# 31 Claude Skills for Fractional Leaders, From the First Retainer to the Renewal 31 Claude skills for running a fractional engagement from the first retainer to the renewal, and several at once: the charter, the first 30 days, the week across clients, the board page, scope changes and the handover. - Page: https://lantern.meet-polar-bear.com/skills/fractional-leaders-pack - Download: https://lantern.meet-polar-bear.com/skills/fractional-leaders-pack.zip - Source: https://github.com/polar-bear-org/claude-skills/tree/main/packs/fractional-leaders-pack - Price: free ## Install in Claude Code ``` /plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills /plugin install fractional-leaders-pack@polar-bear-skills ``` ## The 31 skills you get The set follows one engagement in seven stages: positioning the role, shaping and pricing the engagement, the first 30 days, running the week across clients, reporting, stakeholders and decisions, then renewing, expanding and handing over. ### 1 · Position the role - **Fractional Positioning Statement** — use when: People like you and still cannot say what a fractional leader in your function does. Output: What the company could do instead, your capabilities with proof, who cares most, one line a contact can repeat. - **Fractional or Full-Time Brief** — use when: The CEO asks "why not just hire someone full time?". Output: One neutral page for the CEO with six options on the CEO's own criteria, what would change the choice, open facts. - **AI Objection Answer** — use when: The CEO says "now that AI does half of this, do we still need two days a week?". Output: Their exact words, what is true in them, what the seat gives with proof, an offer to show how you work, your reply. ### 2 · Shape and price the engagement - **Engagement Discovery Questions** — use when: The scoping call ends with "send me a proposal" and you still do not know the outcome or who decides. Output: One-page question guide for the scoping call, a "listen for" column, a blank answer grid, gaps to follow up. - **Good-Better-Best Engagement Options** — use when: You sent one monthly figure and got a yes or a no, mostly a no. Output: Three real shapes of the seat by outcome, days and decision rights, what each leaves out, a decoy check. - **Fractional Pricing Models** — use when: You price by the hour and every faster week earns you less. Output: Six fee models side by side, who carries the overrun, what AI speed does to each, the overflow rule, your pick. - **Retainer Conversation Prep** — use when: The fee call is tomorrow and you know you will offer money off before anyone asks. Output: Your number, your floor, your real alternative, the CEO's interests, your first two sentences, your trades. - **Fractional Statement of Work** — use when: The fee is agreed and you can already hear "can you also". Output: The signed baseline with outcome, days, deliverables and acceptance, exclusions, overflow rule, exit triggers, adviser list. ### 3 · The first 30 days - **Engagement Charter** — use when: You were hired to lead and every decision still goes back to the founder. Output: One working page with the outcome, when your days fall, three decision-rights lists, response times, review dates. - **Fractional Onboarding Checklist** — use when: Week two and you are still waiting for logins and nobody told the team who you are. Output: The request list before day one with documents, access, introductions, the announcement, rhythm, first deliverable. - **Stakeholder Map** — use when: You know the CEO well and nobody else, and the work depends on four other people. Output: People by role in the work, what each has said they need, two-way dependencies, unknowns turned into questions. - **First 30 Days Diagnostic** — use when: Day 30 is near and you have a notebook of impressions instead of an assessment. Output: Diagnostic questions, interview guide, evidence log, a written assessment, ranked initiatives, the day-30 readout. - **90-Day Plan** — use when: Month three is still discovery and nobody can say what was promised. Output: Three objectives at most with measure, baseline and targets the CEO sets, a phased workplan, the day-90 decision. ### 4 · Run the week across clients - **Client Capacity Plan** — use when: Four clients fit the calendar and still do not fit the week. Output: Contracted days against focused days, time counted once, the gap, the options, a monthly ledger. - **Week Plan Across Clients** — use when: You switch between three companies before lunch and finish none of the thinking. Output: A week template by client day or half-day, focus blocks, one triage slot, the version clients see. - **Client Log** — use when: Every Tuesday starts with twenty minutes of remembering what you promised whom. Output: One running log per client with decisions, commitments, open asks, days used, and a "where we left off" page. - **Weekly Review Across Clients** — use when: Friday arrives and you cannot say which client got more than they pay for. Output: Expected against actual per client, days used against agreed, one thing to drop or renegotiate, next week's list. ### 5 · Report - **Weekly CEO Update** — use when: Your update is a list of meetings and the CEO still asks what you did. Output: Bottom line first, results against the plan, status as it is, decisions needed with a date, scope asks. - **Monthly Value Report** — use when: The renewal is two months away and you have no page that shows what the seat changed. Output: Agreed against delivered, the short scoreboard with sources, days used, scope changes, what stays open. - **Board Update** — use when: The CEO asks for "a few slides for the board" by Thursday. Output: One page in six fixed blocks, stable definitions in footnotes, an appendix, the asks owned by the CEO. - **Early Warning Note** — use when: A target will be missed and you are tempted to wait for the monthly report. Output: What changed, the evidence, known against unknown, the implication, options with their cost, the ask and its date. ### 6 · Stakeholders and decisions - **Team Interface Agreement** — use when: Work stops on the days you are with another client. Output: One page with the complete request, who decides without you, response window, urgent