Companies are increasingly choosing to call in specific expertise for specific assignments on a flexible basis. In modern workplaces you will find more and more freelance employees or external consultants who work closely with permanent employees. Are you also thinking of working with a freelancer or an external consultant? Then invest in a good onboarding. This increases the involvement of your external consultant, stimulates optimal collaboration and only benefits your projects. Based on several sources, like NextConomy,eLearning Industry & Crosscast, we tried to come up with a complete checklist to prepare your company to get started with external consultants, such as freelancers.

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1)     Set clear expectations

According to eLearning Industry, one of the benefits of being a freelancer is being ableto set your own schedule and work flexible hours. That might not necessarily line up with what you as a client had in mind—particularly if you are operating in different time zones. Examples of expectations a client might expect:

• How many hoursor days a week do you expect the consultant to be available for assignments?

• Do you want the consultant to be present at the office or is it also possible to work remotely?

• What result doexpect and when?

2)    Give your consultant a warm welcome

Send an email with practical arrangements for the first working day. Consultants who receive an email in advance feel more welcome. They will start the new assignment with more enthusiasm. Show them around in the building, introduce them at therelevant stakeholders, … .

When you work regularly with external consultants, they will be your best ambassador in the market to attract good talent!

3)     Inform the relevant stakeholders

Is a consultant starting soon? Then inform all persons (best in advance) who will work with him or her. According to Crosscast, good communication is essential for asuccessful collaboration. But your own employees would also like to know whyyou have hired an external expert.

Clearly state in advance why you are bringing in temporary reinforcements, what employees can expect from this consultant and what the desired result should be. This will save you countless hours that are wasted on misunderstandings and potential tensions. On top of that, everyone in the team/company knows about the new face in the building (ornow on the Teams call)

4)     Help the consultant with relevantinformation

With a consultant you normally get extra expertise in-house. However, that does not mean that consultants automatically know what you expect from them. Don't assume that a consultant knows all the nuances of your business, no matter how well prepared they are.

So take the time on the first day to discuss your company's core values. Talk about your expectations and explain in as much detail as possible which requirements areimportant to you.

If the assignment is clear, you will notice that a consultant will familiarize himself faster and will be able to work independently in no time to bring the assignment to a successful conclusion. This time investment on day 1 will save you a lot of time in the long run.

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5)     Agree on how you communicate

Decide in advance which communication flow a consultant will follow in order to make the collaboration as efficient as possible.

·       How often do you expect a consultant to update you on their progress?

·       Would you like a weekly telephone consultation?

·       Do you prefer daily emails with an overview of the progress?

·       When do you want their timesheets to be filled in?

After the first day, after a week and after a month, check how things are going, whether the person has already found his way, or whether there are still certain things that are missing.

Take the time to meet regularly to discuss expectations, objectives and progress. It is best to keep these meetings separate from conversations about strategy, so that it is not squeezed at the end of a busy agenda and does not receive the necessary time and attention.

6)     Give them access to all relevantplatforms/tool

Anintranet, a shared server, access to VPN, Story Chief, Slack, Basecamp, Asana, CRM,OneDrive or Google Drive... “Every company uses digital platforms for different purposes”, according to Crosscast.

Explain to consultants which platforms you use and invite them to get started. Do you give a consultant full rights to Slack? Or do you give him or her access to certain channels?

It usually works best if you give a consultant enough rights so that (s)he can also see internal discussions that are not directly related to his/her assignment. This is how (s)he picks up the company culture the fastest.

Do you take the time to train a consultant in the digital tools of your company at thestart? Then (s)he can then deliver the delivered work in the right way. This will save you a lot of time and confusion in the long run.

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