The three ways they end
- The work is done. The function runs, somebody internal has grown into it, and the seat no longer needs this level. This is success and should be said out loud as success.
- The company changed. A raise, an acquisition, a pivot, or simply a permanent hire. Nothing went wrong.
- It was not working. Either the fit was wrong or the diagnosis was. These need to be ended quickly, and almost never are.
Ending the one that is not working
The mistake is waiting for the notice period to feel less awkward. It does not, and every month you wait costs you the rate plus the thing that is still not fixed.
The conversation is short. Name what you expected by now, name what has happened instead, and say you want to stop at the end of the notice period. An experienced operator has heard it before and would rather hear it in month two than month six. If the reason is something the company failed to supply, say that too: it is usually half the story and it will make the next engagement better.
The handover that actually matters
- Written-down decisions and the reasoning behind them, not just the outcomes. The reasoning is the part that is expensive to reconstruct.
- Anything living in their head about suppliers, contracts, renewal dates and the people they dealt with.
- Models and documents in your systems, in a format somebody else can open and edit, not exported as a PDF.
- An introduction to whoever picks it up, if there is somebody.
- A short note on what they would do next if they had stayed. This is the most valuable document of the lot and almost nobody asks for it.
Access and data
Revoke system access on the last day, not two months later. This is basic and it is the thing most often left undone, and it is the finding that turns up in your next security review.
Confidentiality continues after the engagement ends for whatever period the contract states. Intellectual property should already have assigned to you under the agreement. If your contract did not cover that, this is the point at which it becomes a problem, which is why it belongs in the document at the start.
Leave it open
A fractional executive who leaves on good terms is a person you can call for two hours in a year when something breaks in that function, and most of them will take the call. That is worth protecting, and it costs nothing more than doing the ending properly.
Several of the engagements we see start as a company coming back to somebody they used eighteen months ago.
Questions
- What notice do you have to give a fractional executive?
- Whatever the agreement says, usually thirty days either way at one or two days a week. The notice period is the reason to have the conversation early rather than a reason to delay it, because it runs from when you say something.
- What should a fractional executive hand over when they leave?
- Decisions and the reasoning behind them, anything undocumented about suppliers and contracts, models and documents in editable form inside your systems, and a short note on what they would do next. That last one is the most useful and the one least often requested.
- Can you end a fractional engagement early?
- Yes, subject to the notice in the agreement. If it is not working, ending it in month two costs you far less than letting it run to month six, and an experienced operator would rather be told early. Say what you expected, what happened instead, and when you want to stop.