by Holly Bruner and Hilary Lichterman
I
s an interim position a short-term solution to a long-term opportunity? It depends on who you ask: Some are able to embrace it, while others wholeheartedly dread it. And it doesn’t help that there is little research and guidance within the field of student affairs, particularly in housing. Where is the in-depth knowledge collectively held? Though many of us would like to fill all the interim positions that exist for entry- and mid-level positions at all functional levels, can we feel confident that this staffing change will not negatively impact student experiences?
This is where leadership comes into play. Good leaders should be able to clearly define the interim role, determine how much time and effort must be invested in the interim person and the staff reporting to them, and understand how the temporary nature of the position may impact the staff member, other staff, and the institution. One of the first steps is to understand the reasons for creating the position, the expectations for the staff member, and the hiring timeline. Circumstances that commonly call for interim hires include an unexpected staff departure from a position deemed essential, an unsuccessful search for a new hire, an audition of sorts to find the next person suitable for the role, or an opportunity to pilot a new position.
In some cases, individuals accept a long-term position and then agree to fulfill an interim role as well. James Penven, assistant vice president of student success and retention at Radford University in Virginia, served as the director for housing and residential life while simultaneously serving as interim director of student success and retention. Fortunately, he remembers his experience as a positive one, given the heavy workload he was handed. “The skill sets needed on a frequent basis in the interim role were ones I wasn’t using as much in my director of housing role. As a result, I believe I was able to further develop these. I was also able to build a broader professional network at the institution because the partners with whom I was engaging were not staff I typically worked with in my housing role.”
In order to ensure such positive outcomes, leaders must understand how the interim position can impact the departmental culture and aligns with organizational values. As one respondent from a large public institution in the southeast notes, “Outside perspectives can help clean house by challenging the why, or they can just keep things afloat. If there is no direction from the top, then this transition could be very difficult. If the interim is not a strong leader, this transition could be difficult and career impacting, meaning they could be seen as not capable if they are not successful. If they are removed from the interim position and not hired full time, this could be a sign they need to move on or that there was a lack of support for their leadership.” Being good partners with other campus constituents requires an honest look at the tradeoffs between a temporary appointment and a commitment to permanent staffing.
In order to maximize the effectiveness of interim staff, leaders should understand how these individuals can be impacted by the temporary nature of the position. Interim staff may feel they have no real influence on the unit or department or that workloads have increased without compensation. Or alternatively, they may be eager to use this as an opportunity to trailblaze new possibilities for the organization and to create a positive way station in their own career trajectory. An interim appointment might be temporary, but impacts can be long-lasting. Appointment terms may range from a few months to several years. An assistant director at a small private religiously affiliated liberal arts university in the Midwest served in an interim role for 15 months. “Interim leadership has its place, but when someone holds an interim title for too long it begins to bring about questions about institutional planning and commitment to filling the role.” On the one hand, time can provide the opportunity to re-envision the duties and responsibilities of a given role before identifying a permanent hire. On the other, it may suggest that the institution lacks organizational structure. Emily Weideman, interim director of community living at Carroll College in Helena, Montana, for the past seven months, conveys the challenge of stepping into an interim role. “No one really knew what was happening or what the campus culture was going to look like. I saw my role as the person to help solidify relationships and processes that affected multiple departments so that when new staff came on and it was decided what the culture would feel like, we could focus on building off a firm foundation of teamwork.”
Leaders should be able to calculate an ideal timeline for the interim position. A single month may not be enough time for the interim staff to contribute their strengths and experiences, but several years may dissipate their effectiveness as well as implying a lack of commitment to filling the position. A colleague who served as an interim residence director for an academic year says, “Too many interim staff can damage consistency and strategic succession planning. It can be harder to build a community of trust where people are all bought in and invested in the long-term success of the organization.”
While the time a staff member serves in an interim role may have a deadline, the relationships developed with staff do not. For many, the interim role may include supervisory commitments. For some, having short-term leadership responsibilities can create a sense of unease, especially if the search process has an open deadline. The focus of the interim staff member is to support and maintain the day-to-day functions of a unit or department, but they also need to effectively engage with supervisees. Relationships with colleagues can be uneasy. Placing an individual who currently works at the institution into the interim position can create tensions due to new hierarchical structures. Some staff members may feel they were well suited for the interim role and may resent the new colleague. As an interim assistant director at a small private religiously affiliated liberal arts university in the Midwest shares, “Some of my staff (peers) supported me in the role and did not treat it as a temporary change, while other peers felt that it was unfair that I was named interim without considering others for the role.” Leaders must understand that interim positions do not exist in a vacuum but instead become part of the fabric of a unit or department.
Taking on an interim leadership position requires leaning into uncertainty, practicing patience, and making meaning around change. This includes creating an atmosphere of mutual trust. It can also provide opportunities for current staff to take on additional responsibilities and to better support the overall functions of the department. While some may feel uneasy with interim leadership, having a point-person can also provide a sense of security. Penven notes that in his experience, “The staff seemed grateful to not be ‘leaderless’ during this time period. They knew someone was advocating and moving forward agenda items we needed to accomplish.”
Serving in an interim role can be challenging for many reasons. Mari Strombom, executive director of housing and dining services at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, has held a variety of interim appointments ranging from six months to a year. She cautions that you need to “understand the purpose of the interim role. Typically, in an interim position, you are not there to make major changes or decisions, but rather to keep the organization functioning well until the new leader is hired. Your role may also be to help with healing if the organization was not well managed under the previous director.” The interim position allows the staff member to explore new position responsibilities and leadership opportunities they may not have otherwise had. As Strombom shares, “The interim role helped shape me into the professional I am and allowed me the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone. I was in higher-level meetings and making tough decisions. I was challenged to grow in many ways, and it was an asset in my job search to have professional experience.”
For now, we need to support our decisions to hire interim staff with a foundation of research that broadens the dialogue and expands knowledge in the campus housing profession about the pros and cons of interim positions. The most critical question to be answered is this: “At the end of the day, how can staffing best be situated to benefit students and staff development?”
Holly Bruner is an area coordinator for the honors residence hall and the historic horseshoe at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. hbruner@email.sc.edu
Hilary Lichterman is the associate director of residence life at the University of South Carolina and chair of the Talking Stick Advisory Panel. hilaryl@email.sc.edu