Here a Gig, There a Gig

“Gigs.” For nearly a decade this term has generated interest, debate, and confusion across the workplace. The word itself is almost comical and its recent proliferation reminds me of that childhood ditty about Old MacDonald’s farm, “Here a gig, there a gig, everywhere a gig-gig.”

Originally referring to a series of short-term jobs filled by independent consultants rather than by a company’s full-time employees, “gigs” have served a useful purpose for decades. So, it’s not surprising that organizations more recently spawned their own internal version of the concept – internal gigs or what I like to call “i-gigs.” These are temporary or part-time job opportunities that employees can fill within their own companies, and they have proven to be a cost-effective tactic for addressing some of the talent gaps left by the Great Resignation. But is there more to i-Gigs than we’re seeing at first glance? I think the answer is “Yes.” In fact, I’m convinced that internal gigs have wider applications and broader implications than many leaders recognize, and that these are worth exploring, exploiting, and even expanding.

There’s an App for That!

While utilizing internal gigs has been a successful tactic for filling a company’s short- term talent gaps, I believe that limiting its applicability to this issue alone subverts its potential for impacting other workplace issues such:

• Talent Mobility: We know that managers have historically been guilty of talent hoarding – one of the most significant barriers to internal talent mobility. In fact, it is probably only post-pandemic necessity that has forced some of them to share talent resources recently. So, what if leaders were to apply internal gigs to help solve that problem? What if organizations expanded the use of internal gigs to demonstrate to talent hoarders that talent sharing does not mean talent loss, but actually has win-win consequences? Wouldn’t talent mobility be more do-able?

• Upskilling and Re-skilling: Education has been a mainstay of employee development for decades but is typically expensive and time-consuming. Internal gigs, on the other hand, provide valuable development in the areas of experience and exposure without per-seat fees or time-off-the-job. Imagine the new people employees could meet – and the new management styles they could be exposed to -- when taking on a short-term gig. Wouldn’t that be a great learning adventure?

• Employee Satisfaction: In doing the same job day after day, employees can often be blinded to opportunities that would improve their own flexibility, autonomy, versatility, and overall well-being. But i-gigs can provide a path toward these and other dimensions of employee satisfaction. The possibility of short-term Internal assignments will encourage employees to become opportunity-minded vs. opportunity-blinded. This in turn will open up possibilities for them to demonstrate their versatility, broaden their network, get exposure to new managers, showcase their hidden talents, and generally satisfy their career goals and desire for meaningful daily work. Plus, imagine how much more interesting employees’ answers would be to the question, “What did you do today?”

What to Do When the Gig is Up

While it’s smart to broaden the application of internal gigs to address issues like talent mobility and employee development and satisfaction, it is also risky to overlook one of the key implications the practice has for managers. Specifically, what to do when the gig is up. I think the answer is, “Unpack the experience.”

This can be done by simply asking the employee a series of questions to help them carefully examine and evaluate what they gained from the i-gig experience.

Questions like…

1. What new skills or behaviors did you learn from this?
2. Where else can you apply those?
3. What more do you need to learn in order to be more successful next time?
4. What have you learned about yourself? (Something you don’t like to do? Something you like more than you thought you would?)
5. What did you like best about the experience?
6. What did you like least?
7. What will you do differently in future i-gigs?
8. Are you interested in pursuing more internal gigs? If yes, how will you take the initiative in identifying them?

The internal gig economy is expected to evolve in both scope and scale. If so, today’s leaders will have to evolve with it, and that means sharing more than talent.

Share and Share Alike

We know that talent sharing provides employees with an opportunity to learn and grow without leaving their organizations and colleagues. We know that talent sharing builds connections in a world where a key reason people stay with an organization is for the friendships and collaborations they cultivate. We know that internal gigs are a great way to test and demonstrate the value of talent sharing. And I believe that by sharing i-gig experiences managers and employees can help encourage talent sharing across the post-pandemic workplace. So, I invite you to share yours with me and others by connecting with me on LinkedIn and tagging me in your post.