Top 3 Reasons to Hire Fractional Leaders

Fractional Leadership is one of the top services available to organizations needing to find executives and senior level management in 2022. Our colleague, Ben Wolf, has served the fractional community well by writing a very helpful book on the topic, and by creating a network for connecting fractional leaders with one another and the market.

We are all familiar with the idea of outsourcing marketing, outside sales, and customer service. Companies have been benefiting from these services for decades and continue to do so. Many companies also utilize staffing agencies to temporarily relieve labor constraints in order to meet customer demands.

However, what are organizations to do when they have need for experienced executives and senior managers but either don't have the internal resources or access to the talent they need to help them grow beyond their current state? We believe that Fractional Leadership is the solution to this very real issue facing business and industry in 2022.

#1 Reason: Risk Free

If your organization is needing to hire a COO or a Plant Manager with over 15 years of proven experience, the annual cost with salary, benefits, and bonuses would be more than $200k, not to mention the initial cost of relocation and any signing bonus.

In addition to cost, there is the risk of the individual not being able to perform at the same level they communicated through their resume and interviews. Now you have invested a quarter of a million dollars in someone, and six months later you find out that they are either not able to perform at the level you need them to or they are not a good fit in your organization's culture. As many of you know, this scenario plays out more times than not and is very costly to the organization and unfair to the employees and customers.

Fractional Leadership provides you an alternative that carries none of these risks. If you need a Plant Manager to integrate with your organization in order to improve processes, implement systems, and coach supervisors to sustain those systems, a Fractional Plant Manager can do this at a fraction of the cost. If they do not perform or are not a good fit, you are not obligated to retain their services. If that happens, which is rarely the case, you have not completely disrupted your organization nor have you broken the bank in the process.

#2 Reason: Results Driven

Once you have decided that hiring a Fractional Leader is the best avenue for your organization, you will sit down with your team and the Fractional Leader in order to determine the goals you want to achieve and the timeline (typically 12-18 months) for the engagement. Upon coming up with goals and a timeline, you will determine the rhythm by which the Fractional Leader will integrate with your leadership team:

• Will the engagement be on-site or virtual, or some combination of both?

• How many days a week will the Fractional Leader work?

• What is the natural flow of information within the leadership team?

The reason this process is of utmost importance is due to the fact that Fractional Leadership is results driven. Whether the goal is to increase annual revenue by 10% in 12 months or to implement tried-and-true systems to improve efficiency, the Fractional Leader will be laser-focused on delivering those results.

#3 Reason: Sustainability

You might be saying, "This all sounds great, but how do we sustain these improvements once the Fractional Leader exits?" What a wonderful questions! Fractional Leadership involves a great deal of coaching and mentoring throughout the engagement in order to ensure sustainability.

One of the keys to our success has been our ability to fully integrate into the organization's leadership team: we become a viable and valuable seat at the table. Because you have hired the Fractional Leader due to the fact that you did not have their expertise and experience in-house, they are the expert in-resident for your team.

Although all process improvements and system implementations will be led by the Fractional Leader, he or she will do so with the support and involvement of key personnel on your team. These improvements and implementations will be understood and supported by Senior Leaders, because the Fractional Leader will have worked with you to develop them and will be responsible for coaching you and your team on how to sustain them after the engagement comes to a close.

One last point on sustainability. If you have hired, for instance, a Fractional Plant Manager to get your operations ready for the growth you desire, and he or she has delivered the results you expect, it is probable that you will need to hire a permanent Plant Manager before the Fractional Leader leaves. We have seen that involving the Fractional Leader in the hiring and onboarding process of the new full-time Plant Manager ensures continuity and sustainability.

If you are interested in learning more about what Fractional Leadership services are available or have questions about other services offered at RCI, please reach out to us at info@thinkrci.com.