Filling in the Gaps: Interim Leadership During Family Leave
Establishing family-first corporate policies can be a powerful way to retain and attract talent in a competitive hiring market. However, without giving proper consideration to how family leave programs will actually play out, the morale boost they initially provide can quickly devolve into burnout.
Regardless of how temporary or pre-planned a leader’s leave of absence may be, the fact remains that their departure will create a gap. At best, this gap is likely to slow or stall project momentum. At worst, it can stretch internal teams so thin that critical mistakes are made, productivity suffers, and resentment builds.
In the past, organizations would generally opt for one of two ways to fill this gap: contract with an outsourced services provider or reallocate the residual work internally. Neither offers an actual bridge solution, though. Each is more like a fraying tightrope: an illusion of continuity that’s unable to support much weight. External firms might be able to handle discrete projects, but they’re not going to advance the company’s strategic goals. Internal teams already have full plates, not to mention disparate skill sets.
Now that 45 percent of the workforce is composed of independent talent, however, there’s a new, far more effective option: the interim leader.
With their extensive experience in similar roles, highly skilled interim executives are able to effectively fill temporary leadership gaps to provide ongoing stability and seamless continuity. It’s their nature to hit the ground running, and when it’s time for those on family leave to return—whether in three months or 12—the interim leader can help facilitate a smooth transition.
Flexible leave requires flexible coverage
Each family leave scenario is unique, and it’s important for companies to be prepared for all possibilities. Certain types of leave are federally protected, whereas others might be state-specific or codified by the business’ own policies.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), for example, is a statutory right that covers a broad range of scenarios. Though a foreseeable leave of absence requires a minimum of 30 days notice, an unexpected event that triggers FMLA family leave can lead to a covered, unpaid absence of up to 12 months. Currently, 13 states have passed legislation to create mandatory paid family leave programs, as well.
At minimum, your organization needs to be compliant; and in order to foster a supportive culture, you’ll likely want to establish your own family leave policies, too. Whether they’re required to or not, many businesses already choose to offer paid leave as part of an employee’s benefits package. In today’s job market, paid family leave can be an attractive differentiator, and it helps demonstrate a company’s commitment to the health and happiness of its employees.
As Crystal Landsem, CEO of curated apparel brand Lulus, puts it, “At Lulus, we believe in empowering parents-to-be and their partners to excel both in their careers and their roles as parents. Providing immediate and flexible executive coverage during family leaves is not just a policy, it’s a reflection of our commitment to supporting the whole person—because you can lead a thriving career while acclimating the profound journey of parenthood. As a women-led organization, we embrace the strength, resilience, and balance that come with being both a leader and a caregiver, proving that excellence in both is not only possible but celebrated.”
The mode of coverage matters, and if you design your strategy only around planned leaves of absence, your organization will be blindsided by those that aren’t. Plus, some absences might last a few weeks, while others might span a year or more. The recently enacted Pregnant Workers Fairness Act also federally requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for limitations that arise due to pregnancy or a pregnancy-related medical condition. This means there might be periods of time where additional capacity is needed, even if someone going on leave hasn’t left just yet.
All of these family-friendly policies intend to provide workers with adequate flexibility, but if you don’t build at least as much flexibility into your coverage strategy, you’ll be woefully underprepared for the gaps they inevitably create.
Pitfalls of traditional coverage strategies
A well-designed family leave program ensures that any length of time an employee spends away from their role (or in a temporarily limited capacity) is as supportive for them as it is for the larger team. In the absence of adequate coverage, critical work can fall through the cracks, and productivity and morale are likely to suffer. Worse still, the absentee will be burdened with resolving these issues upon their return, thus further delaying any forward progress and compounding frustration.
So, why not just reallocate the work internally? Often positioned as an opportunity for junior staff to gain experience or for executive peers to diversify their skills, this shuffling of roles and responsibilities raises a number of concerns. First and foremost, the internal talent assuming these new duties still have their own roles to fulfill. Overwhelm and burnout become imminent risks, and gaps are likely to pop up in other areas as they struggle to focus on competing priorities.
Second, those stepping up or stepping in are likely to have different skill sets. An accounting executive can’t seamlessly transition into a CFO’s role. Despite their shared focus on numbers, one looks to the past, while the other looks to the future. This mismatch of skills increases the likelihood of failure and frustration, regardless of how competent the individual might be.
Third, the variable duration of family leave makes this strategy difficult to apply unilaterally. Redistributing tasks for a few days is one thing; reassigning responsibility for the company’s strategic vision for the next 12 months is something else entirely.
