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Fill-ins may be in charge, but how long can they last?

Thursday, April 17, 2003

By Teresa F. Lindeman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Perhaps someone has a problem with commitment.

There's an interim director at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; an interim chief executive officer running the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and interim -- or the other word for it, acting -- top executives at Calgon Carbon and Allegheny Energy.

Not a day goes by when someone isn't questioning the interim status of the University of Pittsburgh's athletic director, Marc Boehm. Hire him already -- he's doing great. Fire him -- he's doing lousy.

In the way that nature abhors a vacuum, human nature resists the idea of anything interim lasting too long.

The politics of being an interim anything are always delicate, said Lee Shull, managing director of the Pittsburgh office of Resource Connection. His office specializes in placing financial professionals in temporary positions. Usually, he said, "There is a situation."

Perhaps an athletic director or a chief executive officer took another job, unexpectedly. Maybe there's no heir apparent or there's disagreement over what direction the organization should take. Or it might be that the organization didn't like the direction it was going.

The situation isn't always dire. Perhaps the chief financial officer has a baby or back surgery and there's an annual report to pull together. Perhaps, bankruptcy's looming, which always makes it hard to find candidates.

Back in the dot.com boom, there weren't enough experienced business executives to go around, prompting an increase in interims. And interims can be cheaper than a long-term hire.

Some people love the challenge, but not everyone can handle it. "If you don't have the vision and the ability to read the situation, you're going to flame out," said Shull.

There are land mines everywhere -- from strong personalities to long-standing industry issues that an outsider may not be familiar with.

In an upper-level position that's very visible, everyone stands ready with an opinion on how it's going. A prime example is Pitt's Boehm, who has been all over the newspapers, radio and TV in his efforts to hire a new men's basketball coach.

And workplace politics can be subtle for an interim: Wear business casual on Fridays but pin-striped suits the rest of the week. Don't act as if you have all the answers or as if you're ready to jump ship at any moment.

Many people will think you want the position -- and you may. Then everyone assumes that how you act now is how you would perform with more permanent status.

"It's a nice opportunity for somebody to prove they can do the job," said Tom Flannery, managing director of Boyden Global Executive Search's Pittsburgh-area office.

Resources Connection prohibits its people from seeking permanently the interim positions they're placed in, at least without notifying the placement firm first. Still, Shull said his biggest cause of turnover is clients hiring away his people. That makes sense to him because the companies have gotten to know the individual and his or her work style better than they would in a three-hour interview.

For an interim, it can be helpful to make it clear to the people who've been with the company that you aren't after their jobs, said Suzy Teele, chief executive officer of Aceda, a Fox Chapel-based consultant practice that puts executives into interim business development positions.

Currently, Teele is also vice president of sales and marketing for TrueFit Solutions in Cranberry. She's held similar jobs at other technology firms in the area.

Usually, her clients want to boost sales and need an experienced person in that job but aren't sure they'll need the position permanently. The assignments tend to last at least six months but rarely extend past a year and a half.

Her husband, Ted Teele, left Aceda last summer when his one-year interim position as chief executive officer of Atlanta-based OneCoast Network turned into a permanent post. Suzy Teele said the opportunity was too good to pass up.

She never puts "interim" onto her business cards when she takes an interim post. That would undermine her work with the company's customers.

"Some people have full-time jobs and they only last two years," she pointed out. Sometimes she's there long enough to put up a few pictures in an office, but usually those just stay in the wallet.

Credibility is a challenge. Aceda's preference is to be brought in at the highest level possible, either by the chief executive officer or someone at that level.

"The interim person has to be given the authority to do [the job]," said Shull, at Resources Connection. "The way the person conducts himself determines whether he has credibility."

For people who want to know what their job will be next year, not just next week, it seems like a precarious place to be. Others thrive on it.

Teele likes to get into a company, analyze the problem and help develop a plan to attack the issue. "Once that's all been figured out, it's not as much fun anymore."