Outsourcing executives may sound strange at first. Surely your C-Suite would be the last part of your company you’d want to outsource? Your top-level executives are what make your company what it is, right?
Unsurprisingly, the truth isn’t that simple. No company is defined by one individual. Therefore, investing in an outsourced CMO, CFO, or CIO is like any other personnel investment.
Ultimately, all hiring decisions come down to a question of need. If your needs for certain positions don’t line up with the costs or logistics of a full-time executive hire, outsourcing executives might be a good idea. Here are some of the biggest benefits this route can offer:
1. Outside Expertise
For a fledgling business, nothing is more valuable than expertise. If your company isn’t large enough or doesn’t have the resources to enlist the help of industry gurus, outsourcing one or two corners of your C-Suite can help you bridge those knowledge gaps.
Look particularly for opportunities to gain specific expertise you’re currently lacking through your executive outsourcing. Need a CFO service with risk expertise? Find an agency that offers that. Now is not the time to cut corners — you need only the best for your business.
2. New Perspectives
Unless you’re running a large-scale enterprise, your C-Suite is likely to be composed of people already in your network. While it’s great to operate your business with people you know and trust, that kind of makeup can lead to a kind of myopia. You and those around you are more likely to share similar perspectives and viewpoints — a fact that can seriously hinder your ability to think innovatively.
As with expertise, look for what you’re currently lacking. If you’re a young business, then your outsourced executive service should be able to provide a veteran viewpoint. Older companies might want to consider something young and dynamic to breathe some life into their operations. Outsourcing executives is a great opportunity to create genuine intellectual diversity in your business — something difficult to come by in most offices.
3. High Growth Potential
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a startup with a half dozen employees or a blue chip operation: filling executive roles is expensive. Executive search firms often charge over $100,000 just to conduct a survey of viable candidates; once you start considering salary and onboarding costs, the numbers can quickly become overwhelming.
For businesses looking to grow significantly in the coming years, it makes perfect financial sense to opt for short or middle-term executive outsourcing than long-term hiring. Outsourcing executives will get you the expertise and bandwidth you need on certain issues without weighing your company down monetarily, leaving you just as dynamic as you were before.
4. Teams Over Individuals
There’s nothing like a great leader. The right person in the right executive role can transform a company, energizing the workforce and making just about anything seem possible.
Nearly everyone, though, knows just how harmful the wrong person in the wrong role can be. An ineffective leader can tank an operation, preventing serious progress from being made and stifling innovation all the way down. Any executive you hire is ultimately going to be a gamble: the best ones will boost your business, but the worst ones will torch it — what can you do?
The answer is choose no one at all. Most outsourced executives aren’t individuals but whole teams dedicated to developing strategies and paths forward for your business. Enlisting a team of people to do the job of one sidesteps the possibility of an executive hire being a bad match.
Now, you’ll have a whole group of people generating ideas for you to sift through. It may feel strange at first, but many hands make light work and your company will be the one that reaps the benefits of that.
5. Digital Streamlining
Just a decade ago, the idea of outsourcing executives may have sounded impossible. Since then, the rise of digital commuting and virtual offices has made an outsourced executive in some ways indistinguishable from an in-house one. In the past, the prospect of bi-weekly calls with a remote team sounded cumbersome, but now it’s the norm.
Outsourcing executives may even help with the digital streamlining process. Companies that provide these services have online communication mastered, and the tricks of the trade they share with you could be integrated all down the line at your business — just an added bonus to an already-valuable investment.
Outsourcing part of your C-Suite is not a small decision to make, but it’s one that can boost your business in a major way. By taking the leap, you’re opening a new chapter of your business. What will you make of it?
