The “Temp Executive”
By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP
You may have heard the term “interim executive.” Another term is "fractional executive." Or temporary executive or contract executive.
The term doesn’t matter. What matters is the concept and how it affects your life.
The interim executive comes in, uses his/her specific skillset to fix a specific problem, and leads the team/division/company for a predetermined period of time -- while a longer-term leadership solution is found.
And this works well for a company a lot of times. As long as there is communication with the team/division/company from the start. Employees want to at least feel like they are part of the decision. Employees (at any level) do not like to be side-swiped about anything, let alone who is going to be making decisions for and about them.
The interim executive should be suited for the position. I do not mean this about the hard skills, although that is definitely crucial. Anyone in a leadership position should have expertise in their industry. But the interim leader's help should also suit short-term work. One C-Suite leader came to me because he had been hired to drive a specific initiative for the company, because launches are his expertise. But by the time the initiative was fully operational, he was still in the position, because the company hadn’t found someone to replace him. So now he was just doing maintenance all day and he really didn’t enjoy that.
Also, someone from IT should be in meetings from the start, regarding literally everything. I’ve heard of incoming leaders who assumed that the company has certain IT capabilities, and their solutions were based on these assumptions, only for IT to say that the project just isn’t viable. Or stories about interims who assumed IT didn’t have the capacity for a specific project, only to find out that actually they did, and everyone missed a great opportunity.
Interim leaders can be very helpful. This is especially true during this chaotic, recession-looming, pandemic-changing, mass layoffs, hybrid work time. Many workplaces are a mess. The interim leader might be just what the company and employees need right now.
This is all to say that, unlike the past, executive positions are not all long-term positions right now. Most are, but interim/temporary positions are currently very popular, as companies decide what to do next.
This means that your special value-add and leadership skills are more crucial than ever, because they will determine if your leadership strengths match what the company wants. Such as:
Do you drive the business forward and watch the bottom line, or do you worry more about compliance and policy?
Do you emphasize team communication and meetings, or do you easily establish relationships to create profitable partnerships?
These are all equally important for leadership, but the specific needs of that interim leadership position will determine which talent is actually needed at the moment.
Just like long-term commitments don’t suit everyone, neither do interim positions. Just please pay attention to the job description along with the title.
You have the choice, so choose wisely.
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Better job. More pay. More control.
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