Okay then, what about hiring an outside firm to pick up the slack? Outsourcing projects to relieve pressure on internal resources can be effective if the strategic piece is already there and the milestones are well defined. But outsourcing work is costly, and minimum contracts are often longer than needed. These teams also tend to operate entirely outside the organization, which can affect team dynamics and cause disconnects that lead to inefficiencies and process breakdowns.
How, then, to provide coverage for absences of indeterminate duration while also supporting internal teams and maintaining organizational momentum? Enter: the interim leader.
Interim leadership as a versatile solution
When it comes to flexibility, effectiveness, and value, independent talent checks all the boxes—and then some. Many have backgrounds that blend operational expertise with executive experience, and when rapidly immersed in a company’s ecosystem, they’re able to quickly grasp its goals and challenges. Their versatility allows them to fill leadership roles at any level of management, from the C-suite to the head of marketing or IT.
Here are three ways that bringing in an interim leader can bridge the gap to maintain—and even accelerate—momentum during an executive leave of absence:
1. Relieving resource pressure while adding strategic value
By bringing in support that actively takes pressure off internal resources, family-first leave of absence policies become truly human-centered. This sort of bridge can actually result in an improved strategic position for the company.
Case study: Support for Fundraising Strategy and Impact Frameworks During Parental Leave
BTG helped a strategy and impact portfolio manager at a philanthropic organization in the global health space find the perfect interim leader to keep critical projects on track while she was on parental leave. The results-oriented interim leader shared the organization’s world-positive vision and quickly went to work prioritizing initiatives and developing fundraising programs to support them. By bridging the gap between technical and fundraising teams, she was able to deliver a cohesive global outreach messaging strategy.
For extended engagements, interim leaders can even provide transformative strategic guidance or facilitate the smooth implementation of existing strategy. Because they’re bringing in a pair of fresh eyes, they have the ability to introduce different perspectives and shine a spotlight on angles that might have otherwise gone unseen.
Case study: Interim HR Leader for Parental Leave Backfill at a Tech Startup
When a FinTech startup needed coverage for their HR leader’s planned leave of absence, BTG brought in an HR operations executive to fill the role. The interim leader drew on 15 years of experience strategically guiding organizations through periods of rapid growth to not only help steady the ship, but also to support and add value across HR, recruiting, and executive leadership.
2. Paving the way for a seamless transition
Transitioning in and out of coverage for a leader’s family leave is nearly as important as the work that gets done while they’re away. Interim leaders are highly experienced with jumping in and getting right down to work without interrupting the current project flow. This seamlessness goes a long way toward reassuring internal teams and maintaining momentum and positive morale during the original leader’s absence.
Case study: Senior Marketing Project Leader to Cover a Family Leave Gap in Retail
With several big holidays approaching, an ecommerce apparel retailer needed a strong marketer who could fill in while its senior marketing director was on leave. BTG matched the company with a seasoned operations and growth leader whose extensive marketing experience and global perspective allowed her to slip right into the role. She took ownership of the customer retention channels without hesitation, and she even helped shepherd the organization through the re-platforming of its planned email service provider switch.
3. Accommodating variable timelines
From unexpected FMLA family leave to planned parental leave, the start and end times of these absences can vary widely. In certain circumstances, a leave of absence might need to be extended or a returning leader may need additional support while they transition back to their role. Prior to their leave, an organizational leader might even want to work side-by-side with their interim counterpart to align objectives, define processes, and make introductions to the larger team.
Due to their flexibility, interim leaders provide a true Goldilocks solution in these scenarios. They’re uniquely positioned to step in for six weeks, six months, a year, or more, and they’re able start whenever it makes the most sense and stick around afterwards to help finish up projects or streamline a leader’s reentry.
Case study: Interim Finance Manager
The former senior financial analyst and interim leader that BTG supplied to cover a finance manager role at an F100 pharmaceutical company wound up delivering more than just backfill. For 27 weeks, she helped maintain the company’s accounting needs, and when the finance manager returned from maternity leave, she stayed on to assist with quarterly close activities, year-end reporting, process improvements, and the development of training documents.
Build bridges before you need them
Whether your current policies are shaped by federal law or you offer a generous, flexible paid leave program, it’s essential to have a solid coverage plan in place to support them. In order to nurture a family-positive corporate culture while maintaining the capacity and morale of your internal teams, that coverage plan needs to be flexible, versatile, and easy to implement.
Interim leaders are an ideal solution, because they can drop into the role seamlessly and provide temporary coverage for a wide range of situations. In many cases, they can even go above and beyond the existing position to help streamline operations and strategically advance the company’s mission.
