4 February 2026
At moments of disruption, universities often move quickly to secure interim leadership. The brief is usually clear: stabilise, diagnose, create breathing space. In parallel, or shortly afterwards, attention turns to the permanent appointment. A search firm is engaged, a brief is drafted, and the process begins again. On paper, this looks logical. In practice, it often means the most valuable insight generated during the interim phase never makes it into the permanent search.
This is particularly true when interim leadership and executive search are commissioned through separate providers, at separate moments, with no formal mechanism for continuity. While some boards worry that using a single partner lacks the “fresh eyes” of a new perspective, the reality is often the opposite: separation creates a blind spot.
Interim leaders operate inside institutions at moments of maximum truth. They see the organisation as it really is, not as it is described, hoped for, or presented. They experience firsthand the cultural dynamics, governance realities, informal power structures, and issues that rarely surface in a briefing document. Yet too often, that intelligence leaves with the interim and their provider.
Once the permanent appointment is designed, it is shaped by partial information, assumptions, or hindsight. The risk is not that the appointment is weak, but that it is optimised for an incomplete understanding of the challenge ahead.
At AQ, we have seen a different approach deliver what we think of as a “Double Win” for institutions.
The first win is during the interim phase itself. Using a single provider allows insight to be captured systematically as the organisation stabilises. Boards and executive teams can test assumptions, refine their understanding of the problem they are trying to solve, and make better-informed decisions about timing, scope, and readiness for a permanent appointment.
In many cases, this creates a vital “strategic pause for breath”, a moment to ensure the institution isn’t just rushing into the market, but is intentionally preparing for it.
The second win comes when the permanent search begins. The brief is shaped by lived organisational reality rather than reconstruction. Search conversations are grounded in evidence, not aspiration. Candidate engagement is more honest, and late-stage misalignment is less likely because the context has not been simplified or lost in translation.
Crucially, this leads to a third, silent win: long-term retention. A leader who enters an organisation with a transparent understanding of its friction points is far more likely to stay and succeed than one who discovers the “real” job six months after arrival.
In practise, this continuity often changes outcomes.
In some cases, the interim phase reveals that the presenting issue is not a leadership capability issue but rather unresolved governance tensions or structural ambiguity. In other cases, it becomes clear that the institution is not yet ready to make a permanent appointment and that extending the interim period will materially improve the quality and durability of the eventual permanent appointment. These are insights that only emerge from being inside the organisation at the right moment, and they are easy to lose when interim leadership and permanent search are treated as separate transactions.
We understand why this separation happens. The two phases feel different. They move at different speeds. They are often commissioned under different pressures. But the cost of separation is rarely visible upfront.
It shows up later in rewritten briefs, extended searches, candidates walking away late in the process, or the quiet realisation that the appointment solved yesterday’s problem rather than tomorrow’s.
At a time when leadership risk already feels heightened across the sector, continuity of insight can give institutions a meaningful advantage. As you look at your next leadership transition, it is worth asking: “Are you hiring for the institution described in the candidate pack, or the one your interim leader is currently navigating?” That is the Double Win.
What does this look like in reality?
Following a significant voluntary severance scheme and pan-university restructuring, a leading university found itself with a critical leadership vacuum. The “presenting problem” was a need to maintain operational momentum, but the underlying reality was an institution in a state of flux, with redefined departments and shifted reporting lines.
The continuity advantage: Rather than rushing to replace the previous incumbent’s role (which no longer technically existed in the new structure) the university used the interim phase as a “strategic pause for breath.” The interim leader was given a dual mandate: maintain stability and interrogate the new remit.
Because AQ managed both the interim appointment and the subsequent permanent search, we were able to act as the “connective tissue” for the institution’s leadership strategy. Over six months, the interim provided us with a “view from the inside” on how the new structure was actually performing. They identified where the new spans of control were too wide and where the permanent role needed more (or less) authority than originally envisioned.
This intelligence was the decisive factor in the permanent search. It meant the candidate pack didn’t just reflect a generic job description; it reflected a battle-tested strategic requirement. Furthermore, because we had been “on the ground” during the interim phase, we were able to screen candidates against the actual challenges they would face, resulting in a shortlist that wasn’t just qualified on paper, but precisely calibrated for the university’s new reality.
Executive Search’s Role in Higher Education’s Success
If you are facing leadership challenges that could benefit from the “Double Win” please get in touch with Claire Lauder, Partner – Interim, at claire.lauder@andersonquigley.com or connect with her on LinkedIn or Kiersten Avery, Partner – Exec Search, at kiersten.avery@andersonquigley.com or connect with her on LinkedIn to see how AQ can support you to meet both your interim and permanent recruitment needs within the same brief.
