What’s a Fractional COO?
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
As the Internet grows, so do the businesses that exist within it.
And with that growth, we’ve seen a variety of support roles that exist solely to help businesses grow and scale.
Regardless of the terms we use, what ultimately matters is that the person you hire has the skills and the expertise to help you reach the goals you want to achieve within your business (and is able to see other opportunities you may not 😉).
If you're in the online business space, below are senior level support terms you may have heard of:
Director of Operations (DOO)
Fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Online business manager (OBM)
I've used all of the above terms to explain what I do, depending on who I'm speaking with.
Nowadays, I more commonly use Fractional COO to describe myself because of my concentration on business strategy, operations, people, and tech and my years of experience in business.
What does that term really mean?
Below we’ll discuss what a fractional COO’s role and responsibilities are and all that encompasses this position.
What does fractional mean?
You've probably heard and seen the word "fractional" a lot online over the past few years, especially with COO or CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).
The term fractional is basically redundant because most roles that online businesses hire for unless they are full time, are all fractional.
As Natalie Gingrich of The Ops Authority says:
"A fractional retainer means that you are not in the business full time. You come into the business for a dedicated portion of your week and manage the day-to-day, but not project-to- project. You look at all operations and back office support.
You will have a big impact on the business, but you are serving multiple businesses."
“💡 Fractional COOs love working IN businesses. They love being your right hand. They thrive on making sure everything is running smoothly and strategically behind the scenes.”
All fractional means is not full time. It’s that simple.
What is a fractional COO?
A fractional COO is the second in charge to the CEO, essentially existing as the right hand to the business owner.
In online business parlance: they're the Integrator to the Visionary.
For most small businesses, hiring a full time COO doesn’t make sense. A small business that is starting to think about bringing on this kind of expertise not only can’t afford to pay for a full time COO but they simply don’t have the hours either.
This is why a fractional COO is a perfect fit.
A fractional COO comes to the table with executive experience at a fraction of the price of a C-Suite executive. They bring expertise and knowledge that many small businesses at a specific point greatly need, and they can come in on a part time or limited basis.
As Forbes describes:
"As your integrator and executor, the COO brings your entire company together to deliver products and services effectively and efficiently.
The COO is the quintessential "change champion." They define needed changes, lead the change effort, manage the change and even celebrate change success.
Your COO not only supports your personal and professional business development but that of the entire company."
What does a fractional COO do?
Depending on the needs of the business, the expertise of the CEO, and the skill set of the fractional COO there's a wide variety of areas the fractional COO can and will focus on.
The sole job of the fractional COO is to run the business better than when they found it, and this is done in a variety of different ways.
In general though, most COOs come to the table with the following focus:
Strategic Planning: Supports the CEO to strategically plan out the business' objectives over the next months and years by focusing on the mission, vision, values, and goals of the business. Think quarterly and yearly planning. They also have the experience and networking chops to see these plans through.
Operational development and management: Refines and restructures the business' operational foundation to identify opportunities and risks. Think creating sustainable systems and processes to support growth long term, things like standard operating procedures, restructuring of back end and front end systems, development of policy and procedures, and bringing in new tech when need be.
Organizational development and management: Helps to build and lead a sustainable culture and environment to support the growth of the business. Think hiring, communication, team management, and leadership.
Project management and planning: Oversees business projects that have been determined through strategic planning. They make sure the project is running smoothly, stake holders are all on the same page, and that the project is progressing as it should be. Depending on the size of the business and project, the fractional COO can fully manage or simply oversee projects with project managers under her.
KPI & metric reporting: Reports on and develops key metrics to ensure and measure efficiency within the business. Think sales forecasting, website and social media traffic and data, client retention, and more.
When Should a Business Hire a Fractional COO?
Most business owners realize they need a fractional COO when they've reached a tipping point in their business.
They're at capacity and they feel like they're drowning in the day to day. They've come to realize they're no longer doing what they love to do in business.
This is exactly why most businesses at a certain stage need to bring in a right hand. CEO’s are often great at the core parts of the business like marketing, relationships, sales, and delivery. They do not want to be in the back end of the businesses.
Fractional COOs love working IN businesses. They love being your right hand. They thrive on making sure everything is running smoothly and strategically behind the scenes.
They do not want the spotlight and they excel at being in a leadership support role.
As Michael Gerber, author of the online business bible The E Myth: Why Most Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It, has so simply stated: "Most entrepreneurs fail because you are working IN your business rather than ON your business."
When small businesses reach a level of success it’s time for the CEO to get out of the day to day. It’s imperative for them to stop working IN their business.
At this point, business owners have demonstrated they have a successful business model. They've hit (and gone beyond) the magical goal number of "6 figures," they’ve hired and contracted out roles to help them, but they’re still stuck in the day to day of running their business.
Some signs a small business needs to bring on a fractional COO.
The CEO can't catch a breath to work on priorities in the business like product development, marketing, or networking because they’re stuck delegating all day and putting out fires.
The business has hit capacity and the CEO doesn’t have time to work with more clients; or they’re losing leads due to inefficiencies.
Big goals (and small ones too!) continually get pushed out because there is no time to work on anything other than what’s in front of the business right now.
These examples demonstrate that the business has hit a plateau and need to bring in a right hand to support the CEO and the business STAT.
They're tired of being reactive and exhausted and they realize they can’t do it alone.
The Good News
To be fair, this is actually a good place to be in business. It may not feel like it in the moment, but it’s a good problem to have. It means you’re business has hit capacity and it’s time to make some changes to support that growth.
As the landscape has started to show, there is a ton of talent out there in operations that is ready and willing to step into this role for you!
As the saying goes, what got you here won’t get you there, and it’s time to start to consider help to support you.
And this is why a fractional COO is so beneficial for where you and your business are at, you can hire a fractional COO on a project or retainer basis. They can come in and help you with your immediate pain points to get you some relief.
Want to talk further about how a fractional COO can help you? We can jump on a no commitment call right here. I’d love to learn about how I can help you and your business!
