Most companies come to me at one of four points: they have no HR function, they have one that is not working, they need executive people leadership without adding an executive, or they need someone to build the team that will eventually replace me.
Engagements often move between these. That is normal.
Four ways this usually starts.
Fractional CHRO
Executive people leadership without the headcount. I sit with your leadership team and your board. Workforce planning, total rewards strategy, org design, and the judgment calls a founder should not be making alone at 11pm. This is the right fit when people decisions have outgrown whoever is currently absorbing them, but the volume does not yet justify a full-time chief people officer. Typically includes: executive and board partnership, workforce and headcount planning, compensation philosophy and structure, leadership coaching, escalation on the decisions that carry real risk.
Build the function
For companies where HR is currently an office manager and a spreadsheet.
We start with what actually exists, then design what should. Job architecture before job titles. Comp bands before offers go out. A compliance foundation before a state agency finds the gap for you.
This is the right fit at somewhere between 30 and 150 employees, or earlier if you have gone multi-state, raised, or acquired.
Typically includes: org design and role definition, compensation architecture, HRIS selection and implementation, multi-state compliance foundation, policy set, onboarding and performance frameworks.
Restructure the function
For companies where HR exists but is not working.
Usually the team was built for a company that no longer exists. It grew by hiring for whatever hurt most that quarter, and now the shape is wrong. Sometimes the problem is capability. Sometimes it is structure. Often it is that nobody has told anyone the truth.
I run the diagnostic, redesign the team, and give you an honest read on who can grow into the new shape and who cannot. Then I help you have those conversations properly.
Typically includes: function diagnostic, capability mapping, team redesign, leveling and redeployment, transition planning, and support through the difficult conversations.
Build the bench
The handoff.
Fractional leadership that creates dependency is a failure. I hire and coach the internal team that takes over when I leave, and I do not consider the work finished until someone on your payroll can run it without me.
This runs alongside the other three rather than after them.
Typically includes: hiring the internal HR lead, coaching and capability building, documentation and process handover, a defined exit.
How engagements work.
I take a small number of clients at a time. Fractional leadership done properly is not advisory work, so I am in your business, in your leadership meetings, and accountable for outcomes.
Most engagements run three to twelve months. Some become ongoing at a lighter cadence. All of them are built toward the point where you do not need me.
Every engagement starts the same way: a conversation about what you are actually dealing with, and an honest answer about whether I am the right fit.
Let's talk about what you are actually dealing with.
No pitch deck. Just a conversation about whether this is the right fit.