Future State COO
helping small business achieve their desired future state

thoughts on

closing the gap

Future State is dedicated to providing emboldening insight on optimizing small businesses for sustainable growth. Our focus is on organizational alignment between targets and functions - closing the gap between present reality and vision, between current and future state.

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence – it is to act with yesterday’s logic.”
— Peter Drucker

The Value of a Good Right Hand: The Case for Fractional COOs 

Entrepreneurs and small business owners are often on an island, without any strategic support to help make key decisions or operationalize strategies. Sound familiar? What’s missing is a good right hand: a chief operating officer (or COO, a.k.a. second in command) who can facilitate growth for small companies and give exhausted CEOs like you room to breathe again, even roam around a little off of that isolating island.

Whether leading a team of 2 or 200, a busy CEO needs a good right hand with complementary talents. Because when the skillset of a CEO (the visionary) combines with that of a COO (the integrator), that’s when the magic happens. Or, as authors/coaches Gino Wickman and Mark Winters put it in their book Rocket Fuel, “When the dynamic duo of visionary and integrator roles work well together, it’s like rocket fuel for the organization.”

A great COO is versatile. With the ability to solve many different problems, a COO adds incredible value to any organization, big or small. 

If you’re a CEO, securing a value COO can provide: 

  • Strategic partnerships: By partnering with a COO, you’re taking yourself off the “island” and into a thriving collaborative zone, where a COO can put their complementary skills (organizational leadership, development, strategy and more) to work so you can keep your entrepreneurial creative juices flowing more freely. 

  • Different perspectives: On the “island,” there’s no one to bounce ideas around with, no one to offer alternative (and possibly, better) ideas that could take the business in brave, new directions. But with a good right hand, you have a different perspective that could take you to (as yet) undreamed-of places. 

  • Operations expertise: No one can wear every hat of a successful business. Oftentimes, the visionary’s big, creative ideas can be stunted by trying to learn about and manage a company’s day-to-day operations. A COO, however, is going to know how it all works. From marketing a product and managing people to executing ideas, a COO ensures productivity, efficiency, and profitability by focusing on structure, processes, and systems. 

  • Saved time and money: A COO makes the whole operation an efficient one, which saves everyone time and money. With all employees and processes in place, the company can run on maximum productivity at the lowest possible cost. Only a person with this know-how and focus can ensure the workflow is on-point and that the business is a well-oiled (and profitable) machine. 

Can’t afford a COO?

Not all businesses have the means to pay a six-figure executive salary to a high-valued COO, and that’s where a  Fractional COO (F-COO) comes in. Companies that need an affordable, low-risk/high-return option can turn to an F-COO, who can facilitate growth for small companies by coming aboard to take a load off the CEO at a fraction of the price of a traditional COO. 

While CEOs are typically overwhelmed from wearing every hat in the business, a contract F-COO can help strike a balance, managing day-to-day details of the business while the CEO focuses on the big picture. Together, their combined talents can achieve organizational goals, increase strategic advantages, drive growth for the company, and, most importantly, give you a bit of a brain break—all at a cost that’s affordable. Since they’re contracted, F-COOs are also as temporary as you’d like them to be. 

With less headache for small business owners and entrepreneurs, there’s room to abandon the island, play around more, dream big again, and achieve your desired future state. Don’t get bogged down with the details that don’t excite you when there’s an F-COO out there who thrives on taking care of the day-to-day stuff and, ultimately, you.

Chad G - FSC