Real Life of an MSW

I joined a new company 18 months ago to lead a small team. Six months in, my director was fired, and I agreed to take on their role in addition to my own while they hired a replacement. Since then, they have hired and fired two additional directors, and a third was hired but never started. I have now been doing the interim role for a year and have once again been asked to continue in this capacity while they determine next steps. I applied for the director role but was told I don’t have the required experience. This has made it extremely challenging to do my job; in an interim role I don’t have formal authority to make key decisions or establish a long-term strategy, and I do not have a manager who can support me to do so. I am paid well and would like to stay at the company but am extremely frustrated by the stonewalling. Do you have any advice on how I can help bring this to some kind of resolution? — Anonymous, New York City

Serving in interim roles can be an incredibly thankless task. I understand your frustration. It’s strange to be asked to serve as interim director and then be told you don’t have enough experience to be promoted to a director position. I would meet with your manager and explain the challenges you’re dealing with. Ask if, while you’re in this interim role, which you’ve been doing for a significant amount of time, you can make the necessary decisions and strategic plans that will, ultimately, benefit the organization. I would also ask if you can, together, chart a path to promotion. If this doesn’t produce results, you have to decide if the benefits of your job outweigh the frustrations and proceed accordingly.