12 Talent Options for Business Leaders

By Rob Marchalonis.

Business leaders, what talent do you need to tackle your current challenge or project? Do you have the talent in-house? If not, what’s your plan? If you are thinking about hiring a person full-time, hold on! You may want to consider your options to scale-up the talent you need:

1. Do nothing, avoid the issue.
   • Is the situation significant enough to warrant action?
2. Delay the project.
   • How likely will the issue fix itself or go away?
3. Do it yourself, from experience.
   • Can you use your current knowledge, skills, and effort to do it on your own?
4. Do it yourself, after you learn.
   • Can you learn the information and skills you need to take on the challenge by yourself?
5. Have an employee do it, with their experience.
   • Is it something someone on your team knows and can do for you?
6. Have an employee do it, after they learn.
   • Can an employee get the training, knowledge, and experience to do it?
7. Call an expert or adviser, with the knowledge and experience you need.
   • Who can you connect with, on short notice, to help your team solve the problem?
8. Use a consultant, who has experience to help you through the challenge.
   • “Rent” an expert for a while to guide you and help you avoid pitfalls.
9. Farm-out the project, to a sub-contractor for a fee.
   • What experienced team can you hand the project over to?
10. Hire a part-time employee, to take on the project or responsibility.
    • Potentially faster and less expensive than a full-time hire. Allow for training and trial-and-error learning.
11. Hire a full-time employee, to take on the project or responsibility.
    • Proceed carefully when you add new or un-proven candidates and assume overhead and risk.
12. Selectively hire talent with a “track record of success” for specific roles when you and your business are ready.
    • Invest the time, effort, and resources needed to recruit the best knowledge, experience, and skills you can afford.

Scale talent to move forward efficiently, effectively, and with less risk.

Consider your talent options as you take on big challenges or opportunities. To identify talent, focus on knowledge, experience, and a “track record of success”. Consider the urgency of your issues, the size of your budget, and your tolerance for risk (especially with new or unproven employees). Proceed carefully, and potentially one step at a time from “do nothing” to “hire full-time talent”. Be willing to hire, but be diligent to not get ahead of the resources you will need to recruit, support, and retain employees who are proven performers. As you move forward and build momentum, you will be able to progressively scale up your budget, capabilities, and grow a team of talent!

Rob Marchalonis (Rob@LSP123.com) shares knowledge and experience with leaders to increase their organizational productivity. Email, or message Rob on LinkedIn. Learn more at www.LSP123.com and www.IncentShare.com