Freelancers: Your Project’s Supporters and Stakeholders
As the gig economy continues to grow and change the way businesses operate, we are finding both SMEs and larger corporations turning to freelancers to help them manage their complex project needs. CreativesAtWork helps these companies to decide how best to bring in freelancers, and part of what makes the work so interesting (and if I’m being honest, fun!) for us is determining how to untangle the various deliverables and stakeholders, and contribute to the project planning, and its ultimate success.
Any company coming to us has a project, whether large or small. For medium to larger projects with multiple creative elements, we start thinking about the kind of skill sets we will need to bring on board. In other words, we build teams.
In order to build the right team, it is essential that we work together with the client to determine exactly what their needs are. Sometimes even smaller projects we can be more involved than originally thought! So it’s worth answering the right questions early on, so that we know we can set the entire team up for success.
While each company, each freelancer, and each project is different, we do find the following steps help to set expectations and guide a relationship along to a successful project result:
1. Settle on the scope of the project.
What is the goal? What is the timeline? The budget? Who are the stakeholders at each stage? What are the deliverables required? What skills will be needed in order to meet those deliverables on time? What is to be done in house and what is better done by freelancers?
2. Create a work description
Or work with us to develop one, to source for your freelancers. This is a much narrower document than the full project scope, and while a sense of the larger picture is important, this document should drill down into exactly the specifications that you need the freelancer to meet. The clearer this document is, the easier time you will have onboarding a freelancer into your project.
3. Hire the right person(s) for the job.
The single most important step to a successful freelance relationship is contracting the right person in the first place. When you find a freelancer, start with an interview. Ask the freelancer about his/her experience, work availability, typical project turnaround time, and what is their approach to meet your specific goals. You don’t need to go through a full HR process for each freelancer, but you should approach this relationship with a similar mindset: meet them, ask questions, and assess who you think is best for the task at hand.
4. Manage the project clearly
And pay special attention to your communications with your freelancer. We’ve written about this earlier, but it bears repeating: any relationship is only as good as your weakest communication. Remember that your freelancer is coming from outside your company culture, so they may not understand acronyms, processes, or assumptions you would make on a daily basis. Use online, cloud-based tools to manage the project wherever possible, set realistic and updated timelines, and keep all stakeholder communication clear. Clarity is your best friend.
5. Finally, when the project is completed, conduct an evaluation.
Finding out what went well and what didn’t, both from your internal teams as well as your contracted freelancers, will help you perform even better next time around. Give constructive feedback to your freelancers as well – they will appreciate it, and it will help them if they ever wish to work with you in future.
Ultimately establishing a good relationship with freelancers comes down to quality project management: approach it clearly, with open lines of communication, and you’ll find that freelancers can deliver phenomenal results.
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