Not all hires have to be permanent. Sometimes a temporary person is exactly what you need to create a long-term solution.
Take a COO, for example. You know you need operational leadership. But what exactly do you need that person to own? What authority will they need? And who's going to get them up to speed? You're already stretched thin. That's part of why you need one.
Maybe you're planning for succession, but you don't have an internal candidate. Maybe you've never had a COO and don't know how to train or mentor one. Or maybe you need help now, and you can't wait through months of hiring and ramp-up.
This is where a fractional or transitional COO can build the bridge.
They come in ready for the chaos. They expect undocumented processes, unclear responsibilities, important information that lives in somebody's head, and a team that's been figuring it out as they go. You don't have to clean everything up before they arrive. Helping you work through it is part of the job.
A good COO in this role keeps operations moving while helping you:
- Define what you need from your permanent COO.
- Set clear responsibilities, authority, and expectations.
- Build the processes and systems that support the role.
- Create a practical training and mentoring plan.
- Prepare an internal successor, or identify the right outside hire.
“We need a COO” and “our COO is set up to succeed” can have a pretty big gap between them.
Someone has to build the bridge. Temporary leadership, lasting impact.
Originally shared on LinkedIn.
Taylor Ehlmann is an operations leader and ISO 9001:2026 Lead Auditor who writes about building processes and teams that keep getting better. More about Taylor