Fractional COO | Operational Transformation
Embedding the leadership structure,
governance and operational discipline scaling SMEs require to grow or prepare for exit.
20+ years operational leadership experience across global corporates and scaling SMEs, including senior roles at General Electric
Does This Sound Familiar?
You’ve built a successful, fast-growing business. But growth has created operational complexity.
Leadership roles are unclear.
Processes are inconsistent.
Decisions still come back to you.
Instead of focusing on strategy, you’re pulled into operational firefighting.
How do we build a business that can scale without relying on the founder?
This is the stage where experienced operational leadership becomes critical.
How a Fractional COO Engagement Works
A Fractional COO provides experienced operational leadership embedded within your business on a part-time basis aligned to the stage and needs of the company.
Rather than advising from the sidelines, I work alongside founders and leadership teams to design and implement the operational structure required for sustainable growth.
Most engagements involve:
Fractional engagements are typically structured as a monthly retainer aligned to the level of involvement required.
Many clients engage me during periods of rapid growth, organisational transition or investment preparation, when operational complexity begins to constrain scale.
The result is a business that operates with greater clarity, accountability and operational discipline, enabling founders to focus on strategy rather than operational firefighting.
Explore whether a Fractional COO is right for your business
Operational Maturity: The Path to Scalable Growth
Most growing businesses move through a series of operational maturity stages.
In the early stages, growth is driven primarily by founder energy and informal decision-making. As organisations expand, stronger leadership structure, governance and operational discipline become essential.
My role as a Fractional COO is to help businesses transition from founder-led operations to structured, scalable growth.
Selected Transformation Engagements
Rawwater Applied Technology
Engineering SME |
Fractional COO Engagement
Situation: A high-growth engineering business required stronger operational foundations so the MD could focus on strategy over day-to-day operations.
Intervention: Embedded operational discipline across the organisation, implementing performance management, project tollgates, risk and capacity frameworks, and redesigning the leadership structure with clear roles and succession pathways.
Outcome: Created a scalable operating platform that enabled leadership to focus on strategic growth and positioned the business to significantly increase revenues by 2027.
Baba+Boo
Consumer Brand |
Operational Transformation
Situation: Rapid growth had outpaced the operational structure required to scale effectively, putting growth at risk at a critical point.
Intervention: Established a clear operational strategy, recruited key leadership capability, introduced capacity planning and risk frameworks, and implemented governance policies and process improvements across the organisation.
Outcome: The strengthened operational infrastructure and leadership capacity supported a period of intense growth in which revenues doubled year-on-year.
GE Capital Fleet Services
Financial Services |
Operations Restructure
Situation: Service performance was declining while operational costs were increasing across a large customer operations function.
Intervention: Redesigned the core operating structure, introduced performance metrics and accountability frameworks, and led an in-depth restructuring programme across a 100+ employee team spanning multiple operational areas.
Outcome: Delivered 10% headcount reduction without any impact on performance, 100% client retention and achieved 20% efficiency savings versus budget.
What Clients Say
Holly set our business up for the next stage of growth...
Holly has been a brilliant help setting us up for growth and success. Holly has implemented structures and processes which we are taking forward into the next stage of business, graduating past fractional into a full time role.
Highly recommend!
Kat Lennox
MD, Rawwater Applied Technology
Holly completely steadied the ship...
I honestly don’t know how I would still have a business if it wasn’t for Holly. Within months Holly transformed how the business operated. She brought clarity, structure and leadership at a time when we desperately needed it.
Eve Bell
Founder & CEO, Baba+Boo
An exceptional operational leader...
Holly possesses a rare ability to navigate complex challenges with ease, and her strategic insights and methodical approach were instrumental in streamlining operational processes, resulting in increased efficiency and overall performance. She is also wonderful to work with – she has a style of leadership that fosters a collaborative and positive work environment.
Polly Gray
Datavant, Director of Talent Acceleration
Holly drives exceptional performance in teams...
Holly has an innate ability to drive exceptional results. She uses metrics, data and strong leadership to continually improve processes and outcomes while building high-performing teams.
David Viney
Genpact, VP - F&A Operations
Explore whether a Fractional COO is right for your business
If operational complexity is beginning to constrain growth, a short introductory conversation is the best place to start.