Insight 02: What teams really need from interim leadership
Interim leadership often used to speed things up. In the current hospitality context, however, calm, predictability, and listening appear to be the determining factors for success. This article explores what teams really need from interim leadership today.
The reality in the workplace
When interim leadership deployed, organizations are often already in a phase of change. Teams have experienced multiple reorganizations, changes in management, or strategic adjustments. The pressure to continue performing is high, while direction .
What becomes apparent is not a lack of commitment, but caution. Teams know what is expected of them, but lack guidance in terms of priorities and desicion-making.
What interim leadership requires leadership
Effective interim leadership less speed and more positioning. Being present. Understanding what is going on. And making it clear what will and will not change.
Teams need:
calm communication
clear frameworks
consistent leadership
Listening is not a soft skill in this context, but a necessary leadership intervention.
Best practices from the sector
Within hotel organizations recovering from rapid growth or radical changes, interim leadership proves leadership when it begins with observation and dialogue. Instead of immediately introducing new KPIs or structures, the first step is to invest in restoring cohesion.
Only when direction trust restored can acceleration follow. The result is greater ownership, fewer escalations, and more stable performance.
Closing
Interim leadership not a temporary solution.
It is a strategic moment to restore trust, direction cohesion.
Further reflection
A Practice Insight from a leadership perspective:
The Practice Insight below is a separate reflection. While the article describes the broader context and best practices, this box focuses on my perspective as a leader and how listening, choices, and direction come together direction practice.
From practice
Perspective & leadership lens
Context
In organizations under pressure, interim leadership is leadership used to bring stability.
What is really going on
Teams are not unmotivated, but cautious. There is a need for predictability and clarity in desicion-making.
The conscious choice
Interim leadership with listening and being present in operations.
The intervention
By limiting priorities, desicion-making , and explaining choices, trust is created.
The effect
Teams are taking responsibility again and performance .
Insight
Interim leadership when the focus is on recovery, not control.
This insight is part of an ongoing reflection on leadership, operations transformation hospitality. The perspectives are based on practical experience, shaped by listening and focused on bringing clarity back to complex organizations.
About the author:
Ingmar Sloothaak works with hotel organizations undergoing transition, growth, or change. His work combines people-oriented leadership operational and commercial clarity, supporting teams and leadership structures when stability, movement, or direction is direction .