How Interims shield leadership teams

by Valentin Unverricht

Whilst Interims are often called in to continue business as usual for a specific amount of time (such as bridging an incumbent’s period of leave or a new appointment’s notice period) this article looks at the transformational impact of Interim leadership. Here, we are talking about periods of change in a business, be that in crisis turnarounds or in implementations of new growth strategies. One of the most valuable impact areas of an Interim is the readiness to have tough but necessary conversations internally. A good Interim leader adapts their communication style according to situation and audience but I’d like to highlight two particular personas that are invaluable to a business: the Bad Cop and the Grim Reaper.

Often in situations of underperformance and crisis, the Bad Cop is called in when the proverbial Good Cop is no longer an option, but the incumbent leaders need to preserve reputation and relationships and thus cannot deliver certain messages as unambiguously as is needed. This is where Interims are extremely effective, because they don’t have to worry about company politics or about their own reputation within the business. They can say what needs to be said without ambiguity and with full acceptance of the consequences. Because their engagement is, by definition, time-bound, Interims do not have to worry about lingering resentment among the ranks. At the same time, their role as Bad Cop protects the incumbent leaders from just such resentment, allowing them to continue to work with the affected teams virtually unburdened.

The Grim Reaper is deployed in the situations nobody wants to find themselves in – redundancies, job losses, closures. Please don’t feel like I use the term “Grim Reaper” flippantly. The mythical figure, whilst scary looking, is a calm and quiet entity, silently standing by while the condemned go through the emotions of realisation, fear and, eventually, acceptance. In a business context, we’re talking about long-grown relationships, often decades in the making, about to end because of operational necessities. Interim leaders are the neutral face to communicate this, they are also ready to take the blame for implementing such strategies in the first place. With this in mind, the Grim Reaper is an exceedingly delicate communications piece, where empathy and patience need to be at the forefront at all times.

Of course, there are many more personas of an Interim. I may look at some more in a future piece. But these two fascinate me, because they are a shield protecting incumbent leadership teams from the fallout of tough decisions and even tougher conversations, enabling them to deliver challenging strategies and emerge with little or no resentment afterwards. Surely, that makes an Interim worth every penny of their day rate.

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