By Nancy Foster
Source: bravenewbiz.com I've dipped in and out of the freelancing world over the last 18 months for various reasons. Spending some time back in it now, albeit briefly, has given me some great insights into how people go about hiring (and firing!) freelancers.
One of the projects happening on my peripheral vision within my host organisation is nearing an end. There is talk of those who will roll off shortly and what lies ahead for them. Last year, for personal reasons, I turned down a position on this project and the role was instead filled by someone else, apparently after much 'scrabbling'.
It turned out that this 'scrabbling' resulted in poor performance from the individual concerned and disappointment by the people who recruited that individual. It seems there were mismatches all over the place: between what the person purported they could deliver and what they did deliver and possibly between the unexpressed expectations of the hirers and the performance on the project.
The sad part of this situation is that no one is prepared to give this individual feedback about their performance. Added to this is the strong likelihood that neither will they give that person further work in the future. They may even go so far as to ensure others are furnished with their particular view of this person's ability.
One of the projects happening on my peripheral vision within my host organisation is nearing an end. There is talk of those who will roll off shortly and what lies ahead for them. Last year, for personal reasons, I turned down a position on this project and the role was instead filled by someone else, apparently after much 'scrabbling'.
It turned out that this 'scrabbling' resulted in poor performance from the individual concerned and disappointment by the people who recruited that individual. It seems there were mismatches all over the place: between what the person purported they could deliver and what they did deliver and possibly between the unexpressed expectations of the hirers and the performance on the project.
The sad part of this situation is that no one is prepared to give this individual feedback about their performance. Added to this is the strong likelihood that neither will they give that person further work in the future. They may even go so far as to ensure others are furnished with their particular view of this person's ability.
Of course, you do need to solicit feedback as a freelancer. You invariably fall outside of your host organisation's learning and development process and so there often is no mechanism to 'manage' our performance except that which we provide ourselves.
All of us need to be braver in actively soliciting feedback and acting on it. We need to take responsibility as a matter of course for being our own learning and development support. And seeking out those other people who can help us with that: those honest souls both within and outside our temporary places of work who can help us to hone our craft.
For those of us who have others reporting in to us on projects, we have a responsibility too. We have to say it is not good enough to manoevre poor performers out with platitudes such as 'budget has run out' or 'the client doesn't think this role is needed anymore'. We must instead get better at voicing our expectations of others that we lead and in speaking up when someone is not meeting them as we expect
For those of us who have others reporting in to us on projects, we have a responsibility too. We have to say it is not good enough to manoevre poor performers out with platitudes such as 'budget has run out' or 'the client doesn't think this role is needed anymore'. We must instead get better at voicing our expectations of others that we lead and in speaking up when someone is not meeting them as we expect
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