Employees as Independent Agents (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on 11. Jul, 2010 by Lee Scott in Wake Up and Shake It Up

Lee Scott, founder of Unleashing Leaders and partner at Achieved Strategies, has challenged us to rethink how managers and employees interact to help the business succeed. In this third and final installment, Lee offers us a role-shift for employees as independent agents and what managers/leaders can do to inspire the workforce in this paradigm shift. Click here to read Part 1. And click here to read Part 2.

Independent Agents

Independent agents are already “owners.” They own their business, their time and the choice of projects they work on. Using independent agents means that an organization can assemble teams for temporary periods of time, anywhere form a few weeks to a few years, but each project is essentially a time-bound gig. The best performing organizations have a loose network of folks who they bring together very quickly, and then disband and reform them as needed.

Imagine having an internal Facebook where employees pitch their profile of various professional skills, and can be searched regardless of which department they report to or what their job title is. Internal customers sponsoring the work assemble their team based on their skills profile and price bid. Sponsors may even have the Amazon/eBay like ability to see a social peer rating on the candidates based on previous customers.

Operating this way allows an organization to maximize its investment. Everyone is properly motivated: the organization wants to pick the best ideas and employees want to deliver their best work, because otherwise they lose their security.

Capitalism At Its Best

Society based on a healthy entrepreneurial class creates a resilient economy of small, free-flowing markets that is less prone to wild swings. In a monolithic economy, if one corporation or industry even stutters, as we have seen in the wake of the 2009 economic crisis, there is damaging a ripple effect. No one thing should ever be too big to fail.

Next Steps You Can Take

Organizations that want to engage differently with their workforces should:

1. Look at your current employee base as more of a resource pool rather than pigeonholed specialists bound by a job description or duty statement. Instead, see them as talented individuals with a brain and many facets they could contribute if we – management – could just get the hell out of their way.

2. Shift the ratio of work from manager-assigned, to employees whose job is to identify tasks and pitch them to management, like small-business owners. And then give them the freedom to coordinate with coworkers how to accomplish the pitch.

3. Replace the death grip on roles with a crystal focus on goals. Shift job descriptions to talk more about the goals the company is trying to accomplish rather than scripting the day-to-day activities.

The key that will make this work in modern society is that you tap into a network of resources by quickly searching, recruiting, connecting, pitching, and evaluating the people and their networks’ performance. This may seem radical, but if you look around all the pieces are there. It’s just up to the organization and its leaders – you – to stitch them together.

So, what do you think? Share your thoughts with us below.

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