Business mentor: Hire part-time manager for that extra help

Q: My business is growing and I need a broader range of management skills and experience than exists within the company. But I can't justify a full-time dedicated person. I don't want to use consultants. What can I do?

* Small business sector specialist Sarah Trotman put this to David Swaffield from Management 4 Hire.

A: Many businesses of all sizes face this issue. As they evolve, they require a broader skill and experience base to enable them to maximise their internal efficiencies, market share and profitability.

Unfortunately, in most cases, their requirements can't support a full-time role and the only option is for key staff to take on extra responsibilities in an unfamiliar area, which usually does two things:

* It doesn't adequately address the real issues and can lead to costly mistakes. It can be detrimental to the area of your business you were trying to improve.

* The key staff member assigned this extra responsibility probably already has enough work in their own role. This extra workload in an unfamiliar area will put more pressure on them, which can cause performance issues in their original role.

So what started out as being a reasonable solution doesn't fix your original need and could have made it worse.

Also, you've put unnecessary pressure on a well-performing team member and area.

What is the solution? Consider part-time managers.

For as long as businesses have been around, we have used part-time staff to fill areas of real need that don't justify full-time roles but require specific skills and experience such as accounts, administration, customer service, warehouse staff and retail assistants.

The list goes on and covers most areas, but rarely do we see this well-proven method used for management or senior roles within businesses.

Many people and companies provide executive leasing and contracting services to businesses which require extra expertise.

Traditionally, this has been on a fixed-term contract basis to carry out specific projects or roles.

We are now seeing a subtle shift away from just specific projects and straight fixed-term contracts towards more flexible arrangements to enable companies to have extra expertise and management support available long term.

I am not talking about consultants, I am talking about practical, hands-on managers with a broad range of skills and proven experience; managers who can come into your business and work with you and your team to develop, implement and maintain solutions to improve your business.

Their involvement can be designed to fit your requirements and can range from general business advice and mentoring to taking responsibility for a specific project, or an active role in the business as a part-time manager.

You may have a manufacturing-based business and sales could be increased if you had a good sales manager.

But the business is not in a position to sustain the role and your expertise is in product development and manufacturing.

Bring in a part-time manager, who can focus on developing your sales and improving your market share, leaving you and the rest of your team to focus on your areas of expertise.

Because they are practical hands-on managers with a broad range of skills and proven experience, they will work easily with you and your team, sharing your passion for the success of your business.

Many managers find this type of arrangement suits their lifestyle.

They can be found by contacting one of the specialist contracting companies or through your own business and community network.

* For more information on part-time managers, contact David Swaffield.