Interim Isn’t a Gap. It’s a Gift.
Why the organizations that use interim talent strategically outperform the ones that don’t.
When a key leader leaves an organization, the first instinct is usually to fill the seat as fast as possible.
That urgency is understandable. A vacant role feels like a liability. Boards get nervous. Staff wonder what it means. The pressure to “solve” the problem by hiring someone — anyone — can be intense.
But some of the most significant organizational improvements I’ve seen in 30 years of this work have happened not when a vacant role was filled quickly, but when it was filled intentionally — with someone who came in not to hold the seat, but to change what the seat looked like.
That’s what strategic interim staffing can do. And most organizations are dramatically underusing it.
What Interim Staffing Is Not
Interim staffing is not a consolation prize. It’s not what you do when you can’t find the right permanent hire. It’s not a signal to staff that leadership isn’t committed to filling the role.
When used strategically, it is none of those things. It is a deliberate choice to bring in seasoned, specialized expertise for a defined period — with a specific mandate that a permanent hire, arriving new to the organization and needing time to build trust, often cannot execute.
An interim leader can say things, change things, and move things that a new permanent hire simply cannot. That’s not a weakness. That’s the point.
Three Things Interim Leaders Do Better
There are specific situations where interim talent outperforms permanent hiring not because of capability, but because of context:
1. Moving through transition without political capital constraints. A new permanent hire has to build relationships before they can change anything. An interim leader arrives with a clear mandate and no long-term political investment, which means they can address the thing everyone else is dancing around.
2. Diagnosing before prescribing. A skilled interim will often surface issues in the first 60 days that have been invisible to insiders for years. Fresh eyes, zero legacy loyalty, and no reason to protect the status quo.
3. Building the role before it’s permanent. If a position has been unclear or contested, an interim can help define what the role actually needs to be — making the permanent search far more targeted and the hire far more likely to succeed.
When to Consider Interim Over Permanent
Not every vacancy calls for an interim. But these situations often do:
- The organization is in a period of significant change or restructuring
- The departing leader’s role was poorly defined or politically complicated
- A critical project or transition needs experienced leadership immediately
- The org needs to stabilize before it can clearly define what it needs long-term
- There is an internal candidate who needs time to develop before being ready
In any of these cases, rushing to a permanent hire is often the more expensive choice — not just financially, but in terms of organizational momentum and culture.
The Reframe That Changes Everything
The organizations that use interim talent well have stopped thinking about it as filling a gap and started thinking about it as buying something: clarity, momentum, expertise, and time.
Time to get the permanent hire right. Time to let the organization stabilize. Time to move the things that needed moving before the new permanent leader arrived.
If your organization is navigating a leadership transition right now — or you can see one coming — I’d love to hear what you’re thinking through. Come find me on LinkedIn.
Let’s continue the conversation → Connect with Sherry Budziak on LinkedIn