Nov. 28, 2025
By Sam Young
What is Interim Leadership as a Service?
I first came across the term in late 2024 and it’s cropped up more often since. The idea isn’t new. The label is. What’s really shifting is how organisations think about interim. It’s no longer treated as a stopgap. It’s becoming a way to bring in proven leaders the moment they’re needed, not when diaries finally align.
I saw this with a membership brand that needed to bring in senior leadership during a time of large transformation. They had a plan but weren’t confident they had the right set up or leadership internally to help deliver it. Waiting for a permanent hire would have slowed everything down and the future structure was still under review. An interim executive stepped in and got to work straight away on the future state while fixing issues in the present.
That is the strength of ILaaS. It removes delay. It removes uncertainty. It gives a business a leader who takes ownership from day one. And this is where NB Connect comes in.
Where NB Connect Fits In
NB Connect is Norman Broadbent’s platform which brings together a curated community of proven interim executives across all key functions and industries, consisting of leaders we know, trust, and have worked with over many years. It operates as a ‘ready-to-engage’ leadership bench that clients can access the moment a challenge, opportunity, or gap emerges.
Through NB Connect, organisations can engage interim leaders in two ways:
- Immediate insight and direction Access to senior leadership expertise for quick guidance, triage, or decision support when momentum matters.
- Formal interim leadership assignments Deployment of an experienced executive who steps in with pace, owns the mandate from day one, and drives a defined outcome.
NB Connect is not a database. It is a live, relationship-led network of leaders who have been carefully assessed for capability, judgement, and cultural adaptability. Every individual in NB Connect has a track record of delivering transformation, stabilising operations, accelerating growth, or navigating complexity, and have worked with us multiple times across different clients.
We deliver ILaaS through people we already know and trust, not unknown CVs. The leaders within NB Connect are used to stepping into busy, pressured situations and getting things moving quickly. They bring practical experience, clear judgement and a calm, steady approach when it’s most needed. Together, this community gives clients clarity and pace, making NB Connect the mechanism that makes ILaaS real, reliable and effective in practice.
What Organisations Are Really Buying
When clients choose ILaaS through NB Connect, they’re buying three things.
- Clarity from day one - A leader who arrives ready to set direction and focus a team quickly.
- Judgement you can rely on - People who have delivered transformation, growth or recovery several times. They spot patterns early and avoid common pitfalls.
- A defined outcome - They’re not buying extra hands. They’re buying a result. A turnaround plan. A technology uplift. A commercial reset. Something that moves the business forward.
These themes come up every week in my own work. They also align with recent interim market research showing organisations moving towards more agile leadership models. These studies offer useful indicators, not fixed facts, and are worth comparing to your own experience.
Why This Matters Now
Many organisations are navigating shifts in consumer behaviour, rising costs, supply chain disruption and fast moving technology. Permanent recruitment still matters, yet not every critical project can wait for the perfect long term hire. Sometimes it doesn’t need one.
NB Connect gives clients a practical option. The business keeps moving. Decisions get made. Pressure eases. The right permanent hire can then be made without panic or stretching internal teams to breaking point.
A Question for You
If you could bring in one experienced leader tomorrow to create immediate movement, where would you place them?
Which project or problem would gain the most from on demand leadership?