Fractional leadership positioning is one of the most misunderstood — and most important — parts of building a successful fractional career.

If you’ve ever thought, “Once people know I’m available, the work will come,” this episode will likely explain why that hasn’t happened yet. Most of us, as women in tech, struggle here — not because we lack experience, but because we’re positioned like employees instead of fractional leaders.

And that distinction matters.

If you want to be hired — and compensated — as a fractional leader for your expertise, judgement, and strategic input, positioning is not optional. It’s foundational.

What I see again and again is incredibly capable leaders doing all the right things on paper: updating LinkedIn, telling their network they’re open to fractional work, having lots of conversations — and still not seeing traction. Not because they aren’t good enough, but because the way they’re describing themselves makes it hard for potential clients to understand why and when to bring them in.

So in this episode, we’re going to slow this down and get clear.

I’m going to walk you through why fractional leadership positioning is different from full-time job positioning, the most common mistakes I see senior leaders make when they’re transitioning into fractional work, and the mindset shift that needs to happen if you want to be hired for your judgement — not pulled into execution you didn’t sign up for.

We’ll also talk about how buyers of fractional leadership actually make decisions, what they’re listening for when they meet you, and why experience alone doesn’t translate into demand in this space.

And towards the end of the episode, I’ll give you a simple way to start pressure-testing your own positioning — not as homework, but as a reflection — so you can see where things might be unclear or working against you.

Finally, I’ll also let you know what we’re covering in next week’s episode, where we’ll go one step further and talk about how fractional leaders actually get hired — what really leads to opportunities, and what doesn’t.

So if fractional leadership is on your radar — or you’re already doing some version of it but not getting the traction, scope, or compensation you expected — this episode is for you.

Let’s get into it.

Why Fractional Leadership Positioning Breaks Down for Senior Leaders

Before we talk about how to position yourself as a fractional leader, we need to talk about why so many capable leaders struggle to get traction in the first place.

Because what I see again and again is senior women in tech doing what would normally work in a full-time job search — and then feeling confused when it doesn’t translate into fractional opportunities.

They lead with their background.

Their roles.

Their scope.

Their years of experience.

And that makes complete sense — because that’s how most of us have been taught to position ourselves professionally.

But fractional leadership doesn’t work like employment.

When an organisation hires a full-time leader, they’re buying capacity. They’re hiring someone to take ownership of a defined role, to be embedded in the system, and to execute across a wide range of responsibilities over time.

When an organisation hires a fractional leader, they’re buying something very different.

They’re buying judgement.

They’re buying perspective.

Decision-making.

Pattern recognition.

Risk reduction.

They’re bringing someone in because something isn’t working — or because they want to avoid a problem they can already see coming.

This is where fractional leadership positioning starts to matter.

If you’re describing yourself in terms of responsibilities — I ran this team, I owned this function, I delivered these outcomes — you may be very credible… but you’re still positioned like an employee.

And when you’re positioned like an employee, you tend to be hired like one.

That’s when fractional work turns into:

• being pulled into execution
  
  
• being asked to “help out”
  
  
• being under-scoped and under-paid
  
  
• or not being hired at all, because the value isn’t immediately clear
  
  

This isn’t about confidence.

It’s not about visibility.

And it’s not about having the “right” brand.

It’s about whether someone can quickly understand why they would bring you in, and what problem your presence solves.

And most people haven’t been taught how to make that legible.

Fractional Leadership Positioning: Being Hired for Judgement, Not Capacity

So if positioning yourself like an employee is part of the problem, the next question becomes: what does positioning actually mean in a fractional leadership context?

Because positioning isn’t branding.

It isn’t marketing.

And it definitely isn’t about listing more credentials.

Fractional leadership positioning is about making your leadership legible.

In other words, helping someone quickly understand why they would bring you in, what problem you help solve, and what changes because you’re there.

When organisations hire fractional leaders, they’re not looking for someone to “do a role” part-time. They’re looking for someone to come in, see clearly, and make sense of a situation faster than they can internally.

That’s why fractional leaders are hired for judgement, not capacity.

This is where many people get stuck — because they’re still describing themselves through the lens of what they’ve done, rather than how they think.

