One of my key mantras for people and organizations is to make sure people are spending the majority of their time doing the things that they do best, instead of struggling to try and get better at things they don’t do well.
It makes sense, it’s more efficient, and it generally produces better results in less time.
But despite the power of aligning responsibilities this way, each day in credit unions (and probably every other business on the planet) across the country people toil away doing things they don’t really know how to do; muddling along because there is no one else to do it and they don’t know where to turn for assistance.
Think about it.
How many hours have you spent in the past year working on a spreadsheet or trying to create a great diagram to communicate an action plan or trying to make the presentation for the board meeting look just right?
The fact is that there are folks who specialize in doing things like those mentioned in the paragraph above. They can design killer spreadsheets, create impressive graphics, and develop presentations that have powerful impacts.
The problem is, you don’t need them every day and you can’t afford to keep them on staff for the occasions when you need their expertise.
Enter the concept of outsourcing.
There are literally thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of people who have chosen not to work full-time for anyone, but rather to focus on doing the things they love and do well on a freelance basis.
Best of all, these folks can be contacted and invited to bid within minutes without you ever leaving your desk.
Consider this example from just yesterday.
One of my clients has developed a new framework for leadership within their credit union and come up with an initial rough design for a diagram that will be used to roll it out to the staff, but they don’t have an in-house designer, and they really don’t want to spend the money and time it would take to have a high-end design firm do the work. Nor do they want to engage in a debate about whether the design is correct…they simply want a professional take the concept and make it look professional and format it for a variety of uses.
The solution?
At 1:30 pm yesterday the job was posted on elance.com…a site where freelancers look for jobs and place bids to do the work. The budget was set at $100 and the due date was set for 72 hours from the time of the posting.
Within 45 minutes there were 7 bids placed from all over the world, including Argentina, the Southern United States, Southeast Asia, and the Ukraine. Each was accompanied by samples of their work and references from previous clients.
After a 15 minute review of the proposals and work samples, a designer was selected and awarded the job; and by close of business today, the draft will be in hand, with final revisions promised within the 72 hour time frame.
It was easy, cost effective, time effective, and will yield a better graphic than could have been done in house, and it didn’t add any long term overhead for the credit union.
Best of all, the folks in the credit union get to spend today doing things they do well, instead of tinkering around in some design program and trying to learn how to do something they lack the skill to do.
And the opportunities aren’t limited to design work…just about anything you need assistance with can be outsourced to a freelancer via these kinds of sites that are designed to bring those with the needs together with those with the skills, from web design to writing code to writing copy to virtual administrative support…all accessible from a quick online posting of your needs.
ACTION ADVICE: How can you use this kind of outsourcing to improve your efficiency and lower your costs? Take a look at sites like elance, odesk, rentacoder, and others, and consider how you might get some of those things done that you never seem to get around to by making a small investment to outsource them to a person who loves to do that kind of work! It’s a true no-brainer, and a win-win for your credit union and for the freelancer who gets the work.
