Fractional Chief People Officer
Chief People Officer experience at your executive table, for as much of the week as your business needs.
You want a senior hire that can fit into your leadership team but don’t want the full time permanent commitment
You're preparing for investment, and the people side of the business needs to stand up to scrutiny.
You're hiring faster than your structure, processes and managers can keep up with.
The CEO or founder is still making most of the people decisions.
You're going through a restructure, acquisition or integration.
Your Chief People Officer has left, and you need interim senior coverage while you decide what comes next.
Your people team is capable but needs executive leadership and someone to learn from.
When Businesses Need Fractional People & Culture Leadership
A fractional Chief People Officer is a senior people executive who joins your leadership team for a set number of days each month, owns your people function and is accountable for it. They do everything a permanent hire would do - the only difference is that the work scales with your business. You get the experience of a Chief People Officer for a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire, with the flexibility to scale up or down as the business changes; and if your business grows to the point of needing something different - whether that’s a more junior hire to keep things tracking along, or a full time executive, we part ways.
That means a people strategy aligned to your business plan, organisational design and workforce planning, leadership and culture, reward and performance, and the policies, compliance and day-to-day people operations that sit underneath them. The emphasis moves with the business, so one quarter might be mostly strategy and the next mostly delivery.
What working together can look like:
Strategic planning and quarterly people reviews with your executive team.
Monthly strategy sessions and board reporting.
Weekly delivery on your priority people projects.
Advising and developing your leaders through the decisions and change in front of them.
Leading and mentoring your people team, so capability stays in the business.
Interim leadership through a transition, restructure or integration.
What Is a Fractional Chief People Officer, and How Do They Work?
If you are at growth-stage, a mid-sized businesses with professional and knowledge-based teams, in technology, professional services and other fast-growth sectors, from around 30 people to a few hundred people, or looking for interim leadership, this could be perfect for you.
Most engagements start at around a day a week and flex from there. They scale up for a transition or a major project, and down once the foundations are in place. It starts with a conversation about what the business needs now and over the next twelve months, and the scope is built around that.
Does the Fractional Model Suit My Business?
FAQs
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A consultant delivers a project and leaves. A fractional Chief People Officer sits on your executive team, owns the people function and is accountable for it over time, the same way a permanent executive would be.
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You pay for the days your business needs, without a full-time executive salary, recruitment costs or a long-term commitment. Scope and cost are worked through together in the first conversation.
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Advising and developing your leaders is part of the role. Formal one-to-one coaching sits outside it, because a coach needs to be independent of the people decisions being made about the leader. Where a leader would benefit from coaching, that can be arranged separately.
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Most run for six to twelve months, and many continue longer. Some are shorter, such as interim cover through a transition. The engagement can scale or end cleanly as your needs change.
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We'll talk through where your business is at and I'll give you an honest view of whether fractional is for you.