Hello everyone!

Do you or others you know have insights to share about an internal gig marketplace? I'd like to chat with others who have either participated in or ran a gig marketplace inside their organizations. Still working through the cost/benefits, but essentially it is to tap idle resources (often newer, less known employees who are underutilized and eager to do more) and give them capability building work (for both them and the organization.) Rewards and recognition need to be a part of it, though cannot be why one might participate. I also need to use an accommodating platform to try this out with a small group. I have started with a Teams community with a Planner app. Seems there much be something better!

From what I've read and heard, Bose Corp and Schneider Electric both have a gig marketplace, but I don't yet have personal connections to those who could share their journey. If you have contacts (at Bose, Schneider, or other orgs) who have hands-on perspectives to share, I'd be grateful for the introduction and the opportunity to learn how they launched, roadblocks I haven't thought of, and how it was most impactful. 

Thank you all in advance! 

Tammy Bearden
816-738-4280
1898 & Co., Part of Burns & McDonnell


Some of my drafted messaging to shed a bit more light:

You do great work, but sometimes there's a lull between your projects. How can you be a great player while sitting the bench? Pick up a gig and give it a swing!

Whether you have more work than you can hold on your plate and need a helping hand or you are one who has completed a project and are looking for short-term gigs…this is the place for you!! In the Gig Marketplace, you can post small projects and tasks that you need help with or you can pick up a task or two to help a colleague. While these are not usually billable, they all are valuable as we further build out our capabilities. 

List your gig!	Pick up a gig!
Why?	Why?
Your team doesn’t have enough time or the skillset to complete a specific non-billable task needed for your department or business line…in-source it! You need a little help but are unsure how to find the right combination of skills, abilities, interests, and capacity…let them find you instead! Keeping the work in-house allows you advance your capabilities while growing new competencies within our employee-owners.	You like variety and get to explore a short term project of interest outside of your usual role. You will get to work with people you may otherwise never meet, which builds your network across 1898 & Co. You are an unselfish collaborator and can’t imagine a better way to spend time between projects than by helping someone else.
How?	How?
Add a gig or task in the marketplace with a title, mini-description, your name, and a due date. Keep tasks short and manageable. They may get reprioritized by a new client project need. When you no longer need help on that gig, close it out.	Shop the marketplace for a gig that interests you. Contact the gig-poster directly to understand requirements and time commitment, and determine of this gig is a good fit. Search and set alerts to watch for gigs by keyword.
Reminder	Reminder
The xxxxxxx team has many capabilities for in-sourced billable work. (Contact xxxxxxx) The Marketplace is ideal for non-billable gigs.	Billable client work takes priority over these mini-projects. ;-)

Tammy,
I was excited to see your inquiry to the group.  This is an area that has been of great interest to me for the last few years.

I find that companies have used the concept of "stretch goals" to meet resource needs and provide opportunities for professional growth, but still seem to struggle with the concepts of gig marketplace or gig workforce and internal crowdsourcing.

I have two references for you for further exploration.  While I don't have direct experience with this being implemented, I hope these two resources are helpful.

Jane McConnell has done research over the past few years on this topic.  Jane is based in France and has advised and done research on organizations for many years.  She began to define what she calls the Gig Mindset based on her research over the past few years.
https://www.netjmc.com/the-gig-mindset-inside/

I have also heard Alex Kass of Accenture Labs speak on this topic at several conferences here in the Bay Area.
Here is a video of a talk he gave at a Stanford MediaX event 3 years ago - there's some interest remarks and slides in this video on various companies that he referenced as examples.

Catherine Shinners
Merced Group
650-704-3889

Jane McConnell has done research over the past few years on this topic.  Jane is based in France and has advised and done research on organizations for many years.  She began to define what she calls the Gig Mindset based on her research over the past few years.
https://www.netjmc.com/the-gig-mindset-inside/

I spent the best part of a week with Jane at her house in the south of France just a week before Covid lockdowns really started (and I only just made it back to Oz in time!).

Jane has done a heap of thinking on this, and a huge amount of research. Her previous work on digital workplaces was transformational, and I'm sure her new book on the gig mindset will be too (coming out early next year).

So definitely do reach out to her, I'm sure she'd love to chat! :-)

Cheers,
James

@Catherine - Thank you!! I LOVE Alex's talk. And I look forward to Jane's book in the Spring, though I hope to launch something internally well before then, so I'll aim to reach out.

@James - Thank you for affirming Catherine's reference to Jane! I will look forward to connecting with Jane in the coming weeks. If either of you feel comfortable doing so, I would appreciate a warm introduction. 

This gives me so much hope about helping employees bringing their WHOLE self to work! I've studied Designing your Life, Love Em or Lose Em, MBTI, StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, and Making Work Human. I've designed and executed recognition programs, trained new consulants, and regularly match-make people to opportunities...yet without a marketplace to scale that, I feel like we are NOT optimizing the working and learning experiences inside most organizations.

Excited to try this out!!

Tammy, I interviewed John Hovell for my second book, and one of his go-to theories (TMs) may be relevant. Here are some summary bullets, and I suggest talking to him directly.

Talent Markets (TMs)

•        Match the supply and demand of

•        Organizational talent

•        Customer requirements

•        Similar to WOL

•        Another tactical, bold, and scary approach

•        Rethinking how organizations get work done

•        Think of this one as an equation

•        On one side you have thousands of employees

•        On the other side you have thousands of customer requirements

•        Let the system match them up

•        Not the traditional divide and conquer approach based on

•        Role

•        Function

•        Location

•        Employees could

•        See all customer-based tasks

•        Choose to contribute to any of them

•        Based on employees’

•        Talents

•        Passions

•        Aspirations

•        Tasks could recommend themselves to people who are

•        Available

•        Interested in completing them

•        Demand and supply

•        Finding each other

•        To create market equilibrium

Hi Arthur,

When you write:

I think (at least partly) because organisations are less willing to invest in a more mobile workforce (fearing that this will be lost before they get return in the investment). I think his is a very short sighted (and self-fulfilling) prophesy.

