Freelancer Fears: How to Meet Your Goals with Consultants

Are you considering outsourcing learning and development tasks to consultants? While this can be a great way to get the expertise you need sans the overhead and long-term commitment of hiring employees, it can also be a source of anxiety for some.

And if you’ve ever turned to a generic talent marketplace rife with newbie professionals or worked with a staffing provider that didn’t offer the ongoing support needed to achieve your goals, then you’ll know this fear all too well.

Hesitations aside, it’s hard to deny the bottom-line benefits of working with a consultant vs. a full-time employee. Let’s look at the numbers:

• The average cost to hire full-time employees is $4,700. (SHRM)
• The overhead cost per full-time employee is 1.25-1.4x their salary. (SBA)
• It costs 6-9 months of salary to replace full-time employees. (SHRM)

In this post, we’ll explore tips for building strong relationships with freelancers including how to establish clear expectations, effective communication strategies, boost accountability, budget scope management, and more. This guide will provide practical advice to help you develop an effective outsourcing strategy.

Establishing Clear Goals and Objectives

Establishing clear goals and expectations when working with consultants or a talent provider is critical to ensuring successful partnerships. Consider the following:

For One-Time Projects: Start by defining the scope of the work that you need the consultant to do. Be as specific as possible, and include details such as deliverables, timelines, and budget. Identify what success looks like and discuss expectations.

For On-Going Support: You’ll need to define the key responsibilities the consultant will execute. Consider the experience required including nice-to-haves and deal breakers. SHRM offers free job descriptions to give you a starting point or defer to these prompts:

• What are the working requirements (virtual, on-location, hybrid, are there time zone requirements or standard working hours/recurring meetings that the consultant needs to be available for?)
• What tools do they need to do the work? (Articulate, Vyond, JIRA, etc.)
• What deliverables will they be asked to create and what level of ownership will they have? (Will they be expected to strategize or execute with guidance?)
• What does success look like in the role? (KPIs and performance metrics)

Addressing these questions will help you and the consultant or talent partner meet your unique needs.

Managing Costs and Budgets

When working with consultants or talent providers, it’s essential to set realistic budgets and manage costs effectively. This involves establishing clear scope and timelines, negotiating rates, and avoiding scope creep. Keep the following in mind:

• Get creative. If you’re particularly budget conscious you may want to consider utilizing junior-level or offshore talent to meet your goals. Another option could be to split the work between a strategist and an executor such as a Learning Architect and Content Developer which allows budget flexibility and the benefit of having specialty skill sets.
• Long-term value. While I’m all for cost-effectiveness, remember that in most instances a consultant with deep expertise can help you save time and money in the long run.
• Fixed-price contracts. AKA, flat rate contracts provide a clear and predictable cost for the work to be performed. This can help avoid unexpected costs and ensure that the collaboration stays within budget.

The benefit of working with an experienced talent provider is that they can help you work within your budget to meet your unique needs. Interested in exploring flat-rate learning design and development? Contact us below to learn more about our flexible on-demand plans.