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6 Signs Your Company Needs an Interim Executive
1. You need action now but are not ready to make a permanent hire
2. You have an unexpected C-suite vacancy
3. Growth has stalled or performance is declining
4. Your leadership team lacks capacity for a critical initiative
5. The business needs specialized transformation or turnaround expertise
6. A sale, acquisition, carve-out or IPO requires experienced leadership
How do you know whether an interim executive will be the right fit for your company’s needs? Ultimately, that’s an individual decision that depends on your company. But generally, when we get a call from an executive, head of human resources, small business owner, or private equity investor, it’s because the organization is in motion. Leadership to drive growth, change, or turnaround is needed. And it’s needed fast.
If you are tasked with bringing in an interim executive, you’ve probably done your research and believe you need more than a consultant, and have an idea of how an interim gets compensated. But still – is contracting with an interim executive the right move for you and your company?
| Situation | Best option | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Urgent leadership gap | Interim executive | Immediate operating authority and continuity |
| Defined transformation or turnaround | Interim executive | Specialized experience plus implementation |
| Analysis or recommendations only | Consultant | Advisory support without executive ownership |
| Ongoing role with no unusual urgency | Permanent executive | Long-term organizational leadership |
| Limited recurring need | Fractional executive | Part-time leadership over a longer period |
6 Tough Questions to Ask Yourself
Sometimes the toughest thing to do is look in the mirror and assess: Where are you at as an organization? Where are the gaps? Where does your leadership team need a boost?
InterimExecs’ RED Team approach begins with a conversation to explore your starting point, where you want to go, and what kind of leadership will get you there.
Ask yourself these tough questions:
- How does current leadership match up with what’s needed for future progress?
- Does your management team have the bandwidth to take advantage of untapped opportunities for growth?
- Is your plan clear, and is the team aligned?
- Do you have a clear handle on challenges in operations, finance, technology, sales, and marketing?
- When you look back on the past year – was the company able to execute on goals?
- Are you happy with your progress?
If the answers to any of those questions show the company is falling short, a vetted, experienced interim executive can bring a no-nonsense, cut-to-the-chase outside perspective that can jumpstart progress.
And, yes, we know that there are some instances when an interim executive is NOT the right answer. In this post, we explore when a company should not hire an interim executive.
6 Times When Interim Executives Make Sense
Areas where RED Team interim executives excel include:
- Turnaround when a company or division is in distress, losing money, or slipping in market share or revenue decline. (Read More: 5 stages of a successful turnaround.)
- Liquidation when assets are being repurposed, recapped, spun off, or sold off.
- Operational improvement requiring new processes, systems, and/or controls.
- Preparing a company or division for a transformative event, including spinoff, carve out, investment, sale, merger, or IPO.
- Revenue enhancement, including sales and marketing system upgrades, training, hiring, and new business development.
- New market creation, including new product development and design, international expansion planning and execution, brand positioning, and social media and awareness.
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The Complete Guide to Interim Management
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The Complete Guide to Interim Management
Everything owners, investors, and boards need to know about deploying interim executives — when to use them, how to vet them, what to pay, and how to get results fast.
Determine if You Are Ready for Change
You are selective about who you bring into your organization – and so are we. We have to be very picky about which clients we choose to work with. Beyond determining if an organization is honest and forthcoming about the situation, we want to know if there is serious intent to take on the organization’s challenges and opportunities.
Not that the interim will expect everyone to be on board or ready for change. Things may be tense or fragile depending on how deep the issues or challenges run.
This is where we can say with confidence: Do not fear – it’s the job of the operating executive to learn fast, listen well, assess with accuracy, work to gain trust with the team, communicate clearly, develop a clear vision, and work to align the team.
Interim Does Not Equal Permanent
Contracting with a great interim, project, or fractional executive is different from hiring a new permanent exec. Headhunter work is one-and-done: source a candidate and get them hired, or move on to the next candidate.
At InterimExecs, our rock star executives have dedicated their careers to interim, project, or fractional leadership roles where they have a track record of success across many different organizations.
Two decades of focus on connecting interim executives with companies in need has allowed us to develop a unique process. We look not just at resumes or backgrounds but dive into the unique mindset of an interim. That gives us confidence in their ability to bring positive results to companies over and over again.
By rigorously screening executives, we concentrate on just the top 2% of leaders – what we call the RED Team (Rapid Executive Deployment). RED Team executives have experience across specialties (CEO, CFO, COO, CIO, CTO) and industries that can be deployed individually or as a team.
And, because the executives have been thoroughly vetted, we can identify the right executive in as little as 48 hours.
Moving Forward
The challenge comes with companies that set a great path forward, then become paralyzed.
Remember Circuit City? Or Blockbuster? The writing was on the wall. Evolution and innovation needed to happen to survive, yet these big brands, like many organizations, got stuck, seemingly with no way out.
Interim executives are the very definition of change agents. There is always a way. The first step is acknowledging that what worked in the past won’t necessarily take you into the future.
Interims drive transformation, change, and improvement. Even if it’s a short-term assignment lasting only until the permanent executive is brought in, a true interim executive seeks to leave the organization and team in a better place than when they walked in the door.
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Frequently Asked Questions
An interim executive is an experienced C-suite leader hired for a defined period to assume operating responsibility, solve a pressing business problem, or lead an important transition. Unlike a consultant who primarily recommends a course of action, an interim executive in a hands-on change agent. The interim executive joins the leadership team, makes decisions, and implement the plan. InterimExecs matches companies with vetted CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CIOs, CTOs and other functional executives who have demonstrated success in interim and transformation assignments.
A company should consider an interim executive when it has an urgent leadership vacancy, stalled growth, operational or financial challenges, a turnaround, rapid scaling, or a transaction that requires specialized experience. Interim leadership is especially valuable when waiting several months for a permanent executive would expose the business to additional risk. InterimExecs can rapidly assess the situation and match the organization with a qualified RED Team executive suited to its industry, stage and objectives.
Thanks to two decades of experience and a stringent vetting process that qualifies only 2% of applicants to be RED Team (Rapid Executive Deployment) members, InterimExecs can identify the right executive in as little as 48 hours. The firm matches organizations in need with vetted, experienced leaders across multiple C-suite functions, industries and company stages. Because candidates are screened before an urgent need arises, InterimExecs can focus on matching the company’s specific challenge rather than beginning a conventional executive search from scratch.
InterimExecs evaluates more than a candidate’s résumé. Its matching process considers the company’s immediate objectives, industry, size, ownership structure, stage, culture, leadership dynamics and required outcomes. Executives are also assessed for the distinct characteristics effective interim work requires, including rapid diagnosis, decisive execution, stakeholder alignment and knowledge transfer. Its rigorous process concentrates on the top 2% of leaders considered for the RED Team.
The expected results depend on the assignment, but they should be defined through measurable goals such as restoring profitability, improving cash flow, stabilizing operations, completing a transaction, accelerating revenue or preparing the organization for permanent leadership. InterimExecs places operating executives who are accountable for execution who will leave behind stronger systems, clearer priorities, and a better-prepared management team when the assignment ends.
