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When you’re working as a Fractional Executive, the primary model I recommend is the Extended Model which I call Portfolio Executive.
This is when you have a part-time, long-term relationship with a client, focused on taking responsibility for a particular capability—acting as the Head of, or Director of, a function for that client.
Low Intensity, High Value
Typically, you’ll start the relationship one day a week for a short period, perhaps three months, and then reduce it to two or three days a month. You’re building long-term capability development around that function for the client. You’re also engaging as a trusted advisor to the CEO or another senior executive team member.
The great advantage of this model is that you can feel part of something. You have a long-term relationship, so you don’t need to keep finding new clients. You can develop a deep understanding of that client over time, and you become more valuable as you better understand their customers, teams, suppliers, and the market in which they operate.
Access to Board Opportunities
Often, the quality of that relationship enables you to attend executive team meetings—and sometimes even graduate to board meetings.
It’s incredible how many different professional roles can work within this model—whether it’s a Finance Director, a Chief Revenue Officer, or even more specialised roles like Head of AI Development, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, or Head of Program Management.
Many organisations are genuinely seeking long-term support to build a function, and they value extended engagement of four to six years. Often, the only reason the relationship ends is a significant transition: a trade sale, the CEO retiring, or the company scaling to the point where it needs a full-time person.
I always encourage the portfolio executives I work with to explore whether the Extended Model is right for them—and to treat it as their preferred model.
Other Options to Come!
But there’s a whole series of other models I’ll be exploring in the coming weeks. These models can make sense for portfolio executives and bring all the benefits of a portfolio relationship—but in different forms.
Charles McLachlan is the founder of FuturePerfect and on a mission to transform the future of work and business. The Portfolio Executive programme is a new initiative to help executives build a sustainable and impactful second-half-career. Creating an alternative future takes imagination, design, organisation and many other thinking skills. Charles is happy to lend them to you.