International research administration continues to draw significant interest in its practice. As projects and associated problems become more global, collaboration between teams in different countries also will grow in size and in complexity. This study set out to understand the challenges of such collaborative efforts by research administrators within international research teams. The result was an identification of characteristics that members of multi-national teams possess. The study found that training is critical to collaborative teams, cultural communication (or lack thereof) remains a significant barrier, and formal and defined roles and responsibilities for team members supports good governance. These observations beget best practices that can be used by research administrators and managers who participate in international team projects. It is recommended that a training and compliance mechanism be developed and customized per project. These mechanisms would discuss potential cultural differences, provide communication guidance, and specify roles and responsibilities for each team member so as not to duplicate efforts and to produce high levels of organization and coordination.