Key takeaways from Faster. Leaner. Stronger

How do you access a diverse range of senior talent in today's new world? At our recent webinar, in collaboration with BeenThereDoneThat and Neon Leaders, we explored the accelerating shift towards alternative structures.

Moderated Laura Ashton, our panel comprised of: Michelle Hillman, Chief Campaign Development Officer, Ad Council; David Alberts, Co-Founder, BeenThereDoneThat; Jessica Spence, President Brands at Beam Suntory; Jennifer Woollford, Founder & Director, NEON Leaders and David Wheldon, Former CMO, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group

Together, they shared their experiences and insights about this new hiring model dubbed Open Talent, and what organisations and talent need to do in order to succeed and thrive using it.

Here are Laura’s key takeaways from the session: 

For Brands

Open Talent (OT) complements permanent roles with agile, senior talent on demand. It helps access hard-to-find skills and deep experience when disruptive, diverse thought is required at speed.

Build a team around a problem rather than throw a problem to an existing team. The best OT come at the problem without an agenda, solution-agnostic. Be a learn-it-all, not a know-it-all.

For OT to identify out-of-the-box solutions, you as the leader must “define the box” and spend time on problem definition.

To access the full potential of these OT communities, leaders must create an ego-less environment of empathy, openness and trust where internal and external teams own the beneficial outcome for the brand, rather than seeking credit or reinventing others’ work.

Remuneration structures need to recognise this approach rather than being structures that drive scope creep. Compensation should reward better ideas and outcomes, not simply more outputs.

For individuals considering joining an Open Talent collective

Have a crystal clear value proposition, know what your craft or passion is.

Be open and egoless; revel in doing amazing work rather than taking credit for it. Play in a great orchestra rather than being a soloist.

Be confident to bring innovative, fresh thinking and strategically injected disruption.

Embrace the potential of the nonlinear career path. What you can do, what you can learn from others and how you can advance your career.

As in life, what you get out of an OT collective is a function of what you put in.