October 2026 · 10 min read · 31 skills, free

31 Claude Skills for Fractional Leaders, From the First Retainer to the Renewal

Position the seat and answer the full-time and AI questions, shape and price it, agree the charter, finish the diagnostic by day 30, plan the week across clients, report results to the CEO and the board, price every extra ask, then renew or hand over.

01What these skills are

One fractional engagement, from the first retainer to the renewal, as installable Claude skills

This pack is for fractional and interim executives, and senior independents moving to that model.

The skills follow one engagement in order, in seven stages, from positioning the role to the renewal and the handover, then the week across all your clients.

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.

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 per run and per workspace. Each skill produces one artifact and hands over to the next.

Download all 31 skills

One zip: ready-to-install skill zips, readable SKILL.md files, and the sources behind every method. Free, no signup. The same 31 skills live in our open repo, if you would rather read them before you install them.

Download the zip Browse on GitHub

Install in Claude Code

Two lines, and every skill in the pack loads at once.

/plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills
/plugin install fractional-leaders-pack@polar-bear-skills

Using Claude on the web instead? Download the zip above and upload each skill from its install folder under Customize → Skills.

02The catalog

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

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

03How to use it

Pick the workflow that matches your week

Start with the engagement charter: the plan, the reports and the renewal review all go back to it. After that, bring one real thing from one client.

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

04Setup guide

Install it in five minutes

In Claude Code · two lines

/plugin marketplace add polar-bear-org/claude-skills
/plugin install fractional-leaders-pack@polar-bear-skills

In Claude.ai or Claude Desktop · seven clicks

Download the pack, then open Settings
Unzip the pack: its skills folder holds all 31 skills. In Claude, click your name at the bottom left, then Settings.
Download the zip
Open Skills and click Add
Under Customize, choose Skills. Click Add, then Upload a skill.
Drop in a skill file
Drag the skill's file into the box, or click to browse. You can add several at once.
Pick the skill from the pack
In the pack folder, open skills, then the skill you want, and select its SKILL.md — frac-engagement-charter is a good first one.
Check the preview and upload
Claude shows the skill's name and what it does. Click Upload.
Make sure it is switched on
The skill opens on its own page. Its toggle should be on.
Try it in a new chat
Type / and the skill's name, then say what you need.

Then try one

Run frac-engagement-charter on the signed statement of work and my kickoff notes: [paste them here]

Run frac-first-30-days-diagnostic on my interview notes and the documents I was given: [paste them here]

Run frac-weekly-ceo-update on this week's client log: [paste it here]

Keep each client apart: one Claude Project or one separate chat and folder per client, and never run a skill for one client inside another client’s workspace.

Lantern for fractional leaders

Turn what you fix in one company into posts the next one finds

Lantern drafts a week of posts from your notes and call transcripts, in your voice. You review them and publish the ones you like.

100 free credits, about ten posts. No card needed.

Try for free

05Quick reference

Where to start

Your situation	Skill to run
People like you and still cannot say what a fractional leader in your function does?	Fractional Positioning Statement
The CEO asks why not just hire someone full time?	Fractional or Full-Time Brief
The CEO says AI does half of this now?	AI Objection Answer
You sent one monthly figure and got a no?	Good-Better-Best Engagement Options
You price by the hour and every faster week earns you less?	Fractional Pricing Models
The fee is agreed and you can already hear “can you also”?	Fractional Statement of Work
Hired to lead and every decision still goes back to the founder?	Engagement Charter
Day 30 is near and you have a notebook of impressions?	First 30 Days Diagnostic
Month three is still discovery and nobody can say what was promised?	90-Day Plan
Four clients fit the calendar and still do not fit the week?	Client Capacity Plan
Need to reload one client’s context fast?	Client Log
Your update is a list of meetings and the CEO still asks what you did?	Weekly CEO Update
The CEO wants one page for the board by Thursday?	Board Update
Work stops on the days you are with another client?	Team Interface Agreement
A decision made on your day gets reopened when you are not there?	Decision Record
“Could you also” arrives for the third time this month?	Scope Change Request

06Standards

The quality bar

Every skill in the pack holds the same standard:

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

07FAQ

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.

08Who made this

Lantern, by Polar Bear

These skills were written by Polar Bear, a people ops consultancy that runs its own company on Claude. The pack is free, and the same skills are open on GitHub.

Lantern is Polar Bear's content workspace. It turns your notes, documents and call transcripts into drafts for LinkedIn and other networks. You review them and publish the ones you like.