Today’s issue was guest authored by MBO CFO Eric Dutcher .

 Picture this: You meticulously and confidently plan your organization's manpower needs for the next three months. One morning, you wake up, and priorities shift after your leadership and finance team meetings. Suddenly, your carefully laid-out budgeting and staffing plans no longer align with reality. For many in recent months, this sounds increasingly like a ‘normal day at the office.’

This is where agile finance saves the day.

Agile finance encourages financial liquidity and resource mobility using independent talent, namely, the creation of select talent pools and a virtual bench of both talent and dollars, ready to be deployed to address immediate needs and capitalize on unexpected opportunities. While the concept is finance based, the role is not role constrained; it can be applied throughout any department.

Allocating funds to independent talent that can be deployed on a moment’s notice enables organizations to be prepared to tap into a diverse range of skills and expertise when needed. This dynamic financial approach allows for quick adjustments, ensuring that money is directed toward the most important projects and talent at any given time. The benefit stretches into the employee base as well – dollars for independent workers can be deferred or streamlined to avoid layoffs that might occur had these roles been allocated as full-time hires.

How does it work? The process is three-fold.

First, your organization must strategically agree that funding for independent talent is dedicated – allocating resources by effort and initiative, rather than headcount.

This shift is simple when described, but less standard for large organizations that often think about headcount, vs. organizational goals. When organizations pivot from hiring specific roles to hiring for skills – a concept discussed thoughtfully in a recent issue by my colleague Audra Nichols – they can move to more agile and efficacious use of budget and resources in a constrained economic climate.

Next, organizations must strategically leverage independent talent – at a minimum, an approved extended workforce program, and, ideally, a full workforce optimization model where a strategic blend for your organization of full-time, extended, and even offshore labor is noted in conjunction with management and organizational goals.

Once your organization has integrated agile finance into its operations, it’s time to focus on staffing. 

Next, your organization must engage talent like a Client of Choice .

Here is where the virtual bench comes into play.

A virtual bench is a pool of known talent that can be engaged depending on the task. Benches go a step further than simply identifying and curating talent and extend to onboarding and background checking specific resources so that they are ready and able to deploy at a moment’s notice. Think of it as an all-star team that you can deploy whenever you need specific skills and knowledge.

Want to talk more? I’m happy to discuss – a passionate activator of the topic, I’ve seen a significant personal gain in leveraging this model for MBO’s finance organization. Leave a comment below to share your thoughts. 

Trending Topics:

●     According to Gallup ’s Chief Scientist of Workplace and Wellbeing, hybrid and remote workers feel engaged at work but are more stressed. Rather than mandating a return to the office, organizations should invest in training managers to effectively lead and motivate employees in hybrid work environments.

●     A report from McKinsey Global Institute suggests that “generative artificial intelligence,” tools like ChatGPT , are projected to contribute around USD 4.4 trillion in value to the global economy annually. Generative A.I. is expected to augment economic productivity because it assists workers with their tasks across various industries.

●     The U.S. National Labor Relations Board issued a new ruling that makes it easier for Uber and Lyft drivers, construction workers, and home health aides to organize and join unions . Prior to this ruling, existing labor law only extends the right to unionize to workers with employee status.

●     According to Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, part of the reason why executives are changing their tune about remote work . While it may have provided an initial boost to productivity and recruitment, the work setup’s novelty is now wearing off.

●     According to an anonymous poll on Fishbowl, many respondents said they were willing to take a pay cut if it would enable them to work remotely permanently .