The Global Talent Challenge: How Do You Stack Up?

Willkommen!

If Buzzfeed has taught me ANYTHING, it’s that people love a quiz.

So, if you can’t beat them - join them.

Here are a few of the subject lines I considered for this newsletter:

• "Unleash Your Inner Outsourcing Beast: How Good Are You at Using Global Talent?"

• "Global Talent Warriors Wanted: Do You Have What it Takes?"

• "Are You a Global Talent Mastermind or a Complete Fraud? Take the Quiz Now!"

• "Global Talent Armageddon: Will You Rise to the Challenge or Crumble Under the Pressure?"

I find these hilarious.

Well, anyway, and inspired by my friend John (@BetterCeo) - here is my thinking on five different levels of global talent mastery.

Where do you stack up?

Level 1: Project-Based, Low-Level Tasks, Non-Core Tasks, Little Autonomy

You are using global talent for simple, one-off tasks that are not core to your business.

These include tasks like data entry, research, or CRM administration.

At this stage, you may not be comfortable delegating complex tasks or customer-facing responsibilities to your global team.

Let's say you run a small ecomm biz and need help creating product descriptions. You could hire a freelance writer from another country to write descriptions for your products, with little direction, oversight, or process.

Tell tale sign of this stage - someone talks a lot about “VAs”.

Level 2: Project-Based with Some Ongoing Responsibilities, Higher Level Tasks, Can Be Customer Facing, Can Be Core Tasks

You are using global talent for more complex tasks that may be customer-facing or core to your business.

For example, you may hire an assistant to handle simple customer service inquiries.

At this stage, you should be comfortable giving your global team more autonomy, and may communicate with them more frequently to ensure that projects are on track and meet your expectations.

Maybe you start building a few processes with Loom, Notion, or Clickup.

Level 3: Ongoing Core Tasks Responsibility - Can Generate and Deliver Work Autonomously, Some Serious Delegation

You are using global talent for ongoing, core tasks that are critical to your business's success.

Your global team will be fully integrated into your operations and should be able to generate and deliver work autonomously, while also providing suggestions for improvements or alternatives.

For example, let's say you run a marketing agency and have hired a content writer to create blog posts for your clients.

At this stage, you may give them the freedom to come up with their own ideas for content, while still providing feedback and making the final decision on what gets published.

You definitely have some best practices documented, and you aren’t stressed if there is turnover.

Level 4: Global Talent Hires Global Talent. Acts Independently, Fully Integrated into Every Business Function

You’ve developed a highly skilled team of global talent that is fully integrated into every aspect of your business.

Your global team is able to conceive of and act independently, and may even be responsible for hiring additional global talent.

For example, you have a operations manager based in Mexico, who runs and supervises the recruitment process for 3 additional customer service reps, based in South America.

You barely know this happens.

You start talking about your “global team”.

Level 5: Buying Companies and Developing Services Specifically to Take Advantage of Your Skills in Using Global Talent

At this level, you have developed such a strong skillset in using global talent that you are able to buy companies and develop new services specifically to take advantage of your expertise.

People in your industry are probably bugging you to help them with their hiring and management needs - given how good you are.

Where do you stack up?

Yours in Outsourcing,

Jon

Working on something interesting? Let’s talk.