Fractional is Just Part-Time - Right?

Ian, a fractional CMO, explores the difference between a part-time hire and a fractional leader.  

I was once chatting with someone about working as a fractional CMO, and they responded with “ah…. It’s like part-time?” which was followed the other day by a humorous LinkedIn post that floated through my feed applauding the marketing that had gone into turning part-time work into being called fractional.

Yes, I suppose being a fractional leader is not full-time, so I understand why it seems like some grand bullshittery to call part-time work “fractional”.

I can also understand why folks are growing weary of the term, as it seems to be everywhere, with every Tom, Dick, and Harriet marketing consultant, who has never held a title above that of manager, describing themselves as Fractional CMOs.

However, while I have some sympathy for all this seeming like business buzzword BS, there are some clear differences between hiring someone part-time and getting some fractional help.

Flexibility

When you hire someone part-time (and I have done this with a leader in my team before), it’s typically a fixed arrangement, with them working 2 or 3 specific days a week during a very specific set of hours.

Whereas, in my experience with several fractional roles, a fractional leader (or perhaps this is just my approach) is more flexible. You need to have a board meeting Friday afternoon; it’s “yep, no problem,” not “I don’t work Fridays”.

A fractional leader is also typically working toward an objective and goal for this stage of growth, such as building a team or achieving a specific state of maturity for the function (like marketing), rather than being solely hours-based (within the agreed-upon limits).

Inside-Out vs Outside-In

A part-time employee is still an employee and will soon be institutionalized into the hamster wheel of the day-to-day operations (although not on Fridays) and will quickly, like any employee, lose their external experience and perspective. They become the proverbial short-order cook, responding to demand rather than leading.

Whereas a good fractional leader, working a portfolio of roles, will have a more outside-in approach and bring fresh perspectives and a more strategic view to the engagement, understanding the broader category, and will have a more analyst or advisory mindset.

Commitment

I’ve already made the obvious statement that a part-time employee is an employee, and while they will work fewer hours, they will require all the overheads of payroll, benefits, and, depending on your local employment laws, have the expected protection when things need to change.

Whereas a fractional leader can be brought in to solve the problem or fill a gap with much less commitment and a much more flexible and agile commercial arrangement, with none of the overheads of employee benefits.  

Talent and Experience

One of the key advantages of hiring fractional talent is that you can bring in high-value expertise on a lean budget, providing a quick injection of experience and expertise at a critical point, without the risk of making a bad or expensive (or both) hire. 
To hire someone part-time, perhaps on a similar budget that includes all the other overheads an employee brings, may not break the budget, but it’s likely not to stretch to someone with quite so much expertise and experience.

To return to my “short order cook” analogy earlier - it’s probably closer to a part-time employee being an average chef in the kitchen 3 days a week, whereas you can think of a fractional leader as more like a Michelin star chef coming in, designing the menu, training the team, and helping out with key programs.

Let’s be clear, I might swear, but I am no Gordon Ramsey, and we do not have a Michelin star in cooking, but that’s what we are offering here at Velocity B, an agile service that can come in, design a path to revenue, train the team, and get your sales and marketing working.