Leadership Gap?

How Interim Management
works in Germany

By Antho­ny Baum­ruk, Part­ner at VALDIVIA | Valdivia Inter­im Associates

The vacan­cy exists today. The perma­nent succes­sor may still be months away.

A newly acquired busi­ness requires expe­ri­enced manage­ment to take it to the next level. Alter­na­tive­ly, the search for a perma­nent exec­u­tive may take longer than expect­ed. Howev­er, the busi­ness cannot put lead­er­ship on hold.

This is where Inter­im Manage­ment can provide a bridge – not simply as a tempo­rary replace­ment, but as expe­ri­enced lead­er­ship capac­i­ty that can take respon­si­bil­i­ty at short notice.

As I discussed in my recent arti­cle on CFO vacan­cies, an unex­pect­ed exec­u­tive depar­ture creates more than just a gap in the organ­i­sa­tion­al chart. Deci­sions still need to be made, stake­hold­ers still need lead­er­ship, and crit­i­cal busi­ness issues still need to be progressed.

But what actu­al­ly happens when an inter­na­tion­al compa­ny says: “We need an Inter­im Manag­er in Germany.”?

At Valdivia Inter­im Asso­ciates (VIA), we have designed the process to be straight­for­ward, fast and, above all, confidential.

I. Tell us the situ­a­tion – not neces­sar­i­ly the name

You do not need a complet­ed job descrip­tion. And during our first conver­sa­tion, you do not neces­sar­i­ly need to disclose the compa­ny name. Inter­im require­ments often arise in sensi­tive circum­stances. A CFO depar­ture may not yet have been announced. A restruc­tur­ing may be confi­den­tial. A trans­ac­tion may still be at a sensi­tive stage. Or share­hold­ers and investors may simply want to explore their options discreet­ly. Initial­ly, we there­fore need to under­stand six things:

• Func­tion.
• Situ­a­tion.
• Loca­tion.
• Timing.
• Expect­ed duration.
• Objec­tive.

That is often enough to start.

II. Define the outcome – not simply the job description

The next step is to estab­lish what the busi­ness actu­al­ly needs. Because one “Inter­im CFO” mandate can be very differ­ent from anoth­er. An exec­u­tive brought in to bridge an unex­pect­ed vacan­cy and provide stabil­i­ty requires a differ­ent profile from some­one appoint­ed to restruc­ture a finance func­tion, profes­sion­alise report­ing, support a refi­nanc­ing or lead a transformation.

The same applies in Asset Manage­ment. Taking respon­si­bil­i­ty for an exist­ing port­fo­lio requires differ­ent expe­ri­ence from repo­si­tion­ing assets, manag­ing investors and financ­ing part­ners or imple­ment­ing a new asset manage­ment struc­ture. Our central ques­tion is there­fore not: “What did the previ­ous person entail?” It is: “What should this person have achieved when the assign­ment is over?” That distinc­tion truly matters.

As I explored in my recent feature on “Tempo­rary Lead­er­ship: Inter­im Manage­ment in 2026”, one of the advan­tages of Inter­im Manage­ment is the abil­i­ty to sepa­rate an imme­di­ate lead­er­ship require­ment from a long-term hiring decision.

It gives the organ­i­sa­tion time to make the right perma­nent appoint­ment with­out leav­ing a crit­i­cal lead­er­ship gap in the meantime.

III. Access the market – discreet­ly and selectively

When a lead­er­ship posi­tion needs to be covered at short notice, speed matters. But speed should not come at the expense of qual­i­ty. And certain­ly not at the expense of confi­den­tial­i­ty. VIA combines Valdivia Consult­ing’s exec­u­tive network with a dedi­cat­ed network of expe­ri­enced Inter­im Managers across Real Estate, Finan­cial Services and relat­ed indus­tries. Where required, initial conver­sa­tions with poten­tial candi­dates can take place on a fully anonymised basis.

IV. A focused selec­tion – not ten CVs

Our objec­tive is not to present as many profiles as possi­ble. It is to iden­ti­fy the few that are genuine­ly rele­vant. VIA there­fore presents a focused selec­tion of avail­able Inter­im Managers, includ­ing their expe­ri­ence, avail­abil­i­ty, loca­tion, daily rate and, most impor­tant­ly, their suit­abil­i­ty for the specif­ic situ­a­tion. The key ques­tion is: Can this person enter the organ­i­sa­tion and take respon­si­bil­i­ty immediately?

For an Inter­im CFO, that might mean being able to engage cred­i­bly with banks, investors, share­hold­ers, audi­tors and the wider manage­ment team with­in days. In other assign­ments, trans­for­ma­tion, restruc­tur­ing, team lead­er­ship or oper­a­tional execu­tion may be the prior­i­ty. Inter­im Manage­ment there­fore does not begin with a CV. It begins with the situ­a­tion that needs to be solved.

V. Start – often at very short notice

Once the preferred Inter­im Manag­er has been iden­ti­fied, the commer­cial frame­work is agreed and the assign­ment can begin. In a genuine inter­im situ­a­tion, speed is often part of the solu­tion. Our involve­ment does not end when the assign­ment starts.

VIA remains engaged with both sides through­out the mandate. Inter­im situ­a­tions frequent­ly evolve. What begins as vacan­cy cover can devel­op into a trans­for­ma­tion mandate. Prior­i­ties can change. New chal­lenges may emerge. Or the assign­ment may provide greater clar­i­ty about the profile required for the perma­nent succes­sor. Regu­lar align­ment around objec­tives and expec­ta­tions there­fore remains impor­tant through­out the assignment.

What do we need to get started?

Not much.

• Func­tion.
• Situ­a­tion.
• Loca­tion.
• Timing.
• Expect­ed duration.
• Key objec­tive.

That is usual­ly enough for an initial confi­den­tial conversation.

Tell us the situation. 

(Image source: Valdivia Consult­ing GmbH in coop­er­a­tion with new office GmbH)