Westley Harnett

Westley Harnett

Fractional COO | Structure, Strategy & Scale

With 25+ years of building, scaling, and leading businesses from the ground up, I now act as a Fractional COO helping SMEs stabilise, structure, and scale with confidence. Having scaled multiple companies to £10M+ and led teams of 50+, I bring battle-tested experience, proven frameworks, and hands-on execution to turn founder vision into reality. My focus: removing chaos, installing systems, and driving sustainable growth across industries.

Areas of Expertise

Business operating systems and workflows
Scaling and growth strategies
Execution and operational discipline
Leadership and team development
Project and process optimisation
Crisis management and resilience building

About Westley

I’ve spent over 25 years in the trenches of entrepreneurship - building, scaling, and exiting multiple businesses across construction, project based and professional services. Along the way, I’ve experienced the full spectrum of business: from landing the first client and hiring the first employee, to scaling operations to £10M+ revenue and leading teams of 50+, through to the difficult calls of navigating crises, closing divisions, and exiting companies.

These experiences shaped the operator I am today: clear, practical, and execution-driven. I understand what it takes to move a business from vision to reality because I’ve lived it. I’ve built the systems that drive growth, corrected the mistakes that stall it, and developed the resilience needed to lead under pressure.

As a Fractional COO, I bring structure, strategy, and execution discipline into SMEs. My role is to be the founder’s execution partner: diagnosing constraints, designing a clear roadmap, and delivering results through people, systems, and processes. It’s a hands-on approach - not just advice, but implementation.

My frameworks are industry-agnostic - from construction and project-based businesses, to agencies, tech, manufacturing, and professional services. Wherever there is chaos, inefficiency, or growth gridlock, I help unlock clarity and install operating rhythms that allow businesses to scale sustainably.

Beyond systems and strategy, I believe leadership is about resilience and human connection. I bring this ethos into every engagement - creating trust, building alignment, and empowering teams to perform.

In short, I help founders and leadership teams stabilise at the core, install systems for scale, and step forward with confidence.

At home, I am a single father for the last 9 years of my 14 year old son, a 5am riser and passionate about personal development, fitness and mindset. I love to travel and with my favourite countries being South Africa and Italy.

I live by 3 core beliefs, authenticity, partnership, quality and that life should be lived with intention, clarity, courage and freedom.

Let's create a bigger picture and brighter future and build better businesses, and lives.

Work with Westley

Want to work with Westley?

Get in touch today to discuss how Westley can help drive your business forward.

How We Work

1

Focused Executive Support

Hire one fractional leader—such as a COO for specific challenges—targeted to solve your pain points.

2

Full Collective Deployment

Engage our entire fractional team to operate in sync across departments—ideal for transformation projects or growth scenarios.

3

Progressive Expansion

Start with one CXO, and expand support gradually as needs evolve—ensuring continuity throughout your journey.

4

Behind-the-Scenes Collaboration

Even when you work with just Westley, they're backed by the entire collective for holistic results.

Our fractional model means you're not locked into a long-term commitment or paying for idle time. Instead, you gain targeted, high-level leadership tailored to your business phase and priorities.

Company size*
Fractional support required*