The Many Benefits of a Skills-based ‘Freelance Mindset’ for Companies

It turns out that companies are more efficient and innovative when they allocate projects based on available staff skills, not on an employee’s fixed job description. In this article I’ll make the case that employing some of those needed skills externally, as freelance talent, is an excellent complement to that approach and can help companies manage the challenges of rapid change. Quite simply, more freelance workers can help the acceptance of fast change in adopting new technology, new systems and embracing a changing company culture. External freelancers can lubricate locked mindsets and help companies adopt internal skill-based work flexibility, in effect work as an ‘internal freelancer’.?

The benefits that come with using freelancers are not only about plugging-in missing technical skillsets, or reducing costs with more efficient allocation of labour. Their flexibility of allocation is a valuable influence in itself. In other words there is also a whole cultural aspect to the benefits of bringing in what we can think of as ‘non-aligned’ workers. A strongly established company culture with real ‘esprit de corps’ has some very real commercial benefits and thousands of management books have been focused on how to create that magic sauce and align workforces to the latest company vision and working method. Afterall, employees who care for company values will act accordingly and are more likely to make extra effort to ensure the success of a company that they feel invested in and bonded to - especially when they feel respected and valued in their workplaces and expect financial rewards for that loyalty. So far, so rosy ;-)

But how many companies can actually deliver on this kind of idyllic equation year after year, quarter after quarter, especially if they’re in a sector experiencing disruption or increased competition? The harsh reality is that even the most enlightened and visionary companies and management teams find it very tough. The inherent dilemma is that change is hard and change becomes even harder the more established a way of working has become and the more a group of workers has become attached to a set of values, workplace practises and systems.?

The latest strong evidence for this comes from the consultancy Deloitte and a report focused on the benefits of a move towards Skills-Based Organizations. “The way things are done around here" is the top obstacle, cited by 46% of business and HR executives, when it comes to the question of what’s holding the organisation back from transforming into a skills-based organization. It’s a revealing statistic and I would expect that this kind of hidden organizational inertia would form a similar obstacle to every form of change that is desired by the management team in an established company, large or small. The least important obstacle of 10 options was for ‘lack of effective skills-related technology’ (18%). ‘The way things have always been done here’ is the massive obstacle to any kind of change, in almost any industry, however apparently advanced and innovative. Afterall this is why some of the early leaders in sectors like software, consumer electronics and mobile telephony have fallen far behind upstarts in those industries. New companies brough new outlooks, new work mindsets, new ways to allocate scare skills.

The Deloitte premise here is that ‘fixed job descriptions’ with their inflexible expectation of roles someone is qualified to fulfill are a very limiting way to allocate labour. Instead projects should instead be assembled based on the skill-providers able to deliver them. The report provides some statistically striking evidence of the benefits.?

Organizations with a skills-based approach are:

• 52% more likely to be innovative
• 57% more likely to be agile
• 107% more likely to place talent effectively
• 98% more likely to retain high performers and have a reputation as a great place to grow and develop

In other words, companies that allocate their workforces tasks in the way they would look for freelancers are naturally more innovative, efficient and also make their best, high performing employees even happier in the process. A ‘freelance mentality’ is great for the best existing workers, as well as being a potential external resource.?

I would argue that these findings support the case that companies in the process of transformation need to bring in a significant number of freelance workers at such times. That is because these temporary freelancers are a source of wider influence across a company, encouraging the best existing workers to acquire new skills, new ways of working and see the job satisfaction in being open to new work. This can be way to break down departmental rigidity and old limitations to how a task can be handled. In summary, the benefits enabled by freelancers are not just about adding missing skills into a workforce, but also by encouraging a company to look more flexibly at the skills already available in its full-time employees and to plan work accordingly. External freelancers are a resource that don’t just plug skill gaps, but can be a way to stimulate lasting work culture change by encouraging the acceptance of ‘internal freelancing’. It turns out that companies and their whole workforce benefit when everyone assesses and values themselves based on their skills rather than titles. This ‘freelance mindset’ is a benefit for permanent staff as well as for those whose lifestyle has always been to pass through, learn and move on. So, whatever your work situation, remember that it’s best to think of yourself as a freelancer!

Lawrence Du Pre

Co-Founder

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