Interim Leadership & Programme Recovery

The technology leader has gone — suddenly, or not suddenly enough. Or the transformation programme has stopped moving, and nobody can say exactly when that happened. Or it is moving too fast, and the thread between the programme and the business outcome it was supposed to deliver has been lost. The board needs someone in the chair who has done this before — this month, not in six months when the search concludes.

Full-time or near full-time, for a defined period. The first weeks establish what is actually true: delivery state, team, supplier commitments, money. Then stabilise — decisions made, priorities cut to what matters, reporting the board can trust. Then hand over, to a permanent leader hired well rather than fast, with a function in better shape than it was found.

An honest assessment of the position within the first month — including the parts that are uncomfortable. A stabilised programme or function with a decision log behind it. Suppliers held to account. A board that knows what it is being told is true. And an orderly handover, with help hiring the permanent appointment if wanted.

The organisation stops paying for drift. The board gets the time to make the permanent appointment well instead of desperately — and the person who takes the role inherits something worth taking.

Neil Catton, GCG's Chief Technology Officer, leads this work. Programme leadership to £1.5bn, most of it on programmes that were already in difficulty when he arrived.