They’ll say things like:

• “I’ve led teams of X size”
  
  
• “I’ve owned this function”
  
  
• “I’ve delivered these outcomes”
  
  

All of that might be true. And it might be impressive.

But none of it answers the question a fractional buyer is really asking, which is:

“What decisions will you help us make better?”

Positioning, at this level, is about reducing cognitive load.

You’re helping the buyer quickly recognise:

• the moment they should bring you in
  
  
• the risk you help mitigate
  
  
• the clarity you bring to a messy or uncertain situation
  
  

And that’s very different from describing responsibilities.

This is also why experience alone doesn’t translate into demand.

Two people can have identical CVs — but the one who can clearly articulate why their presence matters now will be the one who gets hired.

So when we talk about fractional leadership positioning, we’re really talking about:

• clarity over completeness
  
  
• judgement over execution
  
  
• outcomes over activity
  
  

And that’s a mindset shift — not a messaging trick.

Common Fractional Leadership Positioning Mistakes That Keep Leaders Invisible

Now that we’ve clarified what fractional leadership positioning actually is, let’s talk about the most common mistakes I see senior leaders make when they’re trying to position themselves fractionally.

And I want to say this clearly before we start: these are not mistakes because people are doing something wrong. They’re mistakes because people are applying full-time employment logic to a fractional leadership context.

The first — and by far the most common — mistake is over-describing skills and under-articulating judgement.

People talk in detail about what they can do:

• the tools they’ve used
  
  
• the functions they’ve owned
  
  
• the scope they’ve covered
  
  

But they never quite land on why their presence changes the quality of decisions being made.

The second mistake is positioning yourself as extra capacity.

This often shows up in language like:

• “I can help out with…”
  
  
• “I can support the team by…”
  
  
• “I’m flexible and can jump in where needed”
  
  

Now, flexibility is not a bad thing. But when flexibility becomes the headline, you stop sounding like a leader and start sounding like a pair of spare hands.

And when that happens, you don’t get hired for leadership — you get pulled into execution.

The third mistake is describing yourself through responsibilities instead of outcomes.

Responsibilities tell someone what you were accountable for.

Outcomes tell someone what changed because you were there.

Fractional buyers care about outcomes because they’re usually hiring you in the middle of something:

• growth that’s starting to wobble
  
  
• delivery that’s losing momentum
  
  
• teams that are misaligned or stuck
  
  

If they can’t quickly see how you help shift that, they’ll keep looking.

The fourth mistake is being positioned — or positioning yourself — as the safest option.

This often sounds like:

• “I’ve seen it all”
  
  
• “I’m very experienced”
  
  
• “I know how things usually go”
  
  

Experience matters. But safety alone doesn’t create demand.

Fractional leaders are often brought in at moments of risk or uncertainty. What people want to know is not just that you’ve been there before — but how you help them move forward when things aren’t clear.

And finally, one of the quietest mistakes is this: trying to be understood by everyone.

When you position yourself broadly, you feel accessible — but you become harder to recognise.

Clarity always beats coverage in fractional leadership positioning.

If someone can’t quickly see themselves in the problem you solve, they won’t lean in — no matter how impressive your background is.

The Mindset Shift: From Doing the Work to Being Hired for Judgement

So if the earlier sections have surfaced a few uncomfortable “oh… that’s me” moments, this is where we start to shift things.

Because the real change in fractional leadership positioning doesn’t come from better wording — it comes from a mindset shift.

Specifically, the shift from doing the work to being hired for your judgement.

Most senior women in tech have built their careers by being excellent operators. You spot problems early, you step in, you stabilise things, and you make sure the work gets done.

That skill set is valuable.

But in fractional leadership, it can quietly work against you.

When you lead with doing, people engage you for execution.

When you lead with judgement, people engage you for leadership.

And that difference shows up everywhere — in the kinds of conversations you have, the scope you’re offered, and the way your value is perceived.

Fractional leaders are often brought in when something is unclear:

• a team is growing faster than its structure
  
  
• delivery is slipping and no one knows why
  
  
• priorities are competing and decisions keep stalling
  
  

In those moments, organisations don’t need more hands.

They need clear thinking.

