from meetings and projects in recaps shared broadly. 

– Store artifacts – Retain recordings, transcripts, notes, and chat logs within centralized repositories searchable later. 

– Log issues – Log support issues in ticketing systems to track resolution progress. Reference prior incidents.

– FAQ databases – Evolve chat transcripts, support tickets, and emails into searchable FAQ databases. Capture institutional knowledge.

– Update procedures – If processes change, ensure documentation remains in sync. Version control documents.  

– Tag or categorize – Organize and tag communication artifacts logically so users can search and filter to find content later.

– Automate – Explore AI tools that can automatically parse conversations, extract action items, produce summaries, and update docs.

Thorough documentation ensures continuity when team members change and institutional knowledge persists.

Overcoming Communication Barriers 

Even with robust strategies, communication barriers inevitably arise. Some common obstacles and mitigations include:

Language fluency – If team members struggle with a common language, leverage translators, write clearly, limit jargon/slang, and confirm understanding.  

Culture – Research cultural communication norms before interactions. Adapt your style to bridge gaps.

Geographic spread – With remote teams, use collaboration technology, visit in person occasionally, and accommodate time zones. 

Operational silos – Break down silos through job rotations, events, enterprise social networks, and camaraderie.  

Tools overload – Consolidate tools when possible. Turn off distracting notifications. Communicate tool updates.

Time zones – Be flexible across time zones. Condense conversations to respect off-hour peers.  

micromanaging – Avoid over-communication that bogs people down. Give autonomy with guidance.

Misaligned goals – Revisit objectives and incentives periodically to realign around shared goals.

Poor documentation – Store artifacts in accessible repositories. Require meeting recaps. Automate where possible.

Turnover – Retain tenure through engagement initiatives, advancement opportunities, and transition planning.

Don’t let barriers deter you. Stay vigilant to identify and improve communication weak points.

Continuously Improving Your Communication

Like any process, communication can always be refined through continuous improvement. Some steps to take:

– Request feedback frequently – Ask all sides for input on enhancing communication for greater efficiency, transparency, and collaboration. 

– Audit periodically – Every quarter or biannually, audit communication workflows, tools, and spectral for maturity. Brainstorm enhancements. 

– Analyze data – Mine platform data, surveys, support tickets, and usage analytics to spot potential communication gaps or friction points.  

– Learn from issues – Apply lessons from escalations or miscommunications to bolster communication practices and prevent recurrence. 

– Pilot innovations – Proactively test out communication innovations like AI summarization tools, smart assistants, or augmented conferencing.

– Train communicators – Offer training on communication best practices, cultural sensitivity, conflict resolution, and de-escalation.

– Celebrate successes – Recognize and reward teams or individuals that spearhead major communication improvements. 

– Evolve touchpoints – As processes and relationships mature, prune redundant touchpoints and optimize cadence.

Amazing communication doesn’t happen overnight. Dedicate resources to continuous enhancement for ever-stronger alignment with your BPO partner.

Conclusion

Effective, tightly aligned communication truly unlocks the potential of any BPO partnership. However, deliberate intention needs to be placed on forging robust communication flows. Filling your communication gaps will help minimize disruption, maximize transparency, and build a spirit of true collaboration with your partner.

In this guide, we covered proven building blocks:

– Assessing your current state 

– Setting clear objectives

– Choosing versatile channels  

– Fostering openness and engagement

– Encouraging regular feedback

– Building strong relationships

– Adapting your communication style

– Enabling real-time interactions 

– Documenting exchanges

– Overcoming barriers

– Continuously improving

With a focused effort on these foundations, you can establish productive communication rhythms and culture with your BPO team. Seamless, transparent communication ultimately powers BPO success. Use these strategies to set your partnership up for shared victories.