A startup needs an injection of leadership. Where do they turn?
Historically there have been two options: hire a consultant or bring on a full-time leader.
Full-time leaders can represent too great a commitment, particularly for early-stage startups. Consultants are brought in to guide inexperienced founders in the right direction. But their light touch can cause its own problems.
Or there’s a third option; an accessible mid-point between consultants and full-time leaders that combines the best of both worlds: fractional leadership.
The problem with consultants
Advisors and consultants are inherently low touch. Most consultants meet with founders either weekly or monthly. A ‘high touch’ consultant might commit to four hours a week – the rest of the time the startup fends for itself.
Consultants guide decision making, but don’t often make decisions themselves. Execution is left to founders. The idea is solid: teach a founder to fish. But startups may not have time to hone this craft – they need to hook fish now.
Most advisors offer highly specialised advice and deal exclusively with core leaders, not the wider team. It’s up to founders to spread relevant knowledge throughout their organisations.
Consultants and advisors have their place. They’re guns for hire, offering high-level expertise as a customisable, on-demand service. Nonetheless, they can be a square peg that startups try to jam into a round hole.
Enter fractional leaders.
The fractional difference
Take all the best bits of both consultants (high-level knowledge and experience, pay for what you need) and full-time leaders (availability, commitment, responsibility), and you’ve stir-fried yourself a fractional leader.
Fractional leaders work under engagemente agreements similar to those of consultants. But the role itself is that of a full-time leader working fewer hours in a week: say 10, 15 or 25.
Unlike consultants, fractional executives are responsible for steering the ship. With skin in the game, they’re more hands-on and part of the team.
Even the limited hours of engagement can be a plus. With only so much time to spend, fractional leaders tend to deliver leadership in its most efficient and impactful form. They focus their energies on the things that truly matter. They’ll often squeeze a week’s worth of work into two or three days.
And you get all this for a lower hourly rate than a consultant, and a lower total cost than a full-time exec.
Why startups are trading consultants for fractional leaders
Why choose a fractional hire over a consultant or advisor?
- Instant leadership: Advisors advise. Consultants consult. Fractional leaders lead. They take the reins from founders to relieve stress and pressure.
- An injection of experience: Fractional leaders have made mistakes so you don’t have to. They know what to prioritise and make the right calls.
- Build long-term capabilities: Fractional leaders teach founders to fish by leading by example and showing them the ropes. Most aim to be replaced by a full-time hire when the time is right.
- Access to networks: Fractional leaders often come with little black books full of contacts you can leverage.
Add in the cost-effectiveness, the access to specialist expertise, and the greatly reduced risk vs full-time hires, and fractional leaders become an ever more compelling proposition.
Shepherd: fractional leadership for startups
At Shepherd we supply startups with the fractional leadership they need to drive significant, sustainable growth.
You get a talented, knowledgeable and experienced C-suite executive, delivered to your door in a flexible, cost-effective package.
If you’re ready to grow, we’re ready to help.
