If administrative or financial burdens are blocking your path to growth, it may be time to optimize. Daily operations are what make an organization flourish or falter over time. A slight shift in daily focus happens far too often within any business or organization. Many find their duties shift from the mission of your organization to staying afloat long enough to get back on track. It could be beneficial to consider what unseen roadblocks could be holding your healthcare practice or nonprofit back from reaching its potential. You deserve functionality, return on investment, and time for what truly matters. Hiring a Fractional COO arranges your healthcare practice or nonprofit for significant growth.
How a Fractional COO Supports Healthcare Practices and Nonprofits
A successful business requires countless hours of strategic planning and effective execution. Healthcare practices and nonprofit organizations are no different. Many teams within these organizations struggle to place their focus solely upon clients in need. They must juggle business and environment aspects, create programs to collect donors, and ensure fast-acting and quality care. Whether an organization works to benefit public health, education, or the environment, it must operate purposefully and efficiently. Hiring a Fractional COO offers healthcare practices and nonprofits the opportunity to provide their best services without overcompensating.
Why You Need a Fractional COO
A Fractional COO offers organizations that struggle with a variety of issues such as time, structure, and proper budgeting to reach their intended growth goals. A Fractional COO will uncover weak points and missing opportunities to reintroduce them to the organization with executive professionalism. Nonprofits and health centers who grapple with limited income or donations will benefit from a Fractional COO’s assistance at nearly half the price of a full-time executive.
Why and when should you hire a Fractional COO? No matter the organization, there will be struggles on occasion. However, if you notice your organization has noticeable weak points or your staff is under significant pressure, it could be a sign that a Fractional COO should step in.
In order to gain clarity about your organization, consider listing the main setbacks you personally notice. Oftentimes, particular setbacks can create a snowball effect of additional errors that go unnoticed. Below is a list of common examples of issues that can go unaddressed due to varying priorities or budgets and could be addressed with the addition of a COO.
Challenges typically found in healthcare systems include but, are not limited to:
- Front-desk intake and check-in processes
- Inconsistencies in admin onboarding procedures
- Administrative difficulties
- Unreliable financial models
- Upgrading paths to better access healthcare
- General task management
- Staff scheduling and PTO
- Patient retention
- Provider and administrative burnout
- Patient scheduling and no-shows
- Compliance issues
These same challenges are addressed for nonprofits, but a Fractional COO will support other unique aspects:
- Inconsistent program evaluations
- Volunteer and staff cooperation
- Donor lifecycle reports
- Vendor accountability management
- Tech advancements
- Handling nonprofit competition
- Acquiring donors
- Predicting and executing impact
- Limited staffing
- Strategic planning
- Communication bottlenecks
Real-World Limitations for Healthcare Practices and Nonprofits
To illustrate the real challenges faced by nonprofits and healthcare organizations, consider the following composite scenarios. These examples outline common operational roadblocks, but individual outcomes vary depending on specific implementation and resources:
Healthcare
A mid-sized health center of ten years has an operating budget of $3 million annually. The fulltime staff for the entire center consists of 25 individuals spread across clinical providers, supporting clinical staff, front desk and administration, and executive leadership and facilities.
In-Depth Departmental Management:
Documentation in multiple departments is often lacking, resulting in additional workloads and miscommunication. Vendor management is low, causing a number of delays and sometimes unstocked items.
Staffing Organization:
Sick days are difficult to manage and affect daily operations. There is a high-pressure atmosphere on their busiest days and a risk that a staff member could put in their two weeks at any time. Without proper staffing, this health center cannot admit many new patients, limiting their ability to increase their income and help more patients in need.
Administrational Support:
Because of this atmosphere and staffing structure, the executive director places between 70% to 85% of their focus on administrative matters and communication bottlenecks instead of patient care or clinical operations. These few elements may cause the practice to lose their footing and struggle to reach just over their 3 million annual budget to further their growth and influx of patients.
Nonprofit Organizations
Nonprofits face similar challenges to healthcare centers. However, they address other unique setbacks that many businesses and other organizations do not. In another scenario, an environmental nonprofit organization recently increased their staff to 30 people and set a goal to obtain a budget of 4.5 to 5 million for the year.
Program Management:
The program staff and fundraising staff experience frequent misalignment on grant deliverable deadlines. Their spending reports are often late or last minute affairs, potentially wearing the trust of vendors. Grant spending can often be outlined to the fundraising team, yet they fail to deliver these same regulations to the project and program staff. This results in spending in the wrong places and a lack of funds for other aspects for the support of the organization.
Role Clarity and Staff Capacity:
Not every department within the organization is fully developed and organized under particular staffing. They also lose many of their trained staff and interns to higher paying organizations or companies. Because of this, paid staff or low-trained volunteers must pick up the slack in cycles to educate the community, give speeches, and contribute to environmental protection projects. In general, they assign many roles to a few people, and overestimate the team capacity.
Donor and Community Connection:
The organization also lacks updated methods of advertising online, relies upon few variations of fundraising strategies, and is connected with only a handful of communities for support, collaboration through networking, and extra volunteer work. The organization risks the possibility of losing funds and may be forced to cut out two or more departments over the next few years.
Results of Hiring a Fractional COO: Composite Scenarios
Companies and organizations who hire a Fractional COO significantly decrease administrative and departmental obstacles. They discover their foundation has a greater capacity to obtain financial stability, time efficiency, and proper support for departments. Within the nonprofit and healthcare center composite scenarios, WGB Enterprises can help stabilize these establishments in several distinct ways:
Healthcare Practice:
- Reviewing vendor and software agreements to enable the practice utilizes all its tools such as appointment reminder automations and task listings.
