The fast pace and complex nature of today’s global marketplace presents numerous challenges for executives tasked with driving sustainable results. Corporations are often forced to move at a rapid pace despite a shortage of in-house staff, funds, time, and/or expertise. Fortunately, a cost-effective, reliable resource solution has emerged that enables corporations to effectively address critical business opportunities and challenges for an immediate impact and quality results.
Through specialized firms such as OnDemand Resources, executives can easily identify and deploy high quality interim independent project talent matched to their particular requirements at a moment’s notice without having strings attached. Companies retain seasoned, high-caliber professionals with the exact functional experience they require on a short, long, or part-time basis so that they can increase efficiencies, manage organizational risk, and accomplish the goals on their strategic agenda.
So how are companies leveraging independent professionals to deal with today’s business complexities? We’ve outlined five proven approaches to accomplish a variety of business objectives. These strategies enable executives to make significant progress in spite of a lack of in-house resources or time constraints and are significantly budget friendlier compared to traditional consulting alternatives.
- Targeted Project Expertise:
Scenario: You have a defined project that goes beyond your current organizational knowledge and/or staffing levels, An independent consultant with deep background in the specific subject matter has the ability to move very quickly to help your organization “move the needle” and deliver better results a lot faster than you would be able to do it on your own. They are also a lot more cost effective than traditional consulting alternatives. An experienced independent consultant is very well suited to work effective with your team since he/she typically does not require an elaborate project management structure typical of traditional consulting projects, comes with a significant amount of experience from a similar environment and typically does not require any substantial time commitment .
Benefits: You are able to get more substantial results faster than with in-house resources. Variable cost nature of this approach gives you the flexibility to manage your organization’s budget and allocate resources against the highest return on investment areas.
- Managing Change
Scenario: Your organization faces a dramatic change such as an acquisition or divestiture, and needs an interim senior leadership that already has a demonstrated record making change happen. You secure a senior independent professional with proven change management experience to lead the organization through the change at hand. In addition to bringing specific experience that helps your organization, the independent change manager has the ability to move decisively and quickly without putting his/her career in jeopardy.
Benefits: One of the key benefits of an interim change manager is his/her independence relative to the organization. They have the ability to make tough decisions without the worries of their political impact on their corporate career. You are able to leverage substantial functional and industry experience on a temporary basis. with emphasis on making a significant and quick strategic impact.
- Interim Professional Staff
Scenario: A key member of your team just resigned from your organization and it will likely take a substantial time to find a replacement. You may not be even sure that you will be backfilling the same exact position and may consider re-designing your organization chart. But the work still needs to get done. Rather than leave the position open and put additional strain on your already overtaxed team, you retain an interim replacement professional with specific background and experience.
Benefits: You are able to temporarily fill the position and get the results you’re looking for so that you can keep operations running on schedule while you search for the perfect replacement. Also, the open position becomes more attractive to prospective candidates because they aren’t walking into an organization that’s been neglected. You may even get a candidate that’s more qualified to come in and clean things up, if needed.
- Independent Expert Assessment
Scenario: You need an external resource who can come in and work “outside in” to provide an expert perspective with credibility on a particular aspect of your business. This individual will work independently to achieve a reality-based set of recommendations. You secure an independent subject-matter expert to conduct a comprehensive assessment, present you with his/her finding and recommend the best way to go forward.
Benefits: You get expert advice that’s unbiased and reality-based without significantly distracting any of your in-house staff. You don’t have to hire full-time help for an isolated, one-time project and you are able to leverage broader best practices expertise
- Strategic Concept Development and Testing
Scenario: Executive leadership of your company is considering a major strategic initiative such as launching a new channel to market or exploring new global sources. But before putting a significant amount of resources behind these new initiatives and building full time teams, you decide to test the concept to ensure that this is the right strategic direction. Leveraging independent subject matter experts with deep domain experience and background from companies that have successfully implemented these initiatives will be a great help in shaping the initial strategy and testing it. It’s a lot easier and cost effective to bring in a team of independent professionals than to build a brand new organization in order to decide that this is the right think to do.
Benefits: You are able to make an important decision based on real world experience/results before you put a lot of internal resources at risk. Additionally, you are likely able to bring in more senior and experienced talent to help you get the strategic initiative off the ground faster than you would be able to do with in-house talent. The variable nature of the arrangement enables you to change direction quickly in case your strategy changes.