Temporary leadership:
Interim management in 2026

By Antho­ny Baumruk

What happens when a key posi­tion becomes vacant at short notice? Who leads the team until a perma­nent succes­sor is found? Who keeps projects on track when inter­nal resources are already tied up? And when is it wiser to initial­ly rely on an expe­ri­enced inter­im manag­er rather than making a long-term appoint­ment deci­sion under pressure?

Tempo­rary lead­er­ship: When inter­im manage­ment will become a strate­gic option in 2026

For senior manage­ment, HR and share­hold­ers, a vacan­cy at exec­u­tive level is far more than just a person­nel issue. It affects deci­sion-making capac­i­ty, stabil­i­ty and the speed of imple­men­ta­tion – and, not least, cred­i­bil­i­ty both inter­nal­ly and externally.

It is precise­ly in these situ­a­tions that inter­im manage­ment proves to be an effec­tive tool – partic­u­lar­ly for compa­nies in the construc­tion, prop­er­ty and finance sectors in the current market environment.

When a vacan­cy cannot wait

Fill­ing a perma­nent exec­u­tive posi­tion takes time. This is partic­u­lar­ly true and neces­sary for C‑level, divi­sion­al manage­ment or key roles. A robust job profile, a target­ed approach, thor­ough inter­views and a rigor­ous selec­tion process are crucial if a posi­tion is to be the right fit in the long term. We also demon­strate why this approach is central to our work in our series ‘Exec­u­tive Search with Depth’.

Howev­er, the organ­i­sa­tion itself cannot wait.

After all, team­work requires direc­tion, and impor­tant deci­sions must be made. Clients, investors, banks, project part­ners and inter­nal stake­hold­ers right­ly expect reli­a­bil­i­ty. This gap aris­es from long-term staffing deci­sions and short-term lead­er­ship needs.

An inter­im manag­er can fill this gap with­out short­en­ing the process of a perma­nent appoint­ment or compro­mis­ing on qual­i­ty. For HR and senior manage­ment, this means that inter­im manage­ment is not mere­ly a stop­gap measure. It can create the neces­sary space to prepare a long-term appoint­ment with due diligence.

Trust is built on clarity

A ques­tion I am often asked is: How quick­ly can an exter­nal exec­u­tive become effec­tive with­in an organisation?

Prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence shows that trust in expe­ri­enced inter­im exec­u­tives often devel­ops more quick­ly than expect­ed. The key lies in the clar­i­ty of the mandate: a defined remit, a clear time­frame and specif­ic objec­tives. Inter­im managers do not approach their role with long-term person­al inter­ests in mind, but with a precise focus on implementation.

This trans­paren­cy provides direc­tion at all levels. The manage­ment team and share­hold­ers have clear expec­ta­tions regard­ing results, HR can clear­ly define the role, teams under­stand the remit and context, and exter­nal stake­hold­ers expe­ri­ence stabil­i­ty and leadership.

Added to this is expe­ri­ence: seasoned inter­im managers are famil­iar with compa­ra­ble situ­a­tions – from trans­for­ma­tions and restruc­tur­ing to peri­ods of growth or crisis. They set the right prior­i­ties early on, build accep­tance and quick­ly achieve oper­a­tional effectiveness.

When inter­im manage­ment becomes the right option

Inter­im manage­ment becomes partic­u­lar­ly rele­vant when lead­er­ship capac­i­ty is need­ed at short notice, yet a perma­nent appoint­ment requires time or needs to be prepared with due care and atten­tion. Typi­cal trig­gers include unex­pect­ed vacan­cies in key posi­tions, trans­for­ma­tion projects with a high degree of time-sensi­tive and oper­a­tional urgency, or clear­ly defined special tasks for which neither suffi­cient capac­i­ty nor specif­ic exper­tise is avail­able internally.

In these situ­a­tions, inter­im manage­ment enables imme­di­ate action to be taken with­out having to make strate­gic HR deci­sions under time pres­sure. It combines short-term effec­tive­ness with the neces­sary breath­ing space to devel­op a viable, long-term solution.

This opens up addi­tion­al strate­gic scope for action, partic­u­lar­ly for HR and senior manage­ment. Inter­im solu­tions create stabil­i­ty during tran­si­tion­al phas­es, whilst at the same time allow­ing for the struc­tured prepa­ra­tion of long-term succes­sion plan­ning. They ensure the imple­men­ta­tion of crit­i­cal projects when inter­nal resources are already tied up, and bring in target­ed exter­nal exper­tise – partic­u­lar­ly where an inde­pen­dent perspec­tive and oper­a­tional drive are both required.

Current market data also demon­strates that inter­im manage­ment has long since become more than just a stop­gap solu­tion. The DDIM Market Study 2026 by the Inter­im Managers ( esti­mates the market volume in Germany at around 2.7 billion euros and fore­casts approx­i­mate­ly 12,500 inter­im managers in the market. This makes it clear that tempo­rary lead­er­ship has devel­oped into a rele­vant tool for profes­sion­al corpo­rate governance.

