41 - 44 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5AD
Other
1. As someone who has drawn on interim leadership across your businesses, what first led you to explore this route, and what value have you personally seen fractional leaders deliver?
There was a skills gap in our organisation. We were in scale-up mode — a small team, about 20-odd people. In my case, I was originally focused on scaling the RevOps function covering sales, marketing, and customer success.
Typically, businesses at our stage are encouraged to bring in a senior figure – “You need a CRO, or you need someone at that level” – because you’re transitioning from a founder-driven culture to operating more like a larger business.
Through bitter experience, I’ve learned that bringing in a senior leader at that point is often not appropriate – financially, culturally, or organisationally. People with that type of experience often expect everything to already be in place so they can operate effectively. But at our stage, those foundations weren’t fully built yet.
What I needed was someone who could guide me through that growth, but not a full-time CRO, which we couldn’t afford anyway. That led me to fractional leadership — someone who could help identify the critical path and what we needed to build the function properly.
It meant I could stay hands-on with the existing commercial team, while the fractional leader brought the expertise and guidance I needed as a CEO to scale that part of the business.
After finding success applying that approach in RevOps, I used the same model for the marketing function. We brought in a fractional CMO to help steer the creation of our marketing capability as well.
2. What makes a great fractional leader stand out, particularly in high-stakes or fast-moving situations?
For me, the dominant characteristic I’m looking for is the ability to operate inside the business – not just advise from the outside.
People often confuse a fractional resource with a consultant. But for me, the key attribute is someone who’s actually going to get hands-on. They’re not just coming in occasionally to give advice – they’re rolling up their sleeves and working alongside the team.
That quality has been critical for me when choosing the right individuals to bring in on a fractional basis.
3. How do you approach integrating interim or fractional talent into an existing leadership team, especially when time is limited and expectations are high?
I think there are some really positive ways you can do that. It does depend on your culture and the type of organisation you are trying to build, and your view on how you plan to grow.
I am talking very much about scale-up mode here, but the way I have found the most success is by bringing in fractional leaders with the goal of helping you grow the team you already have. I have always tried to advocate for building skill sets and experiences from within.
One of the benefits of having a fractional senior leader is that people already in the company, or more junior people joining, can see a clear route to stepping into that senior role themselves, because they do not see someone sitting permanently in the position.
For example, if you have a Sales Director who aspires to be a CRO one day, there is a compelling narrative you can offer: this person is coming in to help identify the critical path for this function. But at some point, they will step back, and the Sales Director will have an opportunity to grow into that role. The fractional leader might even continue in a mentorship capacity to support that more junior leader.
This creates a really nice transition because everyone understands that the fractional leader is there to help deliver a specific project. I think it is helpful to view these roles as projects. We have a project to build or fix a particular function, and we are bringing in a fractional leader to help deliver it.
If you approach it that way, it also gives you a natural way to set clear objectives and bring the appointment to a defined conclusion when the project is complete.
When it comes to integrating them with the other senior leaders you already have on board, I come back to my core principle: they need to be hands-on.
If you bring someone in as a consultant, they often sit slightly on the periphery, separate from the management team. But when you view a fractional leader as someone who is rolling their sleeves up and working alongside the team, that line between permanent and fractional disappears. It just becomes about delivering together.
4. When deciding between making a fractional hire versus making a permanent appointment, what factors tip the balance for you and how do you weigh long-term versus immediate impact?
I think that the word “immediate” is critical there.
Employing, or taking on, a senior role is a big undertaking. It can take a long time to find the right person, and it can be a very expensive mistake if you do not find the right person. I think those two things can actually run in parallel. You can say, “These are challenges that I need to sort out today,” and at the same time, acknowledge that your ability to attract a full-time person into that position is probably helped if you have already sorted out some key issues before they come on board.
If the requirement is that you need things to change soon, then that is a huge benefit of using a fractional resource. Generally, fractional hires work on a much tighter turnaround, and your commitment is much lower.
When you bring on a full-time hire, you face upfront costs such as recruiting them, incentivising them, and if it does not work out after six months, there are even more complications. With fractional hires, you have a much greater degree of flexibility.
Of course, there is a reason you bring people into the business full-time. You believe they are a real asset, and you do not want them walking away. You want to find ways to retain them. That is the balance you are trying to strike.
For me, decisions about using fractional resources have often come down to the financial aspect and the need for timely change.
5. What advice would you give to other founders or senior leaders considering fractional or interim support for the first time, especially when it comes to making it work well in practice?
It is important to view the engagement with fractional or interim leaders as employees, not as consultants. It is about having the mindset that this is someone who is integral to the team. They are one of us, and they are going to get hands-on.
It is important to be clear in your own mind that there is a difference between a fractional leader and a consultant. You also need to make sure your stakeholders understand that distinction.
I have definitely seen challenges where people say, “Oh, you have brought a bunch of consultants in here.” But actually, what I have done is bring in experienced resource. I am getting the benefit of very senior experience without the associated cost of a full-time hire.
Those are helpful ways to frame it and to understand what you are really doing. I think those are the key things I would focus on.
