During the past 7 years, some of my clients have needed an extra pair of hands to help with initiatives in their HR/Recruiting Department. This is when an Interim Executive is called in. Most initiatives are considered specific projects or an engagement when a client knows exactly what they want. Those are easily constructed into a proposal, which is accepted, and has a timeline attached. There is a beginning and an ending. There are clear deliverables.

Where it gets tricky, is when the needs are greater than one project and the deliverables are many. Sometimes the deliverables in totality might not be known until the Interim Executive is on site and has worked a couple weeks or months.

Clients request someone on site to actually manage the HR/recruiting function, assist with the assessment and implementation, and generally ensure the “wheels” don’t come off as the department is expanding, detracting or just revitalized. The approach to on-site work can take many forms. It could be one week on site and one week virtual. It depends on the client and the company’s specific requirements at that time. Also an Interim Executive can be budgeted under the contract umbrella and not considered a consulting project. This is an attractive way to get what you need done without all the red tape involved with a consulting project.

So when might you need an Interim Executive?

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  When you are conducting a search for the leader but need someone to manage the function until that person is on board.
• When you need someone part time who can come in as needed.
• When you have numerous initiatives or challenges and need someone to help for a couple of week or months.
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  When you need a full assessment of how a department is working and the Interim Executive can “live” the day-to-day activities and experience what you’ve experienced relating to initiatives and challenges.
• 
  When you might be changing the approach of the engagement and you don’t want a structured statement of work.
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  When there are many deliverables.

“Whether you need one month or one year, the reason to bring in an Interim Executive is to add a skill or expertise that is missing or quickly needed to help with some fundamentals or a specific initiative,” says Ed Flowers, SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer of World Kitchen, LLC. “It’s a ‘plug and play’ approach to your business model, and there is no disruption to your existing team. This expert can help by giving your organization valuable feedback so you can make effective decisions.”

Invoicing methodology or rate structure can vary depending on the client and Interim Executive. Some Executives want a guaranteed period of time to work (25 hrs. to whatever per day/weeks or months) since they are not looking for new projects while with the client. Some prefer a monthly retainer with specific hours committed per week. My clients prefer an hourly rate. Then they are able to watch the engagement time and, if need be, extend the timeframe depending on expectations and deliverables.

There are other benefits to bringing in Interim Executives beyond filling an important gap. We will touch on those in a follow-up post.

Mary Claire Ryan is a Partner with inTalent Consulting Group