By Charles Dietz,
SMB Value Partners
As you think about how to staff and successfully execute your next important project, consider bringing in a fractional leader to head up your project. I’m not talking just someone with PM skills, but a lot more. Read further to learn a bit more and see if the role and advantages resonate as a viable solution.
Fractional Leadership is using an experienced, senior, outside resource(s) to supplement your existing leader and employee resources. With today’s lean organizations and the competitive pressure to deliver new and improved products and processes, many organizations find themselves unable to meet the business challenges of larger, cross-functional projects. In some business areas, the department leader is often a technical or hands-on resource, lacking the breadth and depth of management experience and expertise needed on your major project.
Many small to-mid-sized businesses (SMB) and associations / non-profits have found Fractional Leadership to be a viable solution to addressing their business challenges: bringing in an outside leader / expert for a critical / cross-functional project. The advantages include:
- Services of a senior leader with broad industry and cross-discipline experience.
- No “on-the-job” learning, as happens in many smaller organizations, with the ability to achieve planned results sooner, rather than later.
- The fractional leader’s experience and successes gain respect from the organization’s senior management.
- Clarity of focus on the project-at-hand, not entangled in day-to-day issues and silo boundaries.
- No organizational bias on what the right answer would be. Able to challenge teams to constructively evaluate alternatives.
- On projects where a solution supplier is actively participating, it is important that your project leader not be controlled by that vendor. The fractional leader is an independent voice with primary focus on collaborating with your business and delivering your business success.
There are a lot of “pain-points” that keep organizations from achieving full results from cross-functional projects. Often issues in areas like Information Technology, Marketing, Sales, Operations, Planning, and Finance (to name a few) can hinder or misdirect progress to a successful project. Using the Fractional Leadership solution gives your organization use of a resource that will identify and cut through issues to improve your success. You have the benefit of a senior leader that you may not need / afford as a full-time employee, as you only have to pay for the expertise and time associated with your top priority: your results-focused business project.
To learn more about Fractional Leadership for your key projects, please visit: SMB Value Partners
Reposted with updates from April 29th.
Your comments welcomed.
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