When the interim executive gig goes long…
I currently serve as an interim executive through Armstrong McGuire, and for the past 14+ months I have served as Interim CEO at Aldersgate, a large continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Charlotte with a very complicated recent history. One of the running jokes among our Armstrong McGuire team is that I never am going to leave Aldersgate and truly perform senior advisor activities.
Most interim executive assignments run between four to eight months as a search committee (and often through a search led by Armstrong McGuire), ultimately places a permanent CEO or executive director into the role. In this case, I am guiding Aldersgate through an affiliation, similar to a merger, with another CCRC.
The saga of Aldersgate is long but fascinating, yet that is a story for another day with the concluding chapter from my perspective still to be written. Nevertheless, some key points already have emerged which accentuate how vitally important an interim executive can be in these longer-term transition situations:
- No CEO conflicts: In nonprofit merger/affiliation scenarios, the financial, operational, or cultural aspects often are not the factors that cause the transaction to unravel. Many times, it is a CEO conflict. Which party’s CEO is going to run the organization when the definitive agreement is signed and the dust settles? Many times, each nonprofit has a CEO who has been in the driver’s seat for decades. Hard to loosen the hands from the wheel after that length of time. My focus is not for the permanent job; in fact, we ensure that our interim execs are not in consideration for the position. My purpose at Aldersgate is to make sure the organization is left in good hands, and the affiliation partner CEO understands, accepts, and will carry the mission forward. That’s the value Armstrong McGuire brings.
- Communication: Being an interim executive requires a skill set of being an effective communicator to those being served, stakeholders, funders, the community and community partners, and team members. That takes on a new dimension in a longer-term situation. In a four-to-eight-month engagement, the interim CEO is assessing, preparing, coordinating, and communicating primarily internally since they will not be with the organization long-term and should be careful to lay the proper groundwork for the incoming CEO. Particularly due to the media exposure coming into the Aldersgate situation, I have been required to strike a careful balance in showing leadership through this transition and then handover the baton through integrated communication with the affiliation partner. Our preparation for these types of assignments makes it work. That’s the value Armstrong McGuire brings.
- Assessment and Action: In a typical short-term interim engagement, assessment of the organization’s situation is vital. We want to ensure careful analysis of current and expected future state and provide a good runway for the executive coming aboard. Actions we take with strategic direction, personnel changes, media, operations, fundraising, etc. are typically limited and with a short-term focus because we simply are not there long enough to do otherwise. The longer-term interim engagement can require more definitive action. Aldersgate is a larger nonprofit with over 600 team members and a $50+ million budget. Guiding them through an affiliation has required corporate structural/bylaws changes, reductions in force, leadership team restructuring, regaining residents’ trust, handling media, task forces, bondholder relations, legal challenges, real estate issues, community partnerships, and just keeping the train on the track! Yes, every day is different. Armstrong McGuire’s strategic approach provides a foundation to determine actions needed and confidence to put them in motion. And that is the value Armstrong McGuire brings.
I appreciate being part of a team of highly skilled and effective nonprofit professionals who know how and when to lead, how and when to listen, how and when to learn, how and when to lean in, and how and when to laugh! When the client’s need goes short or long, the Armstrong McGuire team steps up to the challenge.
Learn more about interim management. Our next information session for the Fall Interim Management Institute is Friday, September 5 at noon. Register here.
David Middleton is a Senior Advisor with Armstrong McGuire who specializes in interim management, strategic planning, staff and board development, and organizational growth. Learn more about David in his bio.
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Before we talk about care, it would help if we first define the word ethos. Ethos is the lived character of a care organization.
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