Over the last six posts, we discussed the key considerations that independent consultants need to keep in mind before (or after!) making the shift to independent insight-related consulting. This week, we are writing about the other side of the coin, user of insights. With some insight professionals actively considering an independent consulting career, it is important for the user of insights services to adapt to this newreality.
You would probably have already heard about ‘The Great Resignation’. The term was first coined by Anthony Klotz, an associate professor of management at Texas A&M University. He predicted that employee resignations will be accelerated during and after the pandemic as people increasingly look beyond a 9-5 full-time job. You can read more about one of the first articles on the subject here. Further, recent research suggests that this trend is unlikely to fade away soon.Recent research done by Randstad NV revealed that more than half of millennials and Gen-Z respondents would quit a job if it prevented them from enjoying life. You can read more about the research here and here.
So, what should you do if your most talented employee(s)has decided to quit and pursue a career as an independent consultant? How can your organization continue to benefit from their skills as they pursue this new path? Let’s look at your potential strategy this from the short, medium, and long term (the most important!) point of view.
Become their first customer!
If you can’t beat them, join them! For the short term, look for potential opportunities to become your (ex) employee’s first customer. As we noted earlier, your colleague also needs to de-risk their journey as they move to become an independent consultant. If they are starting out as an individual service provider and have the skillset for your needs, why not become the first customer?If the employee is founding a niche startup, check if it would add value to your organization and whether it makes sense for you to champion its cause.
At InsightGig, we have observed independent consultants going back to full-time employment if the opportunity was right. By retaining a strong connection with your colleague post resignation, you could be in a great position to attract them later, if they choose to go back to full-time employment.
Refer other potential customers…
For the medium term, earn good karma by referring other potential customers to your ex-employee. Going independent sounds glamorous but remember that monthly cheques are no longer assured. There are many factors that need to be addressed by an independent consultant to become successful. We are certain that they could use a little help from you. 🙂
Adapt your organization…
Finally, for the long term, your organization needs to adjust to the post-pandemic reality. As Anthony Klotznotes in this post,“Workers searching for jobs that provide the best fit for their life situation, their skills and their values will fuel higher-than-usual resignation rates for some time.”How do you and your organization adjust to this reality?
At InsightGig, we believe you have nothing to worry! In fact, access to multiple independent consultants who have deep expertise in their selected niche could be highly beneficial to your organization. With the Great Resignation, you would be able to now access talented individuals or firms who specialise in a certain industry, insight technique, or a software tool. Our platform is aimed to provide access to such expertise in one place, with a lot of value-added features to boot (we will come to those in our later posts!).
To explain our view, we now introduce a procedure used in chemical or civil engineering!!! Consider a material with particles of various sizes. For instance, concrete. Concrete contains coarse aggregates, fine aggregates, cement, sand (which itself has particles of different sizes), and water. Together, they are rock solid but on its own each component wouldn’t amount to much! How is this linked to our view on using the gig economy for insights requirements?
If you are large organization with an insights team, you would have your own staff doing the heavy lifting. They are like the large aggregates in concrete, providing volume as well as solidity. They also come at a lower, and predictable cost. As and when you need specific expertise, you can fill the gaps with external expertise. Smaller particles like fine aggregates, cement, and sand represent the different expertise that you need. They are smaller than the large aggregates, easily filling the gaps between them. The final result is rock solid concrete! The difference now is that specific insights expertise to fill the gaps is much easier to access on platforms like InsightGig.
If you are a smaller organization without an insights team, then you can also access the large aggregates from a platform like InsightGig. Once you become large, you can invest in your own insights team. Till then, leave it to InsightGig!
Currently, InsightGig has over 100 independent insights consultants with expertise in multiple insight-related areas. Given the vast nature of the insights field, no organization can have every expertise. The expertise that you need includes traditional market research as well as technology enabled research like digital data analytics, syndicated reports, social listening, feedback monitoring, insight-based consulting, and usage of DIY research platforms. In such a scenario, accessed to focused independent consultants on a need basis can provide to qualitatively effective as well as efficient from a time and cost standpoint.
If you like what you read, how about contacting us for a free one-hour insights skills assessment or have a look at some our readymade packages here?
