Fractional leadership has gotten a lot of attention over the past few years, and for good reason.

Companies have realized they do not always need to hire a full-time executive to get executive-level experience. Sometimes they need that expertise for a specific challenge, a period of growth, or simply to help the existing team get something important across the finish line.

I have been a fan of the model for a long time.

But there is another way to think about it.

Maybe the bigger opportunity is not fractional leadership at all.

Maybe it is flexible access to expertise.

Sometimes You Need the Expertise, Not the Headcount

There are absolutely times when hiring someone full-time is the right answer.

But many business challenges do not fit neatly into a permanent job description.

You might be redesigning your contingent workforce program. Evaluating an MSP. Selecting technology. Rethinking talent acquisition. Building a workforce strategy. Trying to improve supplier performance.

You need someone who really knows the space.

But do you need that person 40 hours a week for the next five years?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

That is the question fractional leadership helped companies start asking.

There is another question worth asking too:

Do we even need one person?

Because Problems Have a Bad Habit of Getting Bigger

Workforce issues rarely stay in their lane.

Take a company asking a seemingly straightforward question: “Should we change our MSP?”

Fair enough.

But start digging and the conversation may quickly include program strategy, technology, supplier performance, procurement, talent acquisition, data, stakeholder alignment, implementation, and change management.

Suddenly one question has invited nine friends to the meeting.

This is where I think the conversation gets interesting.

You may have a terrific fractional executive or advisor leading the work. But no one person is an expert in everything.

And, frankly, I am a little suspicious of anyone who says they are.

So perhaps the better model is not always finding the expert.

It is having access to the right experts as you need them.

Start With the Problem, Then Build Around It

I like this idea because it turns the traditional approach around.

Instead of starting with a person, a firm, or a predefined consulting engagement, start with the business problem.

What are we actually trying to accomplish? What expertise will we need? And when will we need it?

Maybe a workforce strategist leads the work. A technology expert comes in during evaluation. An MSP specialist helps assess the operating model. Someone else supports change management during implementation.

Not everyone needs to be involved for the entire engagement.

They just need to show up when their experience matters.

That is a different way of buying expertise, and I think it is one we are going to see much more of.

There Is Value in Knowing What You Do Not Know

One of the things I value most in an advisor is not having every answer. It is knowing when they do not.

Experienced advisors bring something beyond subject-matter expertise. They bring pattern recognition from seeing similar challenges play out across different companies, programs, technologies, and operating models.

They can often spot the issue behind the issue. They can also say:

“This part is outside my lane. I know who we should bring in.”

I consider that a strength, not a weakness.

I would much rather work with someone who knows when to bring another expert to the table than someone determined to prove they can solve everything themselves.

The business problem should dictate the expertise, not the other way around.

And Sometimes the Best Answer Is “Do Nothing Yet”

There is another advantage to accessing independent expertise that I do not think gets enough attention.

A good advisor does not necessarily have something to sell at the end of the recommendation.

If you are evaluating workforce technology, the answer does not have to be new technology. If you are questioning your MSP, the answer does not automatically have to be a new MSP.

Sometimes the answer is to fix the process you already have. Sometimes it is to change the operating model. And sometimes the answer really is:

Do nothing yet.

Not terribly exciting for the sales pipeline, perhaps. Pretty useful for the client.

The Goal Is Not More Consultants

This is one of the reasons I have been intrigued by the consortium model at Workforce Strategy Advisors.

The idea is not complicated.

WSA brings together experienced independent advisors and specialists across different areas of workforce strategy. Depending on the problem, one advisor may be exactly what is needed. For a more complex initiative, several specialists can collaborate and come in at different points.

The goal is not to see how many consultants we can fit around a conference table.

It is the opposite.

Use the expertise you need, when you need it.

That also means internal teams stay at the center of the work.

Most companies I know are not suffering from a shortage of smart people. Their people are already doing their actual jobs while also being asked to transform programs, implement technology, reduce costs, manage suppliers, improve outcomes, and attend the meetings required to discuss all of the above.

Sometimes outside expertise provides knowledge the organization does not have. Sometimes it provides capacity. Often, it provides both.

Maybe We Need to Change the Question

Fractional leadership gave companies another option between “hire someone” and “hire a consulting firm.”

I think the next step is to stop focusing quite so much on what kind of person or firm we should hire and focus more on what expertise the problem requires.

So instead of starting with: Do we need a full-time executive? Or: Should we hire a consultant?

Try starting here:

What are we trying to solve, what expertise do we need to solve it, and how much of that expertise do we actually need?

Sometimes the answer will be a full-time hire. Sometimes it will be a fractional executive. Sometimes it will be one experienced advisor. And sometimes it will be several people with very different expertise working together at different points along the way.

There is no reason to make the model more complicated than the problem requires.

But there is also no reason to make the problem fit the model.

Start with the problem. Then bring the right people to it.