Do I need a fractional COO?

Start with the actual work

List three recent choices spanning sales, delivery and finance, and identify who could resolve each.

Start with decisions that cross teams

A fractional COO is worth investigating when important operating choices span several functions and nobody has a clear mandate to resolve them. Start with recent decisions, rather than a job description: a delivery promise that conflicts with capacity, a supplier commitment that affects cash, or priorities that sales and operations cannot reconcile.

For each case, record the decision, the people involved, the information available, how long the choice waited and what happened while it waited. Three examples can reveal questions to investigate; they are not enough to prove that a particular executive hire is required.

Compare three explanations before choosing the role

A capacity gap means someone knows how to do the work but lacks time. An authority gap means a capable person can see the options but has no agreed decision limits. A leadership gap may involve coordinating several functions, resolving trade-offs and carrying accountability for the operating outcome.

Those explanations imply different responses. Extra delivery capacity may clear a queue. Clearer authority may allow an existing manager to act. A broader executive mandate may be appropriate where cross-functional judgement and leadership are persistently missing. Check contrary examples before choosing between them.

Write a mandate you could actually review

Choose one proposed operating outcome and specify what the role would own, which decisions it could make, the information it would receive and what remains reserved to the founder. Include cover between working days: a two-day arrangement needs a practical answer for decisions arising on the other three.

Avoid a mandate that simply says to take pressure off the founder. A reviewable mandate could name ownership of delivery capacity decisions within agreed commercial limits, with a weekly review of exceptions. The limits and measures need to fit your business; this example is not a universal role specification.

Make the next decision smaller than the hiring decision

Where it is appropriate and within existing authority, test whether a clearer owner, better information or a narrower management change resolves one recurring problem. Record what the team handled, what still returned to you and whether the change created extra work elsewhere.

Use that evidence to decide what support to explore. The £29 COO Readiness Audit is a separate decision-support product, not a recruitment service or proof that hiring will succeed. Review the offer scope before paying and use suitable professional advice for employment and contractual decisions.

What the example does not establish

A large workload alone does not establish a COO mandate.

Look for a case that challenges your first explanation as well as one that supports it. Agree which part of the situation is observed, which is an assumption and which needs another person’s evidence. Keep any proposed change within the authority and commitments already in place.

How do you know whether a change helped?

Record the starting condition and a suitable review point before the change. Compare real cases with similar constraints, including exceptions and any extra work created elsewhere. Separate a prepared document, an implemented change and a tested operating result. If the evidence is incomplete, name the gap rather than treating it as success.