In the new world of work, modern managers must leverage on-demand experts to access top talent and reach their goals. And doing so effectively often requires breaking business goals into distinct projects. But successful projects don’t just happen — they’re built. Yes, it’s about finding the right experts in the marketing, communications, project, and program management sectors for the right roles at the right time, but it’s also about intentionally setting clear expectations and rules of engagement. Whether you’re new to hiring project-based professionals or you’ve already done it several times, these hiring tips for managers will help you meaningfully move the needle in getting work done well – and fast:
As more of the American workforce opts out of traditional employment in favor of consulting and freelancing, success in the new world of work requires a more holistic approach to talent and team building. And it starts by broadening your perspective from team to Team.
A team consists solely of full-time employees. It’s static.
In contrast, a Team includes a dynamic collection of resources that help an organization reach its goals. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution as a Team can be any combination of full-time employees, consultants, freelancers, agencies, or contractors — whether strategic or tactical, long- or short-term, internal or external. This hiring best practice helps modern managers maximize results and flexibility with blended Teams. In doing so, managers are able to:
Looking to build out your Team with consultants?
When working with project-based experts, check your manager credentials at the door. You’re a client now. What’s the difference? Quite a bit.
With full-time employees, you’re a manager. As a manager, you’re not just tasked with ensuring that work gets done; you’re also responsible for managing employee performance and professional development. If there’s an issue, you must coach and resolve it. If there’s a teachable moment, that’s on you, too. The responsibilities and pressures that come with being a manager can consume a fair amount of time and energy.
When working with outside experts — whether consultants, freelancers, or agencies— you get to be the client.
And as a client, you’re free to focus on the bottom-line results. That means defining the problem that needs to be solved and celebrating the win when the work is complete. You can leave the responsibility of people management and development to your client service partner, like Simplicity Consulting.
Simplicity is driven by one goal: to help our clients achieve maximum success. We find and manage expert talent in the marketing, communication, program, and project management spaces - so you can enjoy the results.
This hiring best practice might sound obvious, but it’s nearly impossible to have a successful project without clearly defining what success looks like — and then sharing that with everyone involved.
As you crystalize your vision of success, ask yourself:
It all comes down to asking yourself, “What is the most important business outcome I need to achieve right now?”
Define success: Check.
Once successful clients have identified their most important business objectives, they break down what they need to do to meet those goals. How?
Do:
Ask yourself:
Simply put, you’ll want to figure out what you want this consultant to do and deliver.
We can’t emphasize it enough: How you start is how you finish.
The key to a successful project is setting clear expectations at the outset—and sharing those expectations with everyone involved, including your client service partner.
Areas to consider:
Another hiring best practice that applies here is to schedule a project kick-off meeting during the project’s first week. If possible, meet face-to-face, whether that be via Zoom or in person.
One benefit of working with a client service partner like Simplicity is that we’ll drive the project kick-off to ensure your project starts – and ends - right.
Even the most strategic, seasoned, and self-directed consultant needs a few basics to be successful. This hiring tip for managers will help you do just that.
Highly successful clients give their consultants the foundational information they need to hit the ground running, solve problems, and drive impact from the first day. Investing this time will empower your consultant in their role and lead to increased autonomy down the road.
Here’s how:
We’ll say it again: Start strong to end strong.
Success isn’t ambiguous — it’s mapped to clearly defined success metrics. If you want the project completed as agreed upon in the SOW, it’s essential to do more than just set clear benchmarks: Create a process for evaluating and learning from them.
Metrics are crucial to understanding if your investment is yielding the intended ROI. They’re also helpful in flagging potential issues.
What to define:
Upon review, ask yourself:
In addition to following these hiring tips for managers, you can streamline your quest to build the perfect Team by working with the experts at Simplicity. We are expert matchmakers – pairing clients with expert consultants in marketing, communications, project, and project management.
When you partner with Simplicity, you have a trusted advisor helping you effectively fill gaps, do more with less, and reach your goals with the right on-demand expert! And our relationship doesn’t stop there! When you hire a consultant through Simplicity, you’ll be paired with a dedicated client success manager to ensure satisfaction from project kick-off to completion.
Contact us today, and let’s get started together!
