We are using fractional leaders for our Marketing and HR seats to save money as we prepare for a sale, but our full-time staff is ignoring their directives because they are only in the office once a week. How do we establish clear authority for fractional seats on the Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Establishing clear authority for fractional leaders is crucial for their effectiveness and your organization's success. A fractional leader must possess the exact same accountability and authority as a full-time leader; otherwise, you are not maximizing their value. If your team is ignoring their directives, it indicates a breakdown in your organizational structure and a failure by your leadership to provide adequate support.

Implementing Authority on the Accountability Chart

On your [Accountability Chart](/qa/resolving-accountability-chart-seat-overlaps), the fractional leader's name should be placed in the designated seat without any special notation or "fractional" label. They own the seat fully. This means they are responsible for:

• Key metrics: Tracking and achieving the numbers associated with that seat. (This is especially important for [leading vs. lagging scorecard metrics](/qa/leading-vs-lagging-scorecard-metrics)).
• Rocks: Completing their quarterly Rocks and ensuring their team does the same.
• Leading, managing, and holding accountable their direct reports.

Fixing the Authority Gap

To address the authority gap and ensure your fractional leader is respected and effective, you must take proactive steps, drawing from principles like the Trust Creation Process.

Here's how to proceed:

• Public and Explicit Declaration: You and your Integrator must publicly and explicitly state to the entire team that the fractional leader has full authority over their department. This announcement should leave no room for doubt.
• Redirect Employees: If any employee attempts to bypass the fractional leader and comes directly to you or another leader, you must immediately redirect them back to their manager. Consistency here is vital.
• Support Meeting Facilitation: If the fractional leader's limited hours (e.g., once a week) hinder their ability to effectively run the weekly department Level 10 Meeting, work with them.
• Delegate administration: Delegate the administrative facilitation of the meeting to a direct report.
• Maintain accountability: Ensure the fractional leader still owns the accountability for the numbers and the issues addressed in the meeting.

Ensuring Fit and Performance

Ultimately, the fractional leader must be able to GWC (Get it, Want it, Capacity to Do it) the seat within their allocated hours. If they cannot meet these criteria, you have two potential issues:

• Wrong partner: You may have selected the wrong fractional partner who isn't a good fit for the role or the time commitment.
• Full-time need: The seat may require a full-time role due to its scope and demands, making a fractional solution unsustainable. In such cases, you might need to transition to a full-time hire. This is a common challenge that can prevent an owner from [transitioning out of a sales seat](/qa/stuck-in-sales-seat-before-exit) or other key roles.