Agile Talent: How to Source and Manage Outside Experts

So, how is this outside talent to be sourced and managed successfully alongside existing staff?

Younger and Smallwood are clear on this: it's all about good leadership. It's the responsibility of leaders to think beyond the project itself, and provide the right conditions for the outside experts to do their jobs well.

It's not enough to hand a project over to temporary consultants and expect them to get on with it. Your external workers also need to understand the bigger picture. They need to know about the organization's culture, and how they are contributing to the organization's progress.

So today's leaders need to integrate outside contributors into their businesses. And they also have to create a culture of collaboration between the outsiders and internal workers. It goes without saying that introducing external help means things might change for internal employees. Feelings of resentment and insecurity could arise. For a project to succeed, the canny leader needs to foster collaboration, and eliminate any competitive feelings.

In "Agile Talent: How to Source and Manage Outside Experts," Younger and Smallwood provide tools and strategies for doing just that.

Whether you run a small business or are working for a large multinational, you'll probably need to rely on outside experts from time to time. This book will help you to form good working relationships with them. It'll also guide you on how to encourage permanent staff to recognize the benefits of collaborating with external contractors.

When it's well managed, using outside talent really is win-win. And that's where this book comes in. It's packed with ideas, strategies and tools that have been tested by the authors, who have years of experience of working with human resources departments and talent around the world.

It's very detailed and written primarily for HR people with knowledge of HR jargon. But the technical language isn't pervasive and, if you can get past it, there's something here for anyone who's involved in managing contract workers.

As teachers, advisers, speakers, and writers, Younger and Smallwood are themselves the embodiment of agile talent. They're experts in organizational effectiveness, leadership development, and human resources transformation, advising clients across North America, Europe and Asia.

Younger holds a PhD in Organization and Social Psychology from the University of Toronto and has co-authored four other books on human resource recruitment, training and organizational development. Smallwood has worked as a consultant with Procter & Gamble and Esso Resources Canada, and has co-authored eight books on leadership.

They're also both involved with The RBL Group, a leadership and HR think tank – Younger as partner emeritus and Smallwood as co-founder.

In their roles at The RBL Group, the authors have surveyed HR executives on their use of freelancers for tasks such as IT development and support, and they found that these collaborations often fail. The authors have devised a program of strategies to help a variety of organizations meet the challenge of employing outside talent.

So keep listening to find out why you need to treat your external staff as you do company employees, why having a strong "employer brand" is crucial to attracting talented experts, and how to integrate outsiders without alienating your permanent staff.

Throughout the book, Younger and Smallwood share the benefit of their extensive experience and research. They provide data on the use of agile talent and predict future trends. This is useful information for HR managers who need to make the case for bringing in outside expertise.

Chapter one gives a general introduction to employing agile talent, and the following eight chapters then provide detail, strategies and tools. With chapter headings like "Attracting and Welcoming Agile Talent," the book is user friendly, and each chapter ends with a summary, which is great if you want to flick through and get the gist.

So let's take a closer look at this band of roving experts that the authors label "agile talent." Who are they and what are they like?

In chapter one, we learn there's a huge shift going on in employment trends. In the past, a professional could expect to be employed by one company for his or her entire career. That's no longer the case. The US-based Freelancers Union reported that in 2014, a quarter of the US workforce consisted of project-based independents, or "gigsters," working for more than one organization. This is the "agile talent" of the book's title.

With many countries producing increasing numbers of PhD graduates in technical and professional areas, there's a huge pool of highly trained talent out there. What's more, these experts are looking for interesting and challenging work. They want to use their knowledge in different areas, and for a range of organizations. They often prefer to move from one exciting project to the next, enhancing their expertise and credentials as they go, rather than settling into a permanent position.

And, through sites like LinkedIn, companies can easily access this global network of expertise – a concept the authors call "cloud resourcing."

It's clear there are benefits to using agile talent to plug a gap in expertise without adding to permanent headcount and its related costs. You can get the job done quickly and having an outsider on board may challenge the organization's thinking in a useful way.

But before you outsource to external experts, you'll need to define exactly what your company needs. Chapter two provides extensive guidance on auditing your company's current capabilities and future requirements.

You'll find a diagnostic tool to help you do that in the appendix. This is called the Agile Talent Effectiveness Quotient Survey, and you can use it to assess how effective your organization is at attracting and managing outside talent, whether they're high-level consultancy firms or solo creatives.

The following chapter then considers how often, and for what length of time, external help may be required. Leaders need to ask themselves questions like: does the company need an adviser to provide occasional expertise? Or, do we need a consultant to work on a specific project for a defined period of time? Your responses will help you make strategic decisions about your use of agile talent.

