When I ran my first ever business, it failed. And statistically speaking, that’s actually more common than success!
But my second business was the exact opposite. It blew past 20 staff in the first 3 years, and quickly had a board of directors and stakeholders weighing it down.
But perhaps due to my first business experience, I never quite geared up to get the full assistance that my business probably needed. It wasn’t until I stepped down as CEO and the new CEO came in that I could see the gap. That business needed two things – a business coach, and a business manager (or as we call it in Architecture, a Practice Manager). In particular, when I was running as the executive director, I needed someone in my corner to push me to make the harder decisions with confidence (especially during periods of redundancies).
This reluctance to gear up and get the right help is something I see time and time again in Architects across Melbourne and Australia generally. And it all stems from a lack of awareness – not a lack of desire.
Small Firms Can Have a Practice Manager
So when I returned to Australia after over a decade of business in Asia, my salary expectations as a former CEO were high, and Melbourne’s local economic market was heavily depressed. Very few firms were looking for a full-scale practice manager at my price tag, and those positions that existed were already filled by the old guard.
So I chose to become what I’d always need when I was a business owner – a fractional manager. And it turns out that this is exactly what Architecture firms were looking for!
A fractional manager, fractional CFO, CTO, COO, fractional GM, or any other fractional position is where someone is too highly skilled to be employed by one business, so instead they rent our their time – often in half-day to full-day chunks – to smaller businesses who can benefit from their experience.
I’m certainly not the only fractional Practice manager out there, I’m well-acquainted with ‘My2IC’, who does the same thing for Manufacturing businesses, and a few others who specializes in large financial corporations. But for the moment at least, it does seem that I’m the only fractional practice manager for Architects in Melbourne. I do hope to see more emerge in the market as this becomes more common, as it can only benefit small firms in the 2-20 staff range.
In the first few months, the response was overwhelmingly positive as larger Architecture firm directors mentioned they wished they could have started with a fractional Practice Manager to get them through the challenging business transition. And I picked up a few lovely clients, such as Ben Callery Architects, and R Architecture who are both kicking some fantastic goals in the residential and commercial space respectively.
But enough about me. I said the problem wasn’t desire – it was awareness. So what does a fractional practice manager actually do?
A Fractional Practice Manager acts like an Extension of the Director
Really there is no one-size-fits-all answer here. Over the various Architecture firms that I’ve had the privilege of working with, one thing has proven true: they’re all totally different internally.
- Invoicing schedules are different.
- Fee proposals function differently.
- Staff management and project management run from top-down, to totally siloed, to communally shared responsibilities.
- Financials run the gamut from totally incredible to being a fairly rough ride.
- And director salaries vary from $100,000 all the way up to $450,000.
But one thing for me has always been true. Before getting a practice manager, the director had to do everything. And that means that a Fractional Practice Manager’s one and only job can be summarised as:
“Get tasks off the director’s plate”
It really is that simple.
And what that means is totally personal to each Architectural firm.
- At one firm, that meant running the staff resourcing at a granular level – assigning project tasks and distributing workloads that were getting siloed.
- At another firm, it meant doing back-office admin, book-keeping, insurance reviews, and CPD registers. What a totally different experience!
- And at another firm it means acting with the almost the exact same authority as the director – with no oversight at all. Truly just acting as a ‘pocket director’ to extend their capabilities and take the stress off.
And of course, in all of these firms, the most important part of the job has always been to take equal responsibility for the financial analysis and forecasting of the business to ensure smooth cashflow performance. That always breathes a sigh of relief into any sole-director’s life.
Rant Over. Have You Been Going Solo?
To be fair, I do prefer the income from Business Coaching, as it’s entirely divorced from my hourly inputs – allowing me to actually get paid what I’m worth. But I love maintaining 2 to 3 days of my time as a fractional practice Manager. Getting to meet staff from different businesses, cross-pollinate ideas, and keep the Melbourne Architectural industry strong is more rewarding than the coaching. And of course, it helps to keep my personal CPD up to date as well, in case I ever return to the practicing division of registration.
But regardless of whether it’s a coach, fractional manager, or something else: for you – when is the right time to get some fractional help?
That moment is when you as the director are no longer able to achieve everything you want to in a week. The moment you start putting off tasks rather than grabbing the bull by the horns – you need to be looking for an ‘extension of yourself’ – someone who can act with nearly the same authority, to allow you to break through and get back to designing beautiful Architecture.