They need someone who can:

• see patterns quickly
  
  
• name what actually matters
  
  
• make decisions with imperfect information
  
  
• and help others do the same
  
  

This is why positioning around judgement matters so much.

If you describe yourself primarily through what you do, people will ask you to do more.

If you describe yourself through how you decide, people will ask you to lead.

This is also where many women hesitate — because owning judgement can feel risky.

It can feel exposed to say, “This is the call I would make,” rather than, “Here are the options.”

It can feel safer to stay in execution than to step into visible decision-making.

But fractional leadership requires that shift.

Not because you need to be bolder — but because clarity is the value.

And when you position yourself around judgement, something interesting happens:

you start attracting clients who want leadership, not just help.

A Simple Way to Pressure-Test Your Fractional Leadership Positioning

Before we talk about how fractional leaders actually get hired — which we’ll cover in next week’s episode — I want to pause here and offer you a gentle way to pressure-test your own positioning.

This isn’t homework.

There’s nothing you need to write down.

It’s simply an invitation to notice what comes up.

Imagine someone asks you a very simple question:

“Why would we bring you in?”

Not your title.

Not your background.

Not your availability.

But why you — in this moment.

What comes out of your mouth first?

If your answer focuses on:

• what you’ve done
  
  
• the teams you’ve led
  
  
• the tools you know
  
  

That doesn’t mean you’re wrong.

But it may explain why your positioning isn’t landing.

Now ask yourself a different version of the question:

“What decisions do I help organisations make better?”

That question tends to surface something very different.

It points to:

• where you reduce risk
  
  
• where you create clarity
  
  
• where things move faster or calmer because you’re there
  
  

And this is where many people notice a gap — not because they lack value, but because they’ve never been asked to articulate it this way.

Most senior leaders have never had their fractional leadership positioning examined.

Not because they’re doing it badly — but because this transition isn’t taught. We’re expected to figure it out quietly, while still appearing confident and capable.

If, as you’re listening, you’re thinking:

• “I’m not sure how I’d answer that”
  
  
• “I can feel there’s something there, but it’s fuzzy”
  
  
• “This explains a lot”
  
  

That’s useful information.

Clarity usually comes before confidence — not the other way around.

And sometimes, the most helpful next step isn’t more effort or more visibility — it’s having a thinking space where your positioning can be reflected back to you clearly.

How Fractional Leaders Get Hired — And What to Do Next

I want to close by talking briefly about what comes next — because once you start seeing fractional leadership positioning clearly, it naturally raises the question of how opportunities actually happen.

One of the biggest misconceptions about fractional work is that it’s about being visible everywhere, saying yes to lots of conversations, or waiting for the right person to notice you.

That’s not how fractional leaders actually get hired.

What usually makes the difference is clarity — clarity about what you’re brought in for, when you’re most valuable, and how your judgement reduces risk or creates momentum for an organisation.

That’s exactly what we’re going to unpack in next week’s episode, where we’ll talk about how fractional leaders actually get hired.

We’ll look at:

• what genuinely leads to opportunities
  
  
• why most online advice doesn’t match reality
  
  
• and how fractional leaders move from “interesting conversations” to paid, well-scoped work
  
  

So if this episode helped you see why positioning matters, next week’s episode will help you see how it plays out in practice.

And before we wrap up, I also want to say this.

If, as you’ve been listening, you’ve had the sense of:

• “I know there’s something here, but I can’t quite articulate it yet”
  
  
• “This explains why my experience isn’t translating”
  
  
• “I don’t want to figure this out through trial and error”
  
  

That’s often a sign that your positioning would benefit from being reflected back to you.

This is where a strategy session can be genuinely useful — not as a sales call, but as a positioning audit.

It’s a space to look at:

• how you’re currently describing your work
  
  
• what signals that’s sending
  
  
• and where clarity would help the right opportunities recognise you faster
  
  

If that feels supportive rather than overwhelming, you can book a strategy session at

👉 tonicollis.com/lets-chat

And whether you choose to do that or not, remember this:

Fractional leadership isn’t about being louder, busier, or more visible.

It’s about being clear.

Clear about the judgement you bring.

Clear about the problems you help solve.

Clear enough that the right people know when — and why — to bring you in.