How a fractional integrator helped a family plumbing business adopt EOS

Executive overview

Barker & Sons Plumbing, a 50-person family business, stalled after years with a best-practice peer group. A recruiter told owner Brenda Barker she wasn't ready for a full-time integrator — so she hired fractional integrator Brian Wirtz instead.

Working one day a week on-site, Brian helped the company build its accountability chart, document processes, and establish genuine leadership accountability — laying the groundwork for a full-time integrator hire.

The fractional integrator's job is not to run the Level 10; it's to drive everything that happens between meetings.

Why a fractional integrator made sense

• Brenda was told the company lacked a Vision/Traction Organizer and had never read Traction — a full-time integrator would have struggled with nothing to work from
• A fractional engagement let the business ease into EOS rather than making a sudden structural leap
• Brian spent several calls breaking down what the role actually meant before Brenda felt comfortable committing
• EOS implementer Victoria Cabot and Brian coordinated from the start — she introduced tools in quarterlies; he drove execution between sessions
• The "better together" framing: Victoria generates momentum in sessions; Brian prevents the 30-day fade where commitments die after people leave the room

What one day a week actually covers

• Relationship-building with each leadership team member — accountability flows from people who feel their work matters
• Intense issue-solving (IDS) inside and outside the Level 10
• Process mapping: whiteboarding sessions that produce documented procedures captured in Playbook Builder
• Quarterly conversation facilitation, delegate-and-elevate training, and coaching on each EOS tool after Victoria introduces it
• Remote check-ins on longer projects in addition to the on-site day
• Brian's view: solving issues without capturing the solution has limited impact; solving and documenting creates a multiplying effect

Untangling the accountability chart

• The chart started as a "spaghetti bowl" — roles overlapping, no clear leadership team, accountability diffuse across a nearly 40-year-old family business
• The hardest problem: Mike Barker (founder, Brenda's husband) had run the company for decades and was nominated into an owner's box seat while Brenda stepped into the visionary role
• Mike struggled to let go — he continued reaching into all parts of the business, which repeatedly disrupted the chart
• Brian invested heavily in one-on-one mentorship with Mike; a dinner in San Diego to build personal connection was a turning point that unlocked alignment on stopping end runs
• Resolution took over a year; Mike now sits in an operations lead seat with a long-term plan to move into training and development — potentially as a visionary of a spin-off
• Current structure: a key-managers L10 anchored by Mike in ops, with Brenda in a marketing seat and an accounting representative; Brian backstops Mike in running the ops team

The fractional integrator term — what it does and doesn't mean

• "Fractional" means part-time by hours, not partial engagement by depth
• Even full-time integrators can be fractional if they also hold an ops or finance seat and split their focus
• The goal is full engagement in the integrator role: LMA, accountability, visionary alignment, leadership team cohesion — not just meeting facilitation
• Brenda's observation: anyone who thinks the integrator's job is running the Level 10 is only seeing the tip of the iceberg
• Brian's military background (20 years in the Marine Corps, CO/XO and officer/senior-enlisted pairings) gave him a lived model for the visionary-integrator dynamic before he ever read Rocket Fuel

Outcomes and current state

• Brenda describes the shift as gaining "peace" — she now has a blueprint, knows where the company is going, and can envision scaling to two, three, or four times its current size
• Brian's read on Brenda's growth: she has moved from "sure, let's try it" to fully getting what EOS is doing — her GWC on the system is at the top
• The accountability chart is now clear enough that end runs are being actively managed and reduced
• The company is explicitly planning to hire a full-time integrator as the next step; Brian's stated goal as a fractional is to work himself out of the role