So now you've figured out what the company's requirements are, you need to get your experts on board. Successful contractors survive because they've built up a reputation for excellence. They can often afford to be picky, so why should they choose to work for you?

Money is important, but it's usually not the chief motivator for agile talent. External workers may be more interested in job satisfaction, credit for their work, and future career opportunities. So, if you want to entice them into your organization, you need to tell them what they can expect if they work for you.

Younger and Smallwood have identified six major elements that contribute to what they call "employer brand." These include how much autonomy agile talent has, how the company and an individual's work contributes to the wider community, and how the company supports the advancement of agile talent.

An excellent example is Airbnb, the world's biggest marketplace for places to stay and an employer of numerous professionals, including designers, web developers, and customer service agents. Airbnb provides potential employees with an exciting and detailed "employer brand" on its website. This includes its work ethic and attitude toward continued learning. Airbnb also emphasizes that it promotes teamwork and gives due praise for a job well done. Its employer brand is upfront and feisty, giving outsiders a clear picture of what it would be like working there.

Although the book claims to be a guide to sourcing, as well as managing, outside talent, there isn't very much here about how to find the most suitable contractors. "Cloud resourcing" through social media is mentioned, as you heard earlier, and the authors also suggest creating an agile talent manager role, if you use a lot of outside help. This person can leverage their contacts and networking skills to source contractors, as well as using the usual recruitment methods.

So, once you've found the right external people with the right skills, through great employer branding and proactive efforts, how do you manage them effectively?

The authors argue that leaders need to treat externals as "separate yet equal" to company staff. They need to be part of the team: respected, trusted and recognized for the important work they do. But how do you make contract workers feel part of the company community when they're not permanent employees?

Leaders need to make sure contractors understand the company's culture and administrative rules, and how their work fits into the overall growth of the organization. This is outlined in brief at the beginning, and in chapter six the authors go into more depth, sharing a tool designed by The RBL Group's co-founder Dave Ulrich.

The tool's name is written as V.O.I.2.C.2.E, which is a rough acronym pronounced "voice." It covers such issues as creating a clear Vision, outlining Opportunities for career progression, and letting agile workers know the Impact of their contribution through feedback.

But for the external workers to feel truly integrated, they'll need to work well with your permanent members of staff, and build productive relationships. There may be a bit of resistance among the old guard. So how can you help your regular team members accept the new faces around the table?

You can emphasize the benefits of bringing in externals, for the growth of the company and individuals. Internal staff may learn new skills or ways of thinking. Working with agile talent can also improve internal staff's networking, and potentially career, opportunities.

And to allay any "us and them" mentality, the book suggests you avoid creating the impression that a group of experts is swooping in to solve a problem. A collaborative approach will likely be more successful.

The team of external experts and internal leaders can create a map for change, which is then implemented by the internal leaders with guidance from the external experts. This gentler approach should foster ownership and enthusiasm from internal staff.

Another way to foster good relationships between internal and external collaborators is to get them together. The successful US-based online retailer Zappos has quarterly "all hands meetings" that include externals. Team building exercises, information about company performance and inspirational guest speakers are all on the agenda. The company also supports external-internal relationships through its blog, Zappos Insights.

Remember, too, that introducing contractors can have a ripple effect throughout the workforce. Good leaders need to anticipate the impact for people working at all levels who may feel threatened by outsiders. A well-designed strategy of communication and integration is a must, to ensure that everyone can see the benefit of using contractors.

If this works well, talented contractors will likely want to work on other projects with you, and you'll gain a good reputation as a great company to work for among other gigsters.

Finally, in chapter nine, Younger and Smallwood outline a 90-day action plan for preparing an organization to make the best use of agile talent, based on the key ideas in the book.

This book sets out to give leaders guidance on how best to handle outside experts, as the "agile talent" phenomenon spreads. The tools and strategies presented here will benefit anyone who needs to manage outside collaborators alongside a permanent workforce.

Younger and Smallwood insist that the key to integrating agile talent successfully is excellent communication. This has to happen from the get-go and it's the responsibility of leaders to set it in motion.

Then there's a clear plan to follow. Value your external experts and choose them wisely. Orient them into the company, nurture their relationships with internal staff, and give regular feedback. If you do all this, you should see the benefits reflected in your organization's performance.

Some aspects of the structure and layout of the book are a little frustrating. For example, the authors sometimes refer to information previously mentioned without any reminder or page reference, assuming you'll be able to locate or remember it. And the text is often broken mid-sentence by a table, interrupting the reader's focus. But, all in all, these are minor bugbears, which are far outweighed by the breadth of research and quantity of useful tools.

"Agile Talent: How to Source and Manage Outside Experts," by Jon Younger and Norm Smallwood, is published by Harvard Business Review Press.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.