Succeed with fractional leadership

There are well over 200,000 factional leaders on LinkedIn now.  In 2022, three years ago, there was less than 5000. Just pause on those numbers. What other role or job has increased 40x in that time?

Okay, I accept that a big chunk of these are people who are out of work and using the fractional title as a way of looking busy. But there are still many who are genuinely acting as fractional leaders and pretty new to it.

With any new idea there will be plenty of mistakes made.  Having been a fractional revenue leader 10 times in the last five years, I have learnt key things to benefit both fractionals and the people hiring them.

 Discuss where the company needs to be 18 months from now. 

Most fractional roles are 6-9 months but in any executive position what you do over the next six months is going to have a critical impact on the following 12. To be (or to hire) a useful factional leader you have to be positioning the business for that future point.

 Understand the team the fractional will lead and what it needs to look like in six months. 

As an expert in a functional area, a fractional knows how much time it takes to manage highly capable individuals and those with less experience. They know how much time it takes to hire and on-board new staff. They know how much time it takes to bed in systems where they are lacking.

In some companies, the answer to both of these questions may not be clear. In that case, I strongly recommend some type of (paid) diagnostic. The fractional works closely with the CEO and other people in the business, investing 2-3 days over a week or two to understand the status of the team and the business, and agree an achievable but exciting future state to drive towards.

With this information, the CEO and fractional can put together a programme that makes sense for the business. Both parties can have confidence that the fractional can handle the team and the function, and leave the company in a better place at the end of the stint.

This also avoids the dreaded role slippage, where a three day week estimate is constantly pressured and the fractional is struggling to cover all the bases. When you have planned properly, if major projects or responsibilities do fall to the fractional mid-role, you know what is covered by a current agreement and can update accordingly.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment here or reply.