Transform your business with a fractional COO

 

If you’re the leader of a growing business, you likely wear at least 72 hats. You’re the CEO, the copywriter, the salesperson, and sometimes the printer repair person. As your business grows, this isn’t sustainable or scalable. You’re becoming the bottleneck to your own organization and it’s time to bring in more help.

A Fractional COO is a part-time operations leader and partner in your business. They’re the perfect solution for small teams who need the help but can’t afford (or aren’t yet ready for) a full-time employee.

 
 

What is a Fractional COO?

This stands for Fractional Chief Operating Officer. A Fractional COO is an operations leader who can provide experienced support on a part-time basis.

While the scope for a Fractional COO varies based on the unique needs of the company, they typically focus on strategic planning, process improvement, project management, and team development. In many cases, a Fractional COO will also take on some of the daily operations of the company, freeing up the CEO to focus on more high-level tasks.

Why choose a Fractional Leader?

There are so many reasons why Fractional staffing is a great idea.

It’s financially responsible.

Choosing a Fractional COO allows you to solve for operations leadership while conserving cash for other areas of the business. A Fractional leader costs less than a full-time COO in salary as well as payroll costs, benefits, and office costs. We’re a fully ready-to-deploy team member.

Delegating things from your own plate frees you for more valuable and revenue-generating contributions. When you have the right people in the right seats, you get more done with your resources. Just because you can lead operations, doesn’t mean that you should. Someone working in their skill set will get more done than someone who knows just enough to be dangerous.

They bring experience and objectivity.

A Fractional COO is an experienced and fully trained contributor who is bringing a fresh set of eyes to your company. They can provide you with objective feedback and fresh ideas to unlock even more from your business.

They’re on your team.

A Fractional COO is not a consultant. They’re in it for the long haul and are committed to your company. This is a flexible and adaptable relationship to support your growing company’s unique needs. A Fractional COO is an embedded team member and helper, not a consultant. They fit into your company culture and are invested in your success.

 
 

A Fractional COO is an embedded team member who works alongside you in the day-to-day and long-term life of your business.

 
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How does it work?

When you onboard with a Fractional COO, you get a mix of tactical and strategic support right away. We start by creating a custom engagement strategy for your business’s needs. We sketch out an annual strategy to aim our time together and then use that to frame our quarterly tactical plan. Each quarter we re-assess operational priorities and update our plans to make sure we’re focused on what’s most important.

We will be part of your day-to-day via meetings and Slack/Teams participation. Remember, a Fractional COO is a partner on your team, not a consultant. We make sure the trains run on time and your team is always supported and that means being involved.

Areas of Focus

A Nerd Hat COO brings a unique blend of operational leadership as well as leader development experience. Not only will we be a partner in your growth, we will also develop your leaders along the way. We believe in being a "lift as you climb" company and that means that training and growth are a cornerstone of our operational approach.

Our specific duties with you will vary based on the needs of your business but they usually fall into the following buckets.

 
 

  • Your Mission, Core Values, and Perfect Customer are at the cornerstone of all that you do. Let’s get them laser sharp and embedded into your team so they power everything you and your team put your hands to.

    Make decisions based in data. Leverage your metrics to get more done with less and identify problem points or opportunities. We’ll look at which metrics you’re tracking and your data habits to level up your dashboard practices in your business.

    Are you leveraging your financial reports correctly? Does everyone take responsibility for their part of the budget? It’s critical to correctly leverage your P&L, Balance Sheet, and other financial reports for business health and growth.

  • Quarterly planning is the practice of saying no to the wrong things in order to say yes to moving towards your company’s best future. We’ll get you laser focused on your next 90 days with realistic but exciting OKRs and project plans.

  • Align your marketing, sales, and customer care teams around a single customer journey and processes. Everyone should understand how they contribute to revenue generation as well as what needs to happen at each stage, where churn happens, and what success looks like.

  • When you have clarity around your business basics as well as clear metrics to define what success and progress looks like, it’s time to activate that with laser focused and healthy communication rhythms.

    Ensure everyone’s communicating and collaborating effectively. Address conflicts and possible roadblocks early and successfully. Healthy communication and productive accountability power your growth and progress.

  • Does everyone on your team know where they fit and how they win? Optimize your org chart and bring clarity to your staffing strategy so everyone’s working together like a well-oiled machine. Prepare to hire your best contributors yet with a custom hiring process.

    Company culture is the result of repeating actions and incentivizing behaviors. It takes intentionality, consistency, and humility from leaders to create authentic employee engagement.

  • The modern workplace has a complex tech stack that needs to be considered as a cornerstone of your business workflows. Overhaul CRM practices while you update your sales workflows. Ensure your new hires are clear on how to use your Slack and project management software productively. Tackle the tools your team uses most and make sure everyone knows how to collaborate effectively.

 
 

A Fractional COO is a long-term partner in your business and their contributions evolve based on your business’s growth journey. We will contribute, advise, lead, and build alongside of you each step of the way.

Is a Nerd Hat Fractional COO a right fit for your business?

 
 

While a Fractional COO is valuable, we’re not for everyone.

 
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When is a coo not right for you?

Not everyone is ready for a Fractional COO. Here are some signs you may need something else.

  • If you’re looking for someone to take tasks off of your plate but you’re not ready to delegate leadership, what you need is an EA. There are many part-time EA companies who can help.

  • If you’re looking to solve a single pain point or project, what you need are our consultant services. Our Solutions page likely has just the thing to address your specific scope of work.

  • Without a clear product or business model, a COO isn’t going to be able to accelerate you. We here at Nerd Hat Solutions can help with articulating your vision but it needs to at least exist in your head first. A COO is the execution champion of the CEOs dreams, even if they’re rough drafts, but if you’re still figuring out your business then you’re not ready to optimize it - yet.

When are you ready for a fractional COO?

On the flip side, there are some people who are very ready for a Fractional operations leader. Here are some signs that you’re ready and would benefit from a Fractional COO.

  • Your company needs to grow and you know that scaling operations is the key.

  • You’re putting out fires in the day-to-day instead of working on your business.

  • You frequently feel overwhelmed and are ready to bring in some help.

  • You need someone to streamline processes, solve for communication and accountability, and champion team member development and culture.

    Do you think a Fractional COO might be a good fit for your team?