Because Savvy Professionals Have Chosen Independence

“…savvy professionals are choosing independence,

and savvy leaders are choosing to work with independents as a strategic choice.”

Kris Taylor

Inspiration for this blog post came from Kris Taylor, a long-time independent consultant who is now helping others that have chosen this path.

In her book, “Owning It: Take Control of Your Life, Work and Career," she addresses the question of why business owners and CEOs should hire small, independent professionals; as opposed to other, more traditional options. Here are her top five reasons:

1.     Independents Have the Talent Required

“I’ll start with the most compelling: some of the best talent available is working independently. In order to be successful as an independent, one must not only have the skills to do the task well but must execute well enough to secure a referral or an invitation to do additional work. It may be … a bit Darwinian, but truly it is an environment where the top-notch professionals do well, and the others fold their tent and find a job.”

Especially in small- and medium-sized organizations, the broader skills of an independent are essential to their success: simultaneously and quickly assessing situations, staying focused on results, showing resilience in the face of adversity, and communicating well at all levels of the organization; to mention just a few.

2.     Independents Provide an Outside Perspective

“Perhaps the greatest thing you bring as an independent is objectivity about your client’s situation coupled with a breadth of experience from other organizations. You can see things that your client, immersed up to their eyeballs in alligators, cannot. You can put things in perspective for them. You can offer ideas beyond the paltry few their staff can come up with. Your role is to assess and provide candid recommendations, something that those inside an organization might struggle with.”

That outside perspective is (a) broad, as independent professionals have worked with multiple organizations before, have experienced a myriad of different companies, cultures, approaches and the situation. At the same time, they bring a (b) specific expertise that the organization is lacking or requires only for a one-time project. They (c) speak freely and share things with their clients straight up. Without any history or baggage, they are (d) less emotional when making difficult decisions and hard changes within an organization. And lastly, independent professionals are (e) fully vested in the success of their clients: “They want projects to succeed, sales to soar, and employees to thrive. There are three factors that lead to this: 1) they are doing work that they are really good at and, in most cases, passionate about; 2) their success is linked to their clients, and they cannot survive as an independent doing mediocre work; and 3) they have a strong desire to serve and to make a difference.”

3.     Independents Bring Up-to-Date Skills and Knowledge

“Keeping up with current technology, innovations, and best practices is difficult, no matter what the area of specialty. Independents can provide needed expertise to an organization without making a hire. This can work especially well when the skill set needed is more cutting edge, and employees have not been exposed or equipped with the new skills, methods, or tools. It can also work well when a client needs a certain skill set for a fixed point in time.”

Independents fill a skill gap. If this gap exists only temporarily, i.e., for a specific project, why would you hire or train your employees? And if the skill is needed in your organization going forward, the independent's engagement should include an element of creating frameworks, training, and coaching so that they leave a legacy.

4.     Independents are Hired for Just the Right Amount of Time

“There will be some … work that is shorter-term in duration. Work that will take a few months rather than a few years. Work like this is typically a one-time need or part of a limited duration project. This is a great place to utilize independent talent.”

There is also work that is regular, though not full-time. And for all these, the business owner’s mantra is rather simple: You only pay for what you need.

5.     Independents Can Get You to a Quicker Start

“Even when it goes lickety-split, hiring needed regular employee talent can take months—many months. The hiring manager needs to get approval, the job needs to be posted, and then the wait begins. And once applicants have been identified, there is the interviewing and the vetting, then the offer. Then the two to four weeks to give notice before beginning. And even then, it takes a few weeks (or months) to get the new employee on boarded, oriented, and productive. All this time is well spent to find the right hire for a longer-term role.”

Independents are typically ready to be effective within a week or two. They often run multiple, shorter-term assignments in parallel and are used to starting new projects on short notice. It is simply part of their skillset referred to above.

If you want to chat about the value an independent professional working as an interim or fractional sales leader can bring to your organization, contact us.

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Kris Taylor - Owning It: Take Control of Your Life, Work and Career

 Photo by Anne Gosewehr