You’ve grown to a decent size and are now considering bringing in a Fractional COO. But you ask yourself, “Do I need a Fractional COO”?
A Fractional COO is most valuable when you already have a team of at least 5 employees. This way, his impact multiplies. Each team member can work better towards your targets.
In addition, there are 5 signs that you need a Fractional COO.
Sign 1: You’ve outgrown your current operations, but don’t know how to fix it
Many businesses get to a point where their reputation and marketing brings in more clients than they can handle. Quality drops, clients are unhappy and growth eventually stagnates.
In this scenario, operations are your constraint. A Fractional COO will help fix that:
- They identify the bottlenecks that limit your success
- They apply experience to build systems that remove these bottlenecks
- They push your team to adopt the new and improved processes.
As a result, you’ll be able to service existing customers better. And more importantly, your organization becomes ready to take on more business.
Sign 2: You need to focus on strategy and growth, but are constantly pulled into operations
Many of my clients know exactly what they need to do strategically. Often, they have ideas for new or improved offers or market expansion. But then they can’t do the work, because they need to put out operational fires all day long.
In this scenario, the Fractional COO takes that load off the CEO. They will own operations, including day-to-day management and continuous improvement.
So the CEO can focus on what moves the needle for the business in the long-term.
The Fractional COO fixes today, the CEO is building for the future.
Sign 3: You struggle to execute strategy and break through a revenue ceiling
Most entrepreneurs I know are great at directing 100% of their attention to one problem for a short period of time. Once done, they move on to the next issue.
But strategy execution is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. So the trait that makes a great entrepreneur can prevent them from executing their strategy.
The Fractional COO takes over the marathon part of the strategy: They will set up the right systems, and then hold teams accountable to deliver on their goals, week over week.
Sign 4: You have a project, pivot or spin-off that you need managed well but don’t have the time or expertise
I often work with CEOs who want to start a new business unit or launch a project that they don’t have the time or experience for. Take a SaaS company that’s looking to add business services on top of its software.
You can delegate the execution of that project or building the business unit to a Fractional COO.
Not only are you getting more senior leadership power, you’re also adding relevant expertise to your team.
Sign 5: You want more time for yourself or other ventures
Say you have a stable business that’s producing solid results. Now, you want to spend less time in the business to have more time for your family.Or you’re starting a new venture, and want to be sure your business is in good hands while you do this.A Fractional COO can take over larger parts of your business and run it for you. This frees up your time to dedicate to what’s most important.
To sum up, the answer to your question “Do I need a Fractional COO?” is Yes when
- You need operations leadership for a limited period of time
- You can’t justify a full-time COO yet
- You need to get moving quickly without a long search and onboarding process or
- You have a project or spin-off that you can’t build yourself, or need your core business to run well while you take care of a project or spin-off
Regardless of the scenario, make sure you find the Fractional COO that’s right for you.
