In today’s modern society where many entrepreneurs work from a home office, “virtually” for multiple companies, the concept of outsourcing is becoming more mainstream.

Outsourcing is the practice of delegating tasks and services to a third-party company or individual.

Many of the conferences and seminars in the podiatric industry are run by organizations or associations. These associations are often managed by a rotating group of members, elected to fill a position for 1 or 2 years. In addition to filling a leadership role, most members are also busy, practicing physicians. One way to ensure a smooth transition from one leadership to the next is to outsource the tasks associated with the annual conference. This provides for each yearly conference to maintain the same basic flow and strengthens crucial relationships year after year.

Deciding to outsource a project can be a bit of an overwhelming decision. How do you find the right person or company? How do you get started? What tasks do you delegate? How do you manage efficient communication? Let’s break it down.

How do you find the right person or company? Look to your network. Ask others within your organization if they know of anyone that can take over conference related tasks. If no names come up there, broaden your search to your peers within the podiatric industry. Do they have anyone that comes to mind? Be sure you select someone that is familiar with the podiatric industry as it does have a fair amount of “quirks”. If your annual conference offers continuing education credit, look for someone with experience in CPME standards for CME activities.

How do you get started? What tasks do you delegate? The first thing is to have a “Discovery Call” where you provide some background about your organization, it’s conference and any struggles that come to mind. The third-party consultant will have questions as well and this all leads to a conversation that gives a birds-eye view of what is needed and where the “pain points” are. I always suggest starting with the task on your plate that you’ve been putting off, or that you consider to be your most pain-in-the-butt task. Once this is complete, it will give you a sense of accomplishment and it will have allowed the consultant an opportunity to see the systems and processes already in place within your organization and perhaps to offer recommendations for improvements. Moving forward, be sure to have clearly defined roles and responsibilities. You want to be sure you never have more than one person working on the same action item. It’s just not efficient and leads to confusion within your organization.

How do you manage efficient communication? In addition to clearly defining roles and responsibilities, discuss expectations regarding method and frequency of communication. Will there be weekly update calls or emails? Will there be daily updates for specific projects? When you send an email to your consultant, how long will it be before they will respond? Who within your organization needs to be included on items related to: site selection and logistics, speaker selection and agenda, exhibits and sponsors? Be as clear as possible from the beginning and adjust as necessary. Typically, when you first get started with a consultant, they will wait to receive guidance from you and let you set the pace for the level of involvement.

Pros and Cons of Outsourcing