A fractional COO is a business professional with many years of experience who is willing to work on a temporary, part-time basis for an hourly rate that would normally be equivalent to hiring someone full time. A fractional COO is simply a leadership executive who acts as a part-time director of operations. On-site responsibilities and frequency can vary widely and are generally customized to the needs of the business. A fractional COO is a consultant who works as a part-time director of operations.
Your company gets the vision of a senior operations executive without having to assume the cost of full time. It's an effective way to achieve your organization's objectives in an affordable way. Hiring a fractional COO provides your company with the advantages of not adding another salaried employee, but it also allows you to take your fractional COO to a test to ensure a mutually beneficial adaptation. Your fractional operations director may come one day a month to work on your strategic planning with your leadership team.
A fractional COO can close the gap and provide the resources you need to continue growing your company without having to commit to a full-time employee. Another benefit of hiring a fractional operations manager is to gain an outside perspective, a new view of existing problems. Small but powerful and growing companies looking to scale intelligently can benefit from hiring a fractional COO. A fractional operations manager will perform the same functions, have the same objectives as a full-time salaried operations manager, but will not receive a salary; he will operate according to standard operating procedure and will work within an agreed contract for an agreed period of time.
Therefore, having a fractional chief operating officer who can help you respond to your company's ever-changing teamwork dynamics can be immensely valuable. You're not making a bet: the fractional operations director has a proven track record, with experience doing exactly the same thing with other agencies (don't be jealous). A fractional COO can bring benefits to almost any type of company that isn't large enough to support a full-time director of operations. Some companies may need a fractional COO 3 to 4 days a week, while others only need one, 2, or 3 days a month.
A fractional COO focuses on all of the agency's operational issues in order to lighten its workload and be able to focus on its long-term business objectives. The fractional operations director is with you and your team, both in person and virtually, to monitor daily results and issues. Your investment in fractional COO services is based on the size and reach of your organization, but it will represent a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time COO. And if the fractional operations director is an excellent option and goes above and beyond in fulfilling his duties, you always have the option of renewing or expanding your contract.