- Standardizing a front-desk onboarding manual to stabilize new hires.
- Implementing daily 10-minute meetings and weekly admin syncs for better task management.
- Eliminating communication gaps between frontline employees and providers.
- Addressing staff scheduling, cross-training, and PTO/sick-day coverage.
- Implementing additional needed software or organizational apps and approaches for technological issues.
- Creating a plan for an updated website with easy scheduling for patients.
- Managing tasks and goals for a team of 25 individuals to spread the load evenly and effectively.
The outcome for a practice like this? The executive director receives an additional 15 to 20 hours each week for provider training and patient care focus. Staff turnover will decrease because scheduling is repaired and the front-office receives tools they require for proper function. This healthcare center’s issues can be addressed and shaped into a system that allows room for improved thinking and organizational habits for greater potential. Because the staff is able to primarily focus upon patient care and everyday workflow, the practice will have an increased capability for important growth milestones.
Now compare that to what you might see at a nonprofit organization.
Nonprofit Organization:
- Focusing on communication bottlenecks and impactful planning to meet grant deliverable deadlines.
- Unifying project staff under a management system such as Asana, ClickUp, and Monday.com.
- Reestablishing and clarifying roles for a staff of 30 individuals (employee and volunteer/interns) under a chart like RACI matrix.
- Training on how to effectively gain donors and grants through creative and multifaceted advertising approaches.
- Assistance in holding third-party billing agencies, software vendors, or IT support accountable to their contracts.
- Reinforcing the habit of networking and connecting with many communities for donations, collaboration, programs, volunteer work, and educational opportunities.
By changing a few key elements of this organization’s workplace, they are able to achieve their donor goals, educate more communities, and plan better funded programs and internships. This well-supported system will gain a better chance of prominence, support, and steady growth over time.
What a Fractional COO Actually Does and Does Not Offer
What we do offer:
- Workflow blueprints
- Structuring teams
- Cross-training
- Implementing accountability
- Software upgrading
- System and vendor management
What we do not offer:
- Medical billing
- Coding and credentialing
- Legal or tax filings
What Clients Receive:
- Documented SOPs
- Updated cross-training methods and onboarding instructions
- A plan for weekly operations meetings and accountability tracking
- Implementation of vendor review reports and digital platforms
How We Support Growing Organizations
WG Business Enterprises works tirelessly to ensure organizations grow without feeling the growing pains. Our Fractional COO services offers high-quality services, advice, and planning within the following framework:
Week 1-2: Operational Diagnostic Review:
- Combine team communication and workflow mapping.
- Review scheduling and digital infrastructure to determine how your organization is flourishing and lacking.
- Create enhancement plans to upgrade functional operations.
- For nonprofits, enhance fundraising infrastructure, mission program delivery, community referral systems, and volunteer management.
Week 3-4: SOP and Mission Construction:
- Create a 90-day operational outline and reestablish priorities.
- SOP management in multiple departments
- Enhance donor/grant management.
- Assist with patient intake cycles and communication outlook.
Week 5: System Implementation and Involved Leadership:
- Evaluate and enhance SOP documentation and cross-training administration.
- Implement organized workflow and scheduling.
- Consolidate vendors and pinpoint donors and communities for connection.
Month 3-4: Introducing and Building Capacity:
- Train leaders and introduce advanced automated systems.
- Offer tools for time management and staff confidence in assigned departments.
Should You Consider a Fractional COO?
Do you feel your healthcare practice or nonprofit organization needs the assistance of a Fractional COO? If you can relate to any of the questions below, it would be a benefit to your organization to consider a fractional, affordable aid:
- Are members of your staff playing several roles, taking on unintended responsibilities?
- Is your workflow or employee/volunteer morale shifting downward unexpectedly?
- Do you have issues holding third-parties accountable?
- Do you require an executive of operations but lack the budget to support a 200K salary or a moderate salary for an extended period?
Next Steps Toward Supporting Your Organization or Practice
Sustained success through proper planning and deepened knowledge awaits. Though countless organizations have setbacks, we understand their intentions are geared toward purpose, growth, and patient or donor retention. Our business can ensure your focus is directed to the best and most effective pathways possible to guarantee you are pursuing your mission.
Ready to optimize your nonprofit or healthcare practice?
- Message us for a Free Consultation Call today, or schedule directly on here.
- Rate your operations with our Free Business Assessment.
- Explore our professional Fractional COO Services.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can a Fractional COO replace an office manager or executive administrator?
No, but a COO trains, organizes, and empowers admin staff while building off of current operational systems.
2. Does a Fractional COO work with medical billing, insurance claims, or credentialing for any organization?
Our COO offers businesses, healthcare, and nonprofits restructuring by improving workflows, vendor communication, and oversight to help administrative staff handle their billing partner tracking.
3. What are the differences between a business consultant and a Fractional COO?
Business consultants offer their recommendations for improvement and leave. Fractional COO’s insert themselves with a staff to successfully execute systems and processes.
4. What scale or profit level makes sense for a practice or nonprofit to hire a Fractional COO?
A team size between 10 and 50 employees and/or where informal management struggles and a $200k+ full-time executive is not affordable.
Free Business Resources & E-Books
Free Guide to SMART Goals for Businesses
Free Guide to Optimizing Your Business
Free Guide to Quarterly Checkpoints