Hack:
The Case For Collaborative Consulting

By Wayne Bishop - Information Strategist at Arbutus Software Inc.

January 4, 2012 at 4:51pm

Consulting

freelancing

Innovation

skills development

start-up

Moonshots

Reinvent the means of control

Build "natural", flexible hierarchies

Summary

By pooling resources through collaborative consulting, freelancers and independent professionals can make substantial gains in increasing customer value, competitiveness and their bottom lines.

Problem

The biggest challenge in self-employment is time. As an employee you become accustom to being paid for 40 hours per week along with vacation time and sick leave. With the additional responsibilities of being a freelancer (e.g. marketing, taxes, promotion, accounting) workers may spend the majority of their day doing non-billable work. Also, when building new business through referrals, most transactions are "arm-length" in nature that reduces customer value and business profitability.

Solution

Freelancers that participate a "collaborative consulting" model continue to run their own businesses (covering their own expenses), but would work together on larger projects or when asked by other members. Groups would be limited to 5-8 people to streamline decision-making and all members would have complimentary skill sets. The goal? Establish self-organized teams that can crank out high-quality, competitive solutions.

Folks looking for a solution wouldn't need to find an independent developer, marketing expert, copywriter and graphic designer. The customer essentially gets introduced into a network based on a single need, and the freelance team reviews the project to determine how their skill set can increase customer value.

Practical Impact

Unlike a typical arms length relationship, group members would donate part of their time (and possibly financial resources) to benefit the group. An example would be the creation of a website or blog where members contribute one article per week. As the group grows in confidence this could extend to joint efforts in advertising, workshops, strategic planning or even supporting personnel. Think "Hackathon", but with a strategic goal of growth and profitability.

By pooling resources on specific projects, independent workers can organize themselves as a much larger organization, allowing them compete on customer value.

First Steps

To develop your own collaborative consulting group:

Qualify new candidates by working with them on at least two "arms-length" projects
Measure the candidates ability to bring in business
Organize teams based on complimentary skill sets
Schedule weekly check-in's to maintain group cohesion. Keep meetings quick and to the point
Focus on innovation and organizational flexibility
Leave the politics at the door...