Consultant wellbeing: An overlooked ingredient of successful digital transformation

When you are assembling a team to carry out a digital transformation or other major change project, managing the wellbeing of that team isn’t always high on the list of considerations. In fact, it isn’t usually on the list at all. At this stage of a project, most of the decision-making understandably revolves around how to acquire the skills that are needed, quickly, while making the best use of existing in-house capabilities and working within a specific budget.

That’s why most teams for transformation projects end up as a mixture of in-house employees and third-party consultants or contractors. The resulting “hybrid” model can be very effective. The best people for the job are assembled, drawing from cutting edge skills in the market. The organization’s in-house team also has the opportunity to enhance their skills through knowledge transfer from working with a group of external subject matter experts, who value flexibility and thrive on successfully delivering projects.

This harmonious idyll is not always easy to achieve, however. Gathering the right skills is merely the first step in a project. Overall success requires the entire team to remain motivated throughout. This depends on not only the expert management of strategy and tactics, but also the monitoring of the individual wellbeing of everyone involved.

Contractors’ wellbeing – who cares?

At the beginning of a digital transformation project, this aspect of management is often overlooked. A framework will generally be in place to support the in-house team, and it’s easy to assume that a contractor’s mental and physical wellbeing is simply not your problem. IR35 regulations reinforce this view by indicating that contractors who are included in company wellbeing initiatives risk being assessed to be part of the permanent team where tax is concerned. However, neglecting the wellbeing of contractors is exactly where a project can begin to unravel.

For a start, contractors often face uncertainty about the length of their current role or clarity over the number of hours for which they will be paid in a given month. With no employer to provide sick leave, they also know that a day of illness will be a day unpaid. While flexibility may be the upside of the contractor’s lifestyle, uncertainty can be stressful.

They can also find themselves feeling socially isolated from the rest of the team. Contractors are frequently based off-site, working with individuals they may never have met face to face. Even if they are required to come to an office, it may not be easy for them to strike up relationships with a new group of people. Conversations often remain superficial, and with no pastoral line manager, this makes it harder to spot any grievances that could be nipped in the bud. As a result, the group of talented individuals that you selected to bring in new skills and energy can become disengaged.

To address the problem before it takes hold, it’s essential to make provision for the wellbeing of your external consultants. To avoid any confusion about employment status, this must be clearly distinct from anything you have in place for your in-house team. The simplest and most effective way to do this is to source your consultants from a partner that will manage their wellbeing for you.

Isolde Kanikani, Association of Change Management Professionals, discusses the importance of employee happiness in business transformation

A partnership for team wellbeing

By outsourcing the pastoral care of your external team members to your delivery partner, you can free up project managers to focus on the project itself. That’s not to say there is no need to engage or show interest in contractors’ life outside work, and the project manager will still need to ensure good overall team management including clear milestones, regular two-way communication and inclusive feedback mechanisms. However, your partner should ensure that external team members are also being looked after in terms of their own wellbeing. 

A good partner will conduct regular one-to-one meetings with every external consultant on your team, as well as regular meetings with you. These will be essential for flagging any issues that may be brewing and it’s in everyone’s interest that they should be caught early. Both employer and delivery partner should be constantly on the lookout for signs that all is not well with an individual contractor, including issues in their private life that might affect their performance. Issues requiring immediate action include:

• Changes in communication: For example, if a contractor is usually responsive and suddenly becomes unresponsive or their communication style changes significantly.
• Changes in work performance: A sudden drop in performance, missing deadlines or a decrease in the quality of work.
• Changes in behavior: Someone appearing quieter than normal, for example, or showing other changes in their usual patterns of behavior.
• Non-verbal communication: Changes in body language are not only apparent when meeting in person – pay attention to body language and tone of voice during video calls too.

Ryan Mayer, Siemens Healthineers, explores changing mindsets during times of transformation

Managing a hybrid team must not be taken lightly and should not be tackled alone. If you are deploying external contractors, support your in-house management with a reliable external partner. It’s a bit like bringing in an assistant coach on a soccer team, bridging the gap between the core team and the players on loan. In this way, you can be sure that you are meeting the needs of every member of the team, and that you are keeping everyone on side.

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