A flexible workforce

Flexible working is obviously the hot topic right now but how about a flexible workforce?

Why does there still seem to be common resistance to the idea of hiring contractors or consultants instead of permanent staff? I often feel like it stems back to the antiquated ideas of ‘control’ over staff, and a clinging to the old concepts of hierarchy where the ‘boss’ needs to be the most knowledgeable and skilled member of the team, with a workforce following instruction from this all-knowing leader. Do business leaders fear their shortcomings being highlighted by an outside specialist, and if so, why? Can’t the hiring of temporary consultants just be treated like an opportunity for everyone to learn and grow in new skills, as well as achieving goals in more efficient ways?!

When I was toying with becoming a freelance consultant, I remember a conversation with Zandra Moore (then Sales Director, now CEO) at Panintelligence as she relayed her experience as a freelance sales manager. In particular, and I quote:

“I think many businesses are in real need of senior, experienced, professional, and flexible staff.”

This summed up my instincts into words, made so much sense to me and was essentially the final prompt to make the leap from full-time employment. It felt right to me that there would be times in any business where they needed skills that they didn’t have in-house and they needed them for a finite amount of time to meet a specific goal….I mean, that is almost the definition of what a project is and my work is in projects and change. This stuff is made for temporary and consultative assignments.

It was an idea that I repeated to myself when had quit my job and was hunting for that elusive first contracting role. It reminded me to hold my nerve and that there were businesses out there that needed and could benefit from what I was offering.

Fast forward several years and what I often see in companies is that project and change management is foisted onto members of the team who are maybe the SME in that area or are generally seen as a good organiser. Sometimes that might work, but often it doesn’t. There are specific skills and knowledge needed that they often don’t have and haven’t been trained for, they are expected to fit it in alongside other workloads (ergo, not enough time to do it well) and they don’t even have any particular interest in leading a project.

This is akin to asking your plumber to manage the build of an extension just because they happened to be fitting the bathroom and doing a good job. And even if you did, how likely is it that they are both a superb plumber and able to manage a variety of trades for a coordinated build job?! Likelihood is that the work drifts on too long as they fumble through trying to do the job for which they lack the skills, you are left disappointed that the work isn’t done to an all-round high standard, or even worse, the botch-job in one area ruins all the rest of your investment.

Hiring consultants and contractors has many benefits such as the ability to hire specialist expertise to hopefully enable greater success in your endeavour, and their outsider status means they usually are less biased and less entrenched in long-standing politics or culture; they can offer fresh perspectives on old issues and be more inclined to neutral objectivity which might be the elephant-in-the-room that permanent staff who are looking to protect their long-term prospects do not want to point out. Core permanent workforce can also be kept focused and productive on their main role rather than spread too thinly during projects often leading to wasted time and botched delivery.

Not to mention that what you need might be something a consultant can deliver in 2 days per week across a 4 month period; it can be a system that allows business to ‘pay as they play’ and control budget accordingly.

I think in this shake-up and analysis of the future of the workplace, we need to also re-evaluate the idea that all staff need to be permanent. We need to embrace the idea that consultants and contractors can be part of a well-rounded and forward-thinking strategy to achieving business ambitions, and a valuable supplement to talent management.