Leading Free Agents
Free agents can play an important role in your company, but they're only helpful if you use them right. One thing to remember is that the leadership style you use with your full-time Creatives isn't going to be appropriate for someone who's with you temporarily, and who you may never meet because they're on the other side of the world. You don't get to develop a relationship over time...you've only got a short window of opportunity to do it.
Is short-term leadership really just "management?" Are you really trying to lead someone or are you just trying to get them to complete a particular task? Do you really have the responsibility to lead them like you do your regular employees?
Well, consider the possibility that you might want to bring them back sometime. Maybe you'll want to use them again for future projects, or you might even want to try to bring them on full-time. If you think you might work with this person again then you have an interest in developing them somewhat. You might not be the mentor that guides them to a successful life. Then again, you might.
In addition to trying to turn them into someone you'd want to have working for you, you may also need to sell them on the idea of working for you. After all, if they've chosen the free agent route because they like it, you'll have to show them the benefits of working for you. one of the things you can offer that a free agent is lacking and might want is good leadership. Letting them see that working for you is a good deal in that regard can encourage them to sign on if you provide the kind of environment they've been waiting for.
So how do you exercise leadership with a free agent? Well, first of all, be very clear about your objectives for them just as with any other employee. help them develop a plan for meeting those objectives, whether they're with you for one project or for a particular period of time. Do what you can to integrate them into the organization so they can play well with others...make sure they are introduced to the people they need to know, make them aware of all the resources to them, and do your best not to make them feel like a second-class citizen.
This brings up a unique issue with free agents: making them feel like part of your team even though, for the long term, they're not. This is tricky. They won't have the relationships with other workers like the full-timers develop. Your other Creatives know this person is just here temporarily and may not be interested in being very accommodating because, after all, this person is probably leaving after the project anyway, so hey, where's he long term benefit in cooperating? It's also possible that you're paying the free agent more than your full-timers to balance out the lack of benefits...if your regulars get wind of this they're liable to start thinking that being a free agent is a better deal and you may create a retention problem for yourself.
In addition to your full-timers' perspectives your free agent may feel uncomfortable as well. One of the better documented cases of this in recent years was at Microsoft, where full timers had benefits such as stock options that would ultimately make many of them millionaires while the free agents didn't. That's a risk that somebody takes when they become a free agent, and they should understand that, but you may still have to soothe some ill feelings, especially if your full-timers are getting something good and lord it over the free agents. Also, you don't need to do one thing that Microsoft did: full-timers and free agents had different colored badges, making a very clear distinction between the two groups even though they had the same goals in terms of producing a product. Bad idea.
Don't worry about providing free agents the training or other development opportunities you give your full-timers...anyone who takes on free agency needs to understand they're responsible for their own training. But while all your leadership tools aren't available to you, that doesn't mean you should ignore leadership. For 2 days or 2 months or longer, these folks DO work for you, and in order to get the best results out of them, you need to invest some time in leading them.
Is short-term leadership really just "management?" Are you really trying to lead someone or are you just trying to get them to complete a particular task? Do you really have the responsibility to lead them like you do your regular employees?
Well, consider the possibility that you might want to bring them back sometime. Maybe you'll want to use them again for future projects, or you might even want to try to bring them on full-time. If you think you might work with this person again then you have an interest in developing them somewhat. You might not be the mentor that guides them to a successful life. Then again, you might.
In addition to trying to turn them into someone you'd want to have working for you, you may also need to sell them on the idea of working for you. After all, if they've chosen the free agent route because they like it, you'll have to show them the benefits of working for you. one of the things you can offer that a free agent is lacking and might want is good leadership. Letting them see that working for you is a good deal in that regard can encourage them to sign on if you provide the kind of environment they've been waiting for.
So how do you exercise leadership with a free agent? Well, first of all, be very clear about your objectives for them just as with any other employee. help them develop a plan for meeting those objectives, whether they're with you for one project or for a particular period of time. Do what you can to integrate them into the organization so they can play well with others...make sure they are introduced to the people they need to know, make them aware of all the resources to them, and do your best not to make them feel like a second-class citizen.
This brings up a unique issue with free agents: making them feel like part of your team even though, for the long term, they're not. This is tricky. They won't have the relationships with other workers like the full-timers develop. Your other Creatives know this person is just here temporarily and may not be interested in being very accommodating because, after all, this person is probably leaving after the project anyway, so hey, where's he long term benefit in cooperating? It's also possible that you're paying the free agent more than your full-timers to balance out the lack of benefits...if your regulars get wind of this they're liable to start thinking that being a free agent is a better deal and you may create a retention problem for yourself.
In addition to your full-timers' perspectives your free agent may feel uncomfortable as well. One of the better documented cases of this in recent years was at Microsoft, where full timers had benefits such as stock options that would ultimately make many of them millionaires while the free agents didn't. That's a risk that somebody takes when they become a free agent, and they should understand that, but you may still have to soothe some ill feelings, especially if your full-timers are getting something good and lord it over the free agents. Also, you don't need to do one thing that Microsoft did: full-timers and free agents had different colored badges, making a very clear distinction between the two groups even though they had the same goals in terms of producing a product. Bad idea.
Don't worry about providing free agents the training or other development opportunities you give your full-timers...anyone who takes on free agency needs to understand they're responsible for their own training. But while all your leadership tools aren't available to you, that doesn't mean you should ignore leadership. For 2 days or 2 months or longer, these folks DO work for you, and in order to get the best results out of them, you need to invest some time in leading them.
Labels: Free Agents, Leading
posted by Will at
3:00 AM
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