In today’s dynamic work environment, businesses have unprecedented flexibility in how they build their teams. Blended teams — comprising full-time employees alongside short-term workers including independent contractors, fractional workers and consultants — offer unique advantages, including diverse skill sets and increased adaptability. While it may feel as though a blended workforce could mean more work from a management perspective, in truth, these arrangements can alleviate bottlenecks and help teams benefit from fresh expertise to develop creative, goal-oriented solutions. Successfully blended workforce managers align communication styles to maintain a cohesive company culture that harnesses the full potential of both full-timers and freelancers. In this post, Lions & Tigers client Audrey Davidson, Head of Integrated Marketing (Americas) at Microsoft, helps us explore the key hurdles that can come with managing a blended team and shares some of her actionable strategies to foster collaboration and productivity in this increasingly common work model. Background: Audrey says about 25% of her team’s workload is currently supported by expert consultants, helping to bridge workforce gaps and ensure alignment with key outcomes. Part of her role is ensuring that independent outside contractors are used as effectively as possible in order to stay within budget and in line with project goals and deadlines. Audrey says the consultants she contracts with typically help with day-to-day tasks while full time employees lean into strategic needs. People sometimes worry that managing a blended or fractional team leads to more work. What would you share with a peer to help them successfully introduce a blended model to their organization? First and foremost, I would tell a peer to emphasize clear roles and responsibilities. Reduce overlap and confusion by setting clear expectations. It’s also key to introduce an effective, comprehensive onboarding plan so all team members are aligned not only on goals, but on background and culture, as well. Finally, a structured communication plan helps to bring all of this together, so find ways to keep team members connected and the lines of communication wide open. What best practices do you apply when hiring outside consultants? We apply a well-defined scope timeline to guide team expectations, including aspects like:

• Developing and communicating a clear understanding of the purpose of the role, especially in how the role relates to deliverable-based projects
• Determining how much close supervision and guidance the consultant will require, based on the scope of the project at hand
• Determining how to derive the most value from the consultant partnership by marrying their expertise to our specific needs

Ultimately, we’re always working to set our team up for success, and great consultants help us reach those goals by bringing in that external experience and aligning that to our team’s culture. What internal communications systems and rhythms do you find work best to keep a blended team integrated and connected? Again, it’s all about communication. It’s important to have regular touch points — for example, weekly status meetings and by using collaborative tools like Microsoft Teams for real-time communication. Tools like OneNote and Loop help with transparency. I also find it helpful to stay close to projects that are moving, being careful not to micromanage, but making myself readily available to assist and to remove any barriers, should the need arise. Monthly retrospectives and POE (proof of execution) reports as part of weekly calls can be really powerful, as well, and allow us to pivot as needed. It’s always helpful to meet people where they are. How have you built trust among team members? I try to empower team members by giving them the autonomy to make decisions and work how they need to work. At the same time, I don’t want people to feel they are left on their own to figure things out — that’s where those check-ins come in, and they are team led. Open communication is key to building trust, beyond things like access to booking calendars. Recognizing achievements and celebrating successes goes a long way toward building trust on a team, as well. I try to show interest in the lives of team members to help build camaraderie and connection. Building a foundation of trust and camaraderie means the team is more functional and impactful. For example, Janelle, a Senior Consultant SME on the Lions & Tiger team , would show up to every meeting with items to share that were moving projects forward — she would take initiative and think things through, not just complete tasks or force me to chase down information. So I had trust in her and could let her run with projects because she was delivering and at the same time building a relationship that fosters trust on both sides. What is something positive that has come from having a team comprised of employees and consultants? The main benefit has been the ability to tap into diverse thoughts and skills and learning from fresh perspectives that we can inject into our work going forward. Because we work with many consultants who have prior Microsoft experience, they understand the climate and how things work and can bring in new perspectives they’ve gleaned from other Microsoft teams they’ve been a part of. From an agility perspective, being able to hit the ground running helps to build trust with other team members. What challenges have you encountered while managing a blended team, and how have you successfully addressed them? It can be challenging to ensure that the core team understands that consultants joining up with us for a limited time are new to the pace and demands of our workflow. So, we’ve focused on setting expectations there — reminders that new consultants need some time to get up to speed and that we need to give them some grace while they adjust. How has having consultant support allowed your team to focus on higher-impact work? What clear outcomes have you been able to accomplish because of this model? Working with consultants has allowed us to act with more agility and a more precise focus on various projects. One of our Senior Consultants at Lions & Tigers, for example, has done so much for our team that we were able to continue the program by proving the positive impact and value of the arrangement to the powers that be. We were able to show that there was a need for this and set some goals about how to take this program to the next level because it gave so much time back to our stakeholders. Learn how Lions & Tigers can help you find the right mix of collaborative talent to add value, expertise, and efficiency to your team.