How to hire your first operator

The person who runs the day-to-day systems so the work moves without you.

Not a manager in the usual sense. A manager supervises people doing work that’s already defined. Your first operator usually has to define it: write the processes down, set the owners, pick the tools, set the weekly numbers, and then run it. They build the machine and keep it running.

The title varies: operations manager, head of operations, general manager, COO. What matters is the job. If the person’s first months are spent building how the business runs, you’re hiring an operator, whatever you call the role.

When everything still runs through you, and your time is needed somewhere else.

• Decisions queue on your desk.

  The team waits for you to answer.

• Delivery breaks when you step away.

  A week off means a week of problems.

• Growth is stalled by operations, not demand.

  You could sell more, but the business can’t deliver more.

• You’re the one who should be selling.

  Sales and key customers need the owner’s time, and operations is eating it.

Someone who has run the work, works inside your business, and commits to a first deliverable and a date.

1. 01

   They’ve run the work, not just advised on it.

   Ask what they built and ran themselves, and what still runs without them.

2. 02

   They work inside your tools and your team.

   Not a parallel system, and not a report delivered from the outside.

3. 03

   They understand sales as well as operations.

   Promises made to customers land on operations. The best operators can bridge the two and keep both sides working together.

4. 04

   They name the first process they’ll build, and when.

   Specifics, not a discovery phase with no end date.

5. 05

   They agree a scope before they start.

   What’s being built, what done looks like, and by when.

Hire when the seat is needed every day and the systems exist. Bring in a partner when the systems need building first.

• Full-time hire

  Makes sense whenThe business can support a senior salary, the work is ongoing, and the processes are mostly built.

  Watch out forHiring into chaos: the new person spends a year building what should already exist.

• Execution partner

  Makes sense whenThe work is more than you can do but not yet a full-time role, or the systems need building before anyone can run them.

  Watch out forA partner who advises but doesn’t build. You want someone who leaves the process running.

• Partner first, then hire

  Makes sense whenYou want the systems built now and a full-time person to run them later.

  Watch out forPlan the handover from the start, so the partner trains the hire.

Many owners do the third: a partner builds the systems for a written scope and a set price, then a full-time operator runs them. For the full comparison of the two seats, see integrator vs fractional COO.

Ask them to name the first process they’d rebuild and how long it would take. If they can’t, keep looking.

• Good answer:

  a specific process from what they’ve heard, the first deliverable, and a date. “Order intake to delivery. A written process, an owner and a weekly report, in four weeks.”

• Weak answer:

  “I’d need to do a full assessment first,” with no end date, or a framework that sounds the same for every business.

Follow up with: “Tell me about something you built that still runs without you.” The answer shows whether they build systems or become the system.

If they hand you a plan and leave, keep looking.

• Only advisory experience.

  Great at diagnosis, never owned the outcome.

• Wants to replace all your tools first.

  Usually a sign of building their system, not fixing yours.

• No first deliverable or date.

  Open-ended work stays open.

• Becomes the bottleneck.

  Everything starts running through them instead of you.

Start with how the work gets done. Name the first deliverable and the date. Leave the process running.

1. 01

   Weeks 1 to 4: learn and map.

   Watch the work, list what still runs through you, and agree the first three things to build.

2. 02

   Weeks 5 to 8: build the first process.

   Written down, owned, and running, with a number that shows it’s working.

3. 03

   Weeks 9 to 12: set the rhythm.

   A weekly meeting where owners report their numbers, and the next processes in line.

By day 90 you should be able to step away from at least one part of the business without it stopping. If you can’t, talk about it early. Our guide on how to find a fractional COO has more questions to use when you vet anyone for this seat.

Write down the one process or system that’s stuck. Decide whether you need someone in the seat every day, or someone to build the systems first. Then find someone who has done the work before.

If it’s the building that’s needed first, that’s what our fractional COO services do: we build the processes, owners and weekly rhythm in your business and hand them over running, often to the operator you hire next.

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