How to Preserve Team Dynamics When Working With Outside Experts

By Griffen O’Shaughnessy

One of the more common perceived obstacles to a successful engagement with a consultant, fractional expert or freelancer is the fear that bringing someone in from the outside could disrupt internal team dynamics.

I say perceived obstacle because I do believe it’s an issue that organizations and leaders can solve through proactive and reactive means. It is, however, a valid and important concern to discuss and plan against before moving forward with any fractional or consulting engagement. 

The best leaders know that issues with team dynamics and communication can effectively cancel out even the best-laid plans. Thus, if you’re bringing up these concerns, there’s a good chance you are a strong people leader. Thank you for being a leader who is doing it right!

In this post, I’ll share my tips on where and how to focus on preserving internal dynamics as you and your team work with external consultants and contractors, including fractional experts. In looking at engagements with contractors on the whole, you have opportunities at key phases throughout the process to make an impact.

Before the Engagement: Goal and Priority Setting

The first, and likely most important, opportunity is making sure you answer key dynamic questions during the goal-setting and priority-setting sections of your project.

There is no bigger risk to fractional projects than a lack of clarity around goals and expectations. In addition to the alignment around what success looks like at the end of engagement, what the project is aiming to resolve (and what it’s not), and communications agreements, this is a step in the hiring process for outside support where I advise leaders to document their answers to the following questions:

• How will this project affect the priority list, capacity and workload for key staff who will be involved? 
• Which, if any, projects will be halted or slowed to introduce capacity for work on the fractional project?
• What do you need to do to rally the members of your organization to ensure they’re a help instead of a hindrance throughout the project?

You can obviously take a much more in-depth approach at this stage, including bringing in the relevant members of your team to help you uncover any blind spots you may have on potential impacts to team dynamics. If you’re in a larger organization, your managers likely have their finger closest to the pulse on morale and the different dynamics that exist with individuals in the organization. Use their knowledge!

Even if you only answer the three questions above, it will get you thinking about how you and the consultant, fractional expert or freelancer will work with your team before the engagement begins.

During the Engagement: The Importance of Day One and Frequent Check-Ins

As leaders, it’s easy to make the mistake of assuming that, because we understand the value to the business of bringing in outside support, our team will immediately feel the same way.

It can certainly happen that way, but it also has the potential to stir up resentment and distress, and not only in lower performers. More concerning, these issues likely won’t arise before the engagement begins.

To proactively counteract some of these feelings at the beginning of an engagement with a consultant, fractional expert or freelancer, I recommend leading a meeting for all of your staff on day one. The goal of the meeting is to introduce your expert or experts and the project itself, and to get your team excited about it. While this alone may not remove some of the obstacles the expert might run into, such as people delaying the project by dragging their feet or pushing back on every detail, it’s always helpful to get everyone else on board. And if enough of your people are enthusiastic about the project and want to be involved in making it successful, that will do a lot more to bring the skeptics along for the ride. 

The day one meeting also helps you avoid putting your project in a silo. If everyone is in the know at the very beginning, you can eliminate a fair number of project-delaying issues, such as unnecessary confusion between internal teams about responsibilities, having to hold multiple onboarding and informational sessions throughout the project as new people are brought in, and general lack of understanding about the project strategy, goals and placement on the priority list.

Post day one, as the engagement becomes a part of every day work for at least some members of your team, making time for separate one-on-one conversations with your outside and experts and the members of your team involved in the project becomes critically important. This way, you can see the warning signs of major issues before they happen. I also recommend leaning on your most trusted people at this time, as they are likely to tell you the truth about how things are really going in an engagement, especially as it relates to dynamics. And if you don’t think they’re telling you the full truth, be direct and let them know you want to hear it, warts and all.

The Post-Engagement Phase

It’s important for business owners and leaders to remember to continue to focus on dynamics after a consultant or fractional expert is no longer working with their teams. Schedule at least one post-engagement meeting to talk through all of the great, the good, the bad and even the ugly. Position the meeting as a way for the team to contribute directly to improving the next engagement with their feedback. Generally, individuals are happy to be involved in these sessions, nearly everyone has an opinion on how something can be improved, and it sets the stage for your transformation into more of a blended team vs. a self-defeating “in-house vs. the world” mentality.

It’s Doesn’t All Have to Be On You

Congratulations again to you for focusing on your team dynamics. I’ve never met a business owner or leader who wished they had spent less time in this area.

The last point I’ll make about dynamics relative to engagements with outside experts is that, if you bring on the right consultant or fractional expert, they can take some of the work off of your shoulders. You and your team can do everything right, and if the wrong person comes in to support your organization, they can damage even the most pristine dynamics. On the flip side, the best fractional experts can bring their knowledge and experience to bear to help you make sure that you’re setting yourself and your team up for success. Because of the way they work, they will do more to allay concerns and fears about their work and their role in the organization than you could on your own.

As we prepare to transition into a new year, I wanted to take a moment to say a heartfelt thank you to each of you. 2024 was another wonderful year for Canopy, and our success is a direct result of the contributions of every member of this incredible community.

The work you do to guide organizations as fractional experts, as business owners and leaders bringing the agility and impact of a blended team to your companies, as members of our local community helping the city, state and its people thrive; it matters. Reflecting on Canopy’s first 15 years, one of the things that strikes me most is the power of being part of a movement. Together, we are building the future of work and ushering in a more effective way for organizations of all sizes and types to compete and win. That matters.