What is crucial here is not so much short-term avail­abil­i­ty as the precise fit of the indi­vid­ual appoint­ed: in terms of profes­sion­al exper­tise, cultur­al fit and suit­abil­i­ty for the company’s current phase. Only when these factors work togeth­er does inter­im manage­ment realise its full strate­gic value.

Short-term vacan­cies at exec­u­tive or divi­sion­al manage­ment level

When unex­pect­ed vacan­cies arise, care­ful succes­sion plan­ning comes up against the urgent need for action. Teams need lead­er­ship, projects require deci­sions, and exter­nal part­ners need reli­a­bil­i­ty. Inter­im exec­u­tives ensure stabil­i­ty during this phase and safe­guard the organisation’s abil­i­ty to oper­ate effectively.

• Trans­for­ma­tion and implementation
  Change requires more than just tech­ni­cal exper­tise. It demands effec­tive steer­ing, clear commu­ni­ca­tion and the abil­i­ty to recon­cile differ­ing inter­ests. Expe­ri­enced inter­im managers set prior­i­ties, engage stake­hold­ers and ensure consis­tent implementation.
• Finance, Port­fo­lio and Asset Management
  In the prop­er­ty sector in partic­u­lar, needs often arise in finance-relat­ed roles. Complex require­ments relat­ing to financ­ing, report­ing, budget­ing or repo­si­tion­ing can be effec­tive­ly struc­tured, risks reduced and deci­sion-making accel­er­at­ed through tempo­rary leadership.
• Growth and Organ­i­sa­tion­al Development
  Dynam­ic growth often means that struc­tures and process­es fail to keep pace. Inter­im manage­ment helps to manage these tran­si­tions profes­sion­al­ly – with­out having to rush into estab­lish­ing perma­nent structures.

We explore the role lead­er­ship plays in digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion in our arti­cle ‘Lead­er­ship in the Age of AI’.

What deci­sion-makers should bear in mind

Inter­im manage­ment is most effec­tive when the mandate is clear­ly defined: is the aim stabil­i­sa­tion, bridg­ing a gap, trans­for­ma­tion or oper­a­tional implementation?

Equal­ly crucial is the profile. Success­ful inter­im managers combine expe­ri­ence with the abil­i­ty to adapt quick­ly, the capac­i­ty to make deci­sive deci­sions in the face of uncer­tain­ty, and strong rapport-build­ing skills with­in the organisation.

Ulti­mate­ly, inte­gra­tion deter­mines success: clear deci­sion-making author­i­ty, trans­par­ent commu­ni­ca­tion and a clear­ly defined mandate create the neces­sary accep­tance for rapid effectiveness.

This is where VIA – Valdivia Inter­im Asso­ciates comes in. Focus­ing on the construc­tion, prop­er­ty and finance sectors, we match compa­nies with care­ful­ly select­ed inter­im exec­u­tives who are a good fit for the situ­a­tion, both profes­sion­al­ly and person­al­ly.

Why inter­im manage­ment will become increas­ing­ly impor­tant by 2026

The prop­er­ty sector remains char­ac­terised by constant change: financ­ing, regu­la­tion, ESG, digi­tal­i­sa­tion and rising demands are increas­ing the pres­sure to adapt. At the same time, expe­ri­enced exec­u­tives are in short supply, and recruit­ment is taking longer. For compa­nies, this means that flex­i­bil­i­ty is becom­ing an inte­gral part of their HR strat­e­gy. Along­side perma­nent appoint­ments, solu­tions are need­ed to ensure the organ­i­sa­tion remains capa­ble of acting at short notice.

Inter­im manage­ment is not mere­ly a stop­gap solu­tion, but a target­ed tool for making lead­er­ship and the abil­i­ty to deliv­er results avail­able as and when needed.

Conclu­sion

Not every lead­er­ship vacan­cy requires a perma­nent appoint­ment straight away. Precise­ly because these deci­sions are strate­gic, they should be made with the neces­sary care.

Inter­im manage­ment creates the neces­sary scope for this: it stabilis­es the organ­i­sa­tion, ensures imple­men­ta­tion and takes the pres­sure off organ­i­sa­tions during crit­i­cal phas­es. For compa­nies in the prop­er­ty sector, tempo­rary lead­er­ship thus becomes an effec­tive comple­ment – deployed precise­ly when it matters most.

With VIA – Valdivia Inter­im Asso­ciates, we support compa­nies during crucial phas­es of their devel­op­ment with expe­ri­enced inter­im exec­u­tives: avail­able at short notice, with indus­try exper­tise and commit­ted to making an impact from day one.

Are you current­ly assess­ing whether an inter­im solu­tion would be suit­able for your compa­ny? I look forward to discussing this with you.

Antho­ny Baumruk

Part­ner

Valdivia Consult­ing GmbH

T +49 69 348 685 323

M +49 176 1088 7071

abaumruk@valdivia-consulting.com

Sources

Source of market figures: DDIM Market Study 2026, Dachge­sellschaft Deutsches Inter­im Manage­ment e.V. (DDIM).

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