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InterimExecs 2022 Year in Review
The Top Five Highlights From Our Best Year Ever
Over the course of 2022 we worked with many HR leaders, company owners, boards and executives — some facing turmoil and some navigating through exponential growth. We deployed executive superheroes to provide strong leadership. There is no shortage of needs, and we are energized by the huge positive impact RED Team interim and fractional leaders continue to have as we experienced our best year to date in 2022.
Here are just a few ways InterimExecs and the RED Team jumped into action in 2022:
We Promoted Interim More Than Ever Before
In 2022 we saw a lot of interest from media in the interim and fractional landscape. The concept of the gig economy has expanded through the years up to the C-suite.
Our commitment to serve as the voice for the specialty stands strong: we see interim as it’s own specialty. This isn’t consulting – we provide strategy and execution, always being held accountable for results. No job seekers allowed. Give us a big challenge, not just a seat to keep warm. That led to lots of media coverage in outlets such as:
Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.
-Colin Powell
We Deployed the RED Team
InterimExecs worked with PE funds, owners, and management teams navigating fast growth or still struggling with supply change, inflation, and other challenges. Through the Rapid Executive Deployment program, we deployed interim CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CIOs, and CMOs from the RED Team individually and as teams across many industries, including:
Food Manufacturer
Operations went haywire at a family-owned business. An Interim CFO expert in turnaround was quickly brought in to dissect the crisis and maximize the value of operational and real estate assets.
Consulting Services
A global services firm faced a daunting digital transformation and growing competition. An Interim CEO provided leadership in action to restore their values and vision and get back to fast expansion.
Energy Storage
A promising battery tech company had stalled within a bureaucracy. An Interim CTO parachuted in to take the component hardware and software development offerings to an industry-leading standard.
Learning Company
A fast-growing software and hardware company outgrew the current CFO, so called in an interim to upgrade financial structure and prepare the company for a roadshow to spin out and go public.
Healthcare Services
When the CEO exited the business to pursue a startup, an interim exec jumped in to assess the business, groom the COO to step into the CEO role, and expand in-home healthcare services.
Policy & Advocacy
After a non-profit’s rapid growth and leadership shake up, the organization engaged an Interim CFO/COO to lead a process improvement initiative and provide leadership for an expanding team.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
-George Bernard Shaw
We Launched Right Leader Right Time
In March G&D Media published Right Leader Right Time: Discover Your Leadership Style for a Winning Career and Company authored by InterimExecs’ co-founders Robert Jordan and Olivia Wagner.
Jordan and Wagner drew on their executive matchmaking methodology to provide leaders with a framework to identify their FABS leadership style (Fixer, Builder, Artist, Strategist).
In September the audio version went live, including four bonus tracks featuring interviews with inspiring leaders who represent each leadership style (shoutout to InterimExecs RED Team members Eric Kish, Michelle Barnes, Russ Reeder, Joshua Katz, and Lisa Yarnell for your amazing insights).
Exceptional leaders reject what is not for their highest and best use.
-Robert Jordan & Olivia Wagner, Right Leader Right Time
Top 5 Reasons Companies Used Interim Executives in 2022
We surveyed 190 interim executives on a range of topics around the interim specialty including a look back at the top challenges executives were called in to tackle in 2022:
(1) Financial challenges were reported to be the top driver for bringing on an interim in 2022. Inadequate funding, cash management fluctuation, rising interests rates, expense increases, and changing consumer demand were a common theme. Some leaders were brought in to establish clear monthly reporting and others to navigate through erratic revenue generation or lack or profitability.
(2) Poor Team Communication was a second key driver with inability to generate superior performance and broken organizational structure as common themes. Whether it be leadership or a team resistant to change or lack of trust and transparency, many interims reported being brought on board to align the team around mission, vision, and values.
(3) Technology upgrade was no surprise as more businesses are driven to continue upgrading product offerings and platforms. ERP system integration and implementation, data security policies and procedures were common use cases expected to continue strongly in 2023.
(4) Hiring people presented big challenges for companies that drove the need for interim executives. Many executives reported that companies were frustrated with a lack of adequate staff. Finding experienced people, training remotely, and balancing the demands of employee work from anywhere versus the need for in-person interactions are ongoing challenges brought to light post-pandemic.
(5) Scaling a business was top of mind for many executives who jumped into fast growth situations. Quick expansion led many companies to call in an interim to put process, systems and documentation in place.
Interim and fractional executives predict rising demand, without any slowdown. 66% of executives predicted that opportunities for interim and fractional assignments will increase in 2023, while 30% said they will remain consistent.
Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.
-Vincent Lombardi
We Developed the FABS Leadership Assessment™ to Build Complementary Teams
Alongside publication of Right Leader Right Time, we launched the FABS Leadership Assessment to help leaders discover their dominant and secondary leadership style.
By understanding each leader’s unique wiring, organizations can better collaborate among team members and bring in outside resources that match up with where they are right now and where they are going.
What’s your leadership style? Take the beta version of the assessment and let us know what you think of your result.
Genius is in the idea. Impact however comes from action.
-Simon Sinek
That’s a Wrap!
Wishing You Much Joy & Success in 2023
-The InterimExecs Team
Explore the Benefits of Interim
- Access to top executives wired for challenge
- Skip the long executive search process
- Backed by a team and wealth of knowledge
- Fresh thinking and best practices
- Action and results – not just advice!
- Proven process to look at your unique needs
- Flexible contracts
- Mentorship and development for your team