Wait … fractional leadership? Huh?
Wait … fractional leadership? Huh?
The term might conjure up concerns of leaders being carved into fractions. Trust me, that’s not what we’re talking about.
Rather, we’re referring to fractional access to these individuals in leadership roles.
President @ MBS, Inc.
Director of Technology @ Faith Ministries
The concept has been around for a long time
The idea behind fractional leadership is that instead of hiring a full-time employee to fill a specific leadership role, you contract that role on a part-time, or even temporary, basis to help meet the needs of the organization. Often, startup companies will use fractional leaders to help them get over the initial startup hurdles until they can afford to hire full-time managers, executives, or C-level officers.
In many ways, MBS has been providing this service for churches for decades. If a church can’t afford to hire additional IT resources, it can outsource that to us; on a fractional level, our team becomes part of the church’s team. This provides deep experience without the full-time employee cost.
As this concept has continued to gain traction, for some of our clients, their IT staff work for us, and we are able to resource them up in a leadership capacity.
You might also consider fractional leadership at a higher level
Perhaps your church or ministry is not at a point where it can afford a full-time director or C-level position, but it could afford — fractionally — to have that position for one to two hours a week. (In fact, I personally serve in this capacity for many organizations.) The benefit for the ministry is gaining the experience, knowledge, and deep skill set at minimal cost since you are only paying for the time you use.
The challenge can be implementation
While it’s great to have a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) present in a leadership meeting, if that individual is not physically present, implementing that CTO’s suggestions or strategies falls back to the ministry. In some cases, the fractional leader can also provide accountability, both onsite as needed and remotely. Remember, you are paying for time; how you use that time offers great flexibility. And even with the occasional onsite visit, the savings are still significant.
Another benefit can be consistent operations. If your fractional leader is part of a larger organization, when that person is on vacation, others can fill in, and your strategy and vision continue regardless of PTO or employee transitions.
While this concept does require a paradigm shift, for many churches and ministries, the benefits can greatly help with long-term strategies. If you currently have a great IT staff that lack leadership, this can be one way to provide them with leadership and mentoring while also adding IT strategy into the top levels of your organization.
Communication lines can also be improved between your current staff and those doing the work versus those helping lead the work. In our team’s fractional CTO relationships with churches, the biggest, most consistent challenge we face is a clear lack of strategy for technology applied to the vision of the ministry. Fractional leadership can help close that gap and save you money in the long term, even factoring in the cost of hiring a fractional leader.
Could your ministry benefit from a fractional Director of Technology?
Well, depending on your church’s size, what about a fractional Chief Technology Officer or CTO? Ministries of all sizes can benefit from greater technology leadership and strategy.
If you have more questions or are interested, please reach out to me. It’s a tremendous blessing to be able to serve the King’s church across the world, whether we are providing IT support, resourcing up existing teams, or providing leadership at higher levels.
Our goal is to help you find the resources you need, even if it’s not with us. Perhaps fractional leadership can help your organization get to the next level. Some fractional relationships last only a few months to years whereas others are more long term. The goal, however, is the same: to help churches and ministries use technology to impact the Kingdom.
Jonathan Smith is the President of MBS, Inc. and the Director of Technology at Faith Ministries in Lafayette, Ind. He is an author and frequent conference speaker. Follow him on X @JonathanESmith.