I think you've highlighted a critical and interesting question which cuts both ways. People need experience to get better jobs, that's a given. Being given the opportunity to work on varied and challenging projects can be just as much a perk as a higher paycheck, it's just a deferred reward.

This is one reason why I find the idea of an internal gig marketplace so interesting. It makes the trade-off between pay and experience explicit. Whereas the "old" way to handle this would be for a person to be temporarily or permanently promoted to handle the additional responsibility, the offer instead becomes, primarily: this is a way to get the experience for your CV that you can use for higher compensation for future jobs.

While the freelance market often looks warily at jobs that claim they are a good deal because of "the exposure", this is different because you're still being paid, just performing work at less than the nominal market rate to get access to the opportunity. Hmmm!

It might be useful for organisations to track employee outcomes of people who choose to participate. If you could show that "85% of employees who took on an internal gig agreed it was useful for their career" or whatever, that really highlights the deal in a positive way and makes it look like a true win-win scenario.

Cheers,
Stephen.

====================================
Stephen Bounds
Executive, Information Management
Cordelta
E: stephen.bounds@...
M: 0401 829 096
====================================

I Folks,

 

I have been operating in the “Gig Marketplace” since launching my business in 1999 (sometime in parallel in the early years with other more traditional organisational roles, but not since 2007). The market goes up and down a lot, especially so in crisis time such as recessions and the Pandemic, during which “gigs” are seen as optional extras and an easy budget to cut with limited internal pain.

 

I have often said there is huge NEED for what we do, but limited DEMAND. Every organisation can become higher performing from external insights and knowledge that accelerate their learning. This is because organisations run so lean now that they have limited spare capacity to build their capabilities, because they are so focused on delivery or routine tasks. Learning and development budgets are not as generous as they used to be, I think (at least partly) because organisations are less willing to invest in a more mobile workforce (fearing that this will be lost before they get return in the investment). I think his is a very short sighted (and self-fulfilling) prophesy.

 

In KNOWledge SUCCESSion, I discuss the impacts of the “projectification” of the modern workplace (where projects have largely replaced process) and what this means for capability development. I believe that the most important thing that comes out of the project are the intangibles such as learning, knowledge, relationships, trust etc (rather than the physical “thing” that we delivered) . So if we do not consciously invest in these intangibles and plan to keep/manage/develop/leverage them in our organisation, the organisation gets less productive over tie (and people are reluctant to stay because they personally treasure their learning and feeling of belonging and value creation more than the physical outputs of projects).

 

What the gig approach can do (is doing for those willing to participate) is to bring in these external insights into their organisations. In doing so they can establish a longer term trusted relationship in strategic partnerships with gig style facilitators, to have the best of both worlds. However, this is a diminishing mindset among many managers who wish to hold on to the feeling of “control”. I believe the ecosystem created by networks of collaborative experts (blend of internal and external) is the true structure of future organisations. I have been doing this for over 20 years and can see the value it creates when people engage with it. However, closed mindset and fear of uncertainty remain significant barriers to this approach. You need trust to establish the relationships, but you need a relationship to generate trust. We will all benefit by getting these ideas shared outside “ingroups”  (those who already know and buy into this) to flow across and influence wider networks (those who are yet to be enlightened on what the future will look like) and building more confidence in uncertainty.

 

Constant “lifestyle learning” is a big part of this transition, as shared in this free online article: https://journals.sfu.ca/jalt/index.php/jalt/article/view/19

 

Regards

Dr Arthur Shelley

Producer: Creative Melbourne

Author: KNOWledge SUCCESSion  Sustained performance and capability growth through knowledge projects

Earlier Books: The Organizational Zoo (2007) & Being a Successful Knowledge Leader (2009)

Principal: www.IntelligentAnswers.com.au 

Founder: Organizational Zoo Ambassadors Network

Mb. +61 413 047 408  Skype: Arthur.Shelley  Twitter: @Metaphorage

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arthurshelley/

Free behavioural profiles: www.organizationalzoo.com

Blog: www.organizationalzoo.com/blog

 

 

From: main@SIKM.groups.io <main@SIKM.groups.io> On Behalf Of Tammy Bearden via groups.io
Sent: Wednesday, 18 November 2020 7:47 AM
To: main@SIKM.groups.io
Subject: Re: [SIKM] Internal Gig Marketplaces #futureofwork

 

[Edited Message Follows]

@Catherine - Thank you!! I LOVE Alex's talk. And I look forward to Jane's book in the Spring, though I hope to launch something internally well before then, so I'll aim to reach out.

@James - Thank you for affirming Catherine's reference to Jane! I will look forward to connecting with Jane in the coming weeks. If either of you feel comfortable doing so, I would appreciate a warm introduction. 

This gives me so much hope about helping employees bringing their WHOLE self to work! I've studied Designing your Life, Love Em or Lose Em, MBTI, StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, and Making Work Human. I've designed and executed recognition programs, trained new consulants, and regularly match-make people to opportunities...yet without a marketplace to scale that, I feel like we are NOT optimizing the working and learning experiences inside most organizations.

Excited to try this out!!

Thank you Louis-Pierre!