Using Contract Workers Within Your Business Model
As a business owner, it is extremely difficult to entrust the well being of your company to hired staff, let alone anyone from the outside. For this reason, I have found that many businesses hesitate to utilize contracted services within their organizational structure.
“Contracting services is an efficient way to realize the benefits of expertise without hiring an equivalent full-time expert.”
The fear of losing precious and scarce resources many times outweighs the potential gains in organizational efficiency (real cost savings) and influence (the ability to devote focused time on the mission of the organization) that could significantly benefit the business owner, month after month.
Having worked with many organizations as a contracted individual, I can share firsthand that it is quite possible to minimize risks AND take advantage of expertise that might not be financially feasible to pay for in the form of a full-time employee.
Organizations can achieve this harmonious balance by:
Sharing
Implementing
Tracking
These 3 powerful tools, can make the relationship between the organization and the contractor extremely proficient!
Sharing: Think of this like a dating relationship -- if your visions do not align this is an indicator to shake hands and part ways. However, if they do, you have just created the start to a healthy and mutually beneficial relationship.
Clearly sharing your organization’s vision, as well as the vision for the contracted service, helps all parties involved, to appropriately communicate expectations and goals.
Take time to set guidelines and boundaries, as well as the desired atmosphere of your business. This ensures that the contracted labor will fit well with your company’s culture.
Implementing: This will always take effort and the process will seem to move slowly at times as you work to create chemistry. The more experienced the contracted professional is in offering services, the less time implementation may take.
Devote quality time to implement the contracted services to meet your shared vision. Investing this time will pay dividends many times over.
Continually cast and re-visit your shared vision for work. This will help ensure you remain true to your initial goals for the service.
Tracking: It is vital to know the amount of work completed and the quality of that work. This maintains proper expectations and ensures goals are met in a timely manner.
Maintain visibility into tasks completed within the scope of work you have contracted.
Written documents that state the shared vision, goals, implementation methods, and completed tasks is an excellent way to track work and demonstrate accountability throughout the process.
Contracting services is an efficient way to realize the benefits of expertise without hiring an equivalent full-time expert. In many cases, these services can accomplish more work and be less expensive than full-time employees.
All businesses can benefit from including contracted service in their model. Startups and small businesses find an even greater benefit from such a model.
In order to make the most of your contracted services, remember to:
1. Share
2. Implement
3. Track