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Talent on demand when the moment will not wait

In the next several years the booming demand for ‘fractional executives’ is going to accelerate around the world.

Sheffield Haworth is positioned to lead the way for clients. Here’s why.

Not too long ago I met with an Australian client to discuss its plans for the next several years. Central to those plans were the founder’s negotiations to merge the company with a larger one even as he looked toward retirement. The financial and regulatory issues at stake were enormous.

“I keep hearing about your interim-executive network,” he told me. “How do I tap into that?”

Naturally I was happy to talk about one of the fastest-growing parts of our business—around the world but especially in North America and Western Europe.

There are multiple reasons why senior roles—C-suite jobs and SVPs—are increasingly filled by what are sometimes referred to as “fractional executives”. One reason is that the Covid pandemic accelerated organizations’ comfort with nontraditional talent strategies. They are more accommodating to expectations of flexibility and to having members of their senior team working remotely. Engaging experienced talent for a project-limited term feels plausible in ways it may not have just a few years ago.
Even before the pandemic the trend toward what has been called “talent on demand” in the senior reaches of a management team was gathering steam. It will continue to gather steam well past the end of our pandemic era.

Read more, here.