The Fractional COO: When Your Business Needs Leadership Before Another Executive

Look for decisions that keep returning

Repeated escalations can signal unclear decision rights, competing priorities or a gap in leadership capacity. Before adding another meeting, examine which decisions are getting stuck and why.

The capacity gap is real and measurable

DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast, published October 14 and based on more than 11,000 leaders, found that only 17% feel confident anticipating and responding to change. Only 9% are fully engaged, and 19% frequently feel used up. Organizations with effective change leadership were 2.4 times as likely to meet or exceed their financial targets.

Growing companies feel this first. In NatWest’s October 8 report on UK mid-sized businesses, 55% named talent and leadership development as a top barrier to growth.

Separate capacity from structure

Some teams need more experienced leadership time. Others need clearer responsibilities, better information or a more useful operating cadence. Knowing which gap you have tells you what kind of support makes sense.

Define the mandate

Companies are adding operating leaders. Russell Reynolds counted 146 COO appointments across the indices it tracks in 2025, a seven-year high, and most went to people in their first COO role. When the person is new to the job, the scope matters even more.

A fractional engagement works best with a written mandate: the decisions the leader owns, the team they support, the outcomes they work toward and how they work with the CEO and existing executives.

Build capability as you go

Hiring is where many growth plans strain. In the WSJ/Vistage survey published October 2, 51% of small-business CEOs planned to add staff, while finding and keeping qualified people remained a top challenge. An experienced operator can put hiring, onboarding and management routines in place before the headcount arrives.

The work should leave the organization stronger. Document decisions, coach internal leaders and set up routines the team can sustain. Review the mandate as the business changes.