The Strategic Advantages of Hiring Fractional C-Suite Executives

Having operated a few lean organizations, I often found myself frustrated with the talent that I had access to. I would either only be able to afford talent one skill rung below what I needed, like an accounts manager instead of a CFO, or find myself spending way more than I could afford and praying that the hire would work out. Most of the time, despite rigorous interview processes, background checks, drinks & dinner, they had limited impact - and definitely not enough to justify what I was paying. 

At one point, I would just go around tapping on my network of more experienced entrepreneurs and executives, asking them to teach me, and then take a whack at it myself. Some of this turned out exceptionally well and I learnt a lot (this is the fun of being a founder, anyway!) but most of the time, I found myself getting increasingly frustrated and at the end of the day, unable to cover every single gap for the business.

In today’s gig economy, fractionals make perfect sense for the growing founder/SME owner or even self-employed professional. The wealth of experience, industry knowledge and creativity that springs from these fractionals cannot be overstated – in fact, I find that the most impactful fractionals have had the ability to synthesize the context unique to my business and layer their experience and knowledge over it to create fresh perspectives and frameworks for thinking about or structuring things. These are precisely the sorts of strategic input that has had the most impact on the business – and the reason why I founded a company around fractionals.

Making the most of fractionals begins with understanding why you need one.

Access to “someone who’s done it before”

When advising startups/SMEs myself as a fractional, one of the things I parrot is to “Not look for the best-in-class to mentor you, but someone who's a few steps ahead of you.”

Someone who’s done it all before 20 years ago, say a CFO who led a startup in the 2000’s and now leads a listed company, is likely not going to be able to offer perspectives that are as usable as someone who’s done the same thing in the last 3-4 years. The key here is to look for fractionals who have targeted experience, not just experience. Years of experience and skills will not count for anything if it’s not targeted towards the problem statement you’ve defined within your own company. 

With this context, fractionals are significantly more effective than a full-time hire because you can find someone to solve each problem statement you have instead of expecting one hire to be on top of all of the issues present in the business. On top of that, you have access to people who would have “done it before” that are perhaps ready to move on to a next level in their careers, but are still very willing to share their experience and pay it forward. 

With flexibility comes access, and fractional arrangements can give you a wealth of access to expertise and knowledge you may never have been able to obtain otherwise. 

Cost Efficiency and Financial Flexibility

With lean organizations, a key priority is constantly cash – not just in terms of value, but in terms of managing cash flow flexibly. Fractionals open up arrangements much more flexible than a monthly salary – with benefits and cost of management included, fractionals can often not just be more value for money but also on a dollar basis, much cheaper than a full-time hire. 

Crafting packages for fractionals is no different than a freelancer – an hourly rate or project fee is usually charged, and you can build additional flexibility to scale the team up or down as needed. This was a dream come true for us in the aspect of budget allocation. Fractionals in Singapore often range from SGD 250 per hour (much like a professional would charge) with an average monthly fee of SGD 2,500 - 9,000 a month, depending on the commitment and complexity of the scoped problem. 

The Supercharged Perspective: When Experience, Insights & Ideas Collide

By far, the most meaningful advantage of hiring a fractional is the potential for experience, insights & ideas to collide in your Boardroom. 

It’s uncommon to find someone who’s had experience in building, asking the whys, hows and whats in the process of doing so. It’s rare to find this skill set layered on top of someone who has the theoretical knowledge of existing frameworks. Finding someone who has both of this with the innate ability to conjure fresh perspectives, processes or frameworks tailored for your business is nothing short of finding a unicorn. 

An unexpected change in organizational culture with the introduction of fractionals was the notable shift from a culture of structure to a culture of agility. It seemed to me that the mere presence of these individuals, who challenged the traditional structure of a full-time job or even the role of advisors, encouraged a greater propensity for experimentation and creativity. Within discussion rooms, we saw people become more open to creative solutions that challenged the way things were done today, and they took the initiative to explore innovative solutions of their own. As a founder, I also really appreciated the presence of someone who could communicate & align the team with my vision - after all, the team does get sick of hearing from the same person day in & day out. These were, frankly, more valuable than any course I could have sent the team for - it bred a culture that made us competitive and adaptable to market conditions. I had initially been conservative and even hesitant to expose the fractional hires to my team, but after seeing the effects they had on culture, every fractional is now actively involved in team discussions, even if it costs us consulting hours. Their presence and leadership is something that simply cannot be supplanted. 

For me, fractionals are the advisory structure of the future. They give you the unparalleled benefit of strategic edge with cost efficiency, which, when applied correctly, will make your business leaner and more competitive. 

This post is written by Chelsea Kang in conjunction with Quills At Work (Q@W).

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