A fractional executive assistant handles your admin on a remote, part-time basis. In short, they can streamline your administrative workload and boost your productivity without the price tag of a full-time hire.
Be honest: have you felt like you’re underperforming as a leader?
You know the results you’re capable of, but you can never quite find the time to do the high-level work it takes to get the big wins.
If this sounds familiar, here’s the good news: You don’t have a competence issue, you have a capacity issue. In fact, one of the top causes of executive burnout is a workload beyond your capacity.
And this article will reveal your new secret weapon: a fractional executive assistant.
We’ll lay out how to optimize your time, boost your productivity, and drive results. And exactly how a fractional EA will help you do so—and in just a handful of hours per week!
First up, let’s answer a common question: “What is a fractional executive assistant?”
What Is A Fractional Executive Assistant?
A fractional executive assistant handles a leader’s admin load on a remote, part-time basis. You only pay for the hours you need. And typically, 2–4 hours per day is enough for a fractional EA to radically shift an executive’s working life.
A key point is to remember that fractional doesn’t mean short-term.
The best working relationships for execs and fractional EAs are long-term and trust-based. Fractional simply means productive hours for just the time you need.
Who Uses Fractional Executive Assistants?
Next, fractional executive assistants aren’t just for C-suite leaders. They work for everyone from VPs to those at the director level (and more).
The bottom line: a fractional assistant can be the silver bullet for any leader who wants out of the weeds.
As business strategy master Michael E. Porter said, “Time is the scarcest resource leaders have. Where they allocate it matters—a lot.”
Your job is to drive growth, not manage an overflowing inbox, coordinate complex schedules, or knock through the never-ending list of admin tasks.
Delegate those functions and your effectiveness will dramatically improve.
Read more: Why Choose A Fractional Executive Assistant Over A Full-Time Hire?
What Do Fractional Executive Assistants Do?
A fractional executive assistant can:
- Manage your email inbox
- Schedule meetings and manage your calendar
- Expense reporting
- Take meeting notes
- Follow up with key clients and critical tasks
You’ll see productivity gains from day one because an effective fractional executive assistant removes administrative tasks and saves you big in recruiting and management costs.
That means you can stop sending emails from your kid’s soccer game such as: “Bill, how does next Thursday at 1pm work to discuss?”
Then you return to the office only to realize you forgot Bill is EST rather than PST, requiring a follow-up email to start the scheduling cycle all over again.
A fractional executive assistant lives and breathes details. Your job isn’t to sift through email, arrange travel, or catch up on the expense reports you’ve put off. These tasks are killing your productivity, stealing your time, and draining your energy.
In fact, a fractional executive assistant can increase your productivity by 15-20%.
5 Marks Of A Highly Productive Fractional Executive Assistant
When you start evaluating your options, look for the four pillars of a productive working relationship: deep skills and experience, chemistry fit, passion for service, time-management mastery, and training in cutting-edge AI tech.
Here’s a breakdown of each mark plus language you can use to ask the right questions when considering your options.
1. Skills And Experience
First, how much experience do they have in both your industry and with a similar leader?
Inexperience will slow you down. At Boldly, our team averages 7–10 years of experience in industries ranging from fintech to M&A.
Ask about tenure, industry, and the leaders whom the fractional EA has (or currently) worked with.
How to ask the question: “How much experience do your EAs have, and in what industries?”
2. Chemistry Fit
Next, chemistry counts. Teams fall below their potential when differing work approaches aren’t taken into consideration. You should expect to meet your potential assistant before working with them, giving both sides a chance to test fit.
You can also ask if they’ve taken tests like Clifton StrengthsFinder, DiSC, or Myers-Briggs to get a snapshot of how they’re wired.
How to ask the question: “How can we make sure we’re a chemistry fit out of the gate? And what happens if we don’t click?”
3. Passion For Service
A close cousin to chemistry is a passion for service. Put simply: you want someone who cares.
Underlying this trait is often the culture of the company they work for. If that culture is lackluster, they’ll be hard-pressed to bring the passion, attitude, and executional polish you want in someone who will represent you and your company.
How to ask the question: “Can you share an example where your EAs went above and beyond to ensure their client’s success?”
4. Time-Management Mastery
Next, elite fractional EAs are masters of time management.
Researchers from the University of California Irvine found that internal employees are interrupted every 3 minutes. From inner-office politics to coffee break conversations, full-time hires often have hours of “fluff” each week.
Fractional remote executive assistants are removed from these time bandits, able to be “on it” for 100% of their working hours. This gives you more productive output at a fraction of the cost.
How to ask the question: “What’s the best way to gauge their productive output in the beginning? And what can I expect?”
5. Trained in Cutting-Edge Productivity Tech (Like AI Tools)
The explosion of AI tech offers incredible potential for productivity. When used correctly, they free people to do the key stuff that mandates a human touch.
The core issue with this tech is it isn’t self-evident to use. To get the best out of tools like ChatGPT means understanding prompts, translating requirements into clear directions the robots can understand, and simply knowing which tools play well together.
With endless tech options promising the stars, you don’t have time to see which ones can actually deliver. Rockstar fractional EAs actively assess and test today’s constellation of AI tools.
The real benefit to you? You get an EA who has an EA!
How to ask the question: “How familiar are your EAs with new productivity tools and using AI to work more effectively?”
Finding Your Long-Term Fit
High-level fractional executive assistants often work with companies that specialize in serving senior leaders. Working with a premium subscription staffing company guarantees a shortcut to hiring the best talent available. This dramatically reduces recruiting costs and managerial burden.
You want a fractional executive assistant who’ll work with you for the long term.
Ask how long they’ve been with their current company and how long team members usually stay. You don’t want a revolving door. (Our team averages over three years.)
Beyond the individual, the subscription staffing model is key. With the right structure, you’ll always have well-informed support staff who can play back up when you need it. This way, you’re never without the help you need.
We pioneered this model, supporting thousands of senior executives with the top 1% of fractional executive assistants.