route, a one-cycle trial. - **Relationship Repair Plan** — use when: A commitment between you and a peer was missed and the work has gone cold. Output: Facts against accounts, a short acknowledgment, remedies in your authority, one prevention change, a follow-up. - **Decision Brief** — use when: The leadership team has discussed the same question three times and nobody has framed it. Output: The question around an outcome, the owner, three to five real options with the case for and against, unknowns. - **Decision Record** — use when: A decision made on your day gets reopened on a day you are not there. Output: Status, owner, the choice and reasons, options rejected, dissent, actions, the review date and reopening rule. - **Sponsor Change Plan** — use when: The person who hired you is leaving, or only one person there knows why you matter. Output: The introduction to ask for, a handover call agenda, the new sponsor's stated goals, relationships to build, a revised plan. ### 7 · Renew, expand, hand over - **Renewal Review** — use when: The contract is about to roll over, or run out, and nobody has looked at results. Output: Results against the charter, days used, strategic against reactive time, five options, the decision and its date. - **Scope Change Request** — use when: "Could you also sit in on hiring?" arrives for the third time this month. Output: The ask in one line, the baseline line it touches, impact in days and fee, four options, a change log entry. - **Retainer Redesign** — use when: The role has outgrown, or shrunk below, the days you sold. Output: The retainer as it stands, what the client values, five shapes, the move you choose, a conversation outline. - **Retainer Increase Plan** — use when: You have put off raising the fee at three renewals in a row. Output: Per client the fee against your floor, the new fee you set, timing and notice, the order of conversations. - **Handover Note** — use when: The engagement ends in a month and everything is still in your head. Output: What was built and where it lives, the decision log, open work, relationships handed over, access to remove, a timeline. ## Workflows - **Position the seat** (A CEO likes you and still asks why not a full-time hire, or AI.) Fractional Positioning Statement → Fractional or Full-Time Brief → AI Objection Answer - **Shape and price it** (The scoping call ended with “send me a proposal”.) Engagement Discovery Questions → Good-Better-Best Engagement Options → Fractional Pricing Models → Retainer Conversation Prep → Fractional Statement of Work - **The first 30 days** (The contract is signed and day one is close.) Engagement Charter → Fractional Onboarding Checklist → Stakeholder Map → First 30 Days Diagnostic → 90-Day Plan - **Run the week** (Several clients, and the week no longer fits.) Client Capacity Plan → Week Plan Across Clients → Client Log → Weekly Review Across Clients - **Report results** (The CEO still asks what you did.) Weekly CEO Update → Monthly Value Report → Board Update → Early Warning Note - **Keep decisions decided** (Work stalls or gets reopened on your off days.) Team Interface Agreement → Relationship Repair Plan → Decision Brief → Decision Record → Sponsor Change Plan - **Renew or hand over** (The contract date is coming and nobody has looked at results.) Renewal Review → Scope Change Request → Retainer Redesign → Retainer Increase Plan → Handover Note ## The quality bar - Nothing invented: every finding, number and quote comes from what you paste in. Blanks stay blank, and unknowns are written “unknown” and turned into questions - One client at a time: one client per run and per workspace. Nothing from one client’s files, figures or wording is used in another client’s work - People are not scored: nothing grades, ranks or scores a person. Maps record roles and what each person has said they need - Your fees are yours: no rate, retainer level or benchmark is ever suggested. Every fee and target is yours or the CEO’s - Legal points stay questions: contract, status, tax and notice points are listed as questions: check with a qualified adviser - AI in the open: your own AI use is stated, never hidden, and the client’s own AI is treated as a fair option - The red line: Claude prepares the diagnostic, the plan and the update from what you give it; it never invents a finding, a number or a client quote, never moves one client’s information into another client’s work, and never speaks to the client or the board for you ## Questions people ask ### What is in the Claude for Fractional Leaders pack? 31 Claude skills that follow one fractional engagement in seven stages: position the role, shape and price the engagement, the first 30 days, run the week across clients, report, stakeholders and decisions, then renew, expand and hand over. Each skill produces one artifact. ### How do I install these Claude skills? In Claude Code, two lines install all 31 at once. In Claude.ai or Claude Desktop, download the zip, open Settings, Skills, Add, and upload the skills you want. Either way it takes about five minutes. ### Do I need Claude Code to use them? No. The skills work in Claude.ai, Claude Desktop and Claude Code. In the app you upload them yourself; in Claude Code one command installs the whole pack. ### Do the skills work with ChatGPT or other assistants? They are built as Claude Skills, and installing them is a Claude feature. Each one is a plain Markdown file, so you can read it and reuse the method elsewhere, but it will not load and trigger by itself outside Claude. ### Will Claude speak to my client or the board for me? No. Claude prepares the diagnostic, the plan and the update from what you give it. It never invents a finding, a number or a client quote, never moves one client’s information into another client’s work, and never speaks to the client or the board for you. ### Is the pack free? Yes. It is free to use inside your company and in client work, and not for resale. There is no signup: the download and the install command are on this page. ## About Written by Polar Bear (https://meet-polar-bear.com/). Published on Lantern (https://lantern.meet-polar-bear.com/), which turns your notes, documents and call transcripts into social post drafts you review and publish.