Why An Interim Executive Director?

I’m working as an Interim Executive Director again! It’s for a great nonprofit organization, with a truly committed board and staff. The past three weeks have been incredibly intense: being an interim means that the usual getting-to-know you period has to be shortened, as I try my best to get a quick grasp of the organization, its mission, its priorities, the personalities, and how things are done, in order to be effective in the short time I might be at this organization.

Despite the intensity, I’m getting nothing but support from the people here. As I told my husband, it’s like the Verizon commercial with the lone cell phone user surrounded by Verizon personnel: I’ve got people. The Board is working hard at finding a permanent replacement for the previous Executive Director, but they took an important step in hiring an Interim while they conduct the search.

In fact, the situation reminds me of a post I put up on another blog (the Nonprofit Watercooler). Prosaically titled, “Why Hire an Interim Exec or Director,” it walks through the benefits of having someone at the helm while you seek a new hire.

Since I still firmly hold to everything that was in that original article, this time I’m just going to point you to that post. Meanwhile, I’m working on another article about  how the actual benefit of having an Interim may depend on the quality of the support s/he gets from the Board of Directors and staff. So next week, I’ll share some steps to getting that Interim Executive relationship – and perhaps any new Executive Director’s work – off to a grand start.

Meanwhile, enjoy!