Senior operational leadership, without a full-time hire.
For businesses that have grown past what founder-led decision-making can carry, but aren't ready for a full-time Operations Director or COO, a fractional role provides regular, senior operational leadership on a part-time basis.
I work alongside the owner and leadership team, take ownership of the operating rhythm and cross-functional change, and stay accountable for turning priorities into progress.
From £1,500 per month
Signs a business is ready for fractional leadership.
This is usually the right fit when:
- The business has grown, but decision-making still runs through the founder.
- Strategy is reasonably clear, but nobody senior enough has the capacity to drive it operationally.
- Multiple workstreams need coordinating, and nobody currently owns that across the business.
- You need senior operational leadership on an ongoing basis, not just for one project.
- You're not yet ready to recruit, structure and pay for a full-time Operations Director or COO.
- You want the option to flex the level of support up or down as the business changes.
If only one or two of these apply, a focused project may be a better place to start. Fractional leadership suits businesses that need this kind of input regularly, not occasionally.
A senior operator inside the business, not an adviser on the sidelines.
The operating rhythm
Priorities, meetings, decisions and follow-through, so what gets agreed actually happens.
Cross-functional delivery
Change that cuts across teams and functions, coordinated by one person who is accountable for it.
Systems and technology decisions
What to fix, connect, automate, build, buy or leave alone, and in what order.
Management information
The numbers leadership can actually trust, and use to make decisions.
Team capability
Helping people take on new ways of working, not just handing them a new tool or process.
Reporting to the owner
A clear, honest picture of what's happening and what's changing, on a regular cadence.
Embedded, part-time, and built around your business.
- How I work
Alongside the existing team rather than replacing anyone, joining the meetings and decisions that matter and staying close enough to the detail to be useful.
- Time commitment
The level of support can range from a couple of days each month to a more embedded role within the business. The monthly retainer, from £1,500 per month, is based on the agreed amount of time required. We agree this upfront, so you know what support you are getting and what it will cost. It can flex up during a period of change and down once things are running well.
- Priorities
Reviewed regularly with the owner or leadership team, so effort stays on what matters most as circumstances change.
- Continuity
The arrangement is reviewed periodically rather than locked into a long fixed term, so it keeps earning its place.
Not the same as a permanent hire, a consultant or a coach.
Compared to hiring permanently
No recruitment process, notice period, or full-time salary and overheads. You get senior experience immediately, and can scale the commitment down, or end it, if circumstances change.
Compared to a consultant or coach
This isn't advice from the sidelines or a sounding board for the owner alone. I take ownership of outcomes, work directly with the team, and stay accountable for implementation, not just recommendations.
How to begin.
The first step is a conversation about the business, what's driving the need for support, and whether fractional leadership is actually the right fit. Sometimes it is; sometimes a focused project is a better place to start, and that's what we'll agree instead.
Your business does not need to be broken to work better.
If growth, complexity or years of workarounds have made the business harder to run, I can help you work out what to tackle first.