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Into the breach
Interim managers are no longer brought in just for emergencies, but can fulfil important roles in corporate strategy. Widget Finn talks to companies that have benefited from their service and finds out what drives these high-flying specialists.
Interim managers are here today and gone tomorrow – that’s their biggest selling point. Whether you have a sudden crisis, a gap to fill, or a project or situation that requires special expertise, the interim can be in post within 24 hours of your phone call. When the job is completed they go. No costly golden handshakes, no expensive employment packages, no fat pension arrangements. In the current climate of uproar about “corporate fat cats” they seem like value for money.
But what is an interim and do they really help your business? Interim managers have been around for two decades, but the perception of them as middle-management temps is hard to throw off. On the contrary, interims are senior managers, often operating at board level and commanding daily fees of £500 to £1500.
Initially they were seen as emergency solutions, brought in at a moment’s notice if a key person departed suddenly. While interims remain invaluable in a crisis, they are increasingly used as a key art of corporate strategy. According to Martin Wood of interim search consultants BIE, the economic pressures of the last three years have changed the nature of the assignments. He says: “Interims were used mainly for mergers and acquisitions and as stop-gaps for failed searches, but now the focus is to use interims to help with cost reduction, restructuring, turnarounds and downsizing. In particular there is a heavy demand for financial directors and human resource specialists”........
The interim role is often confused with management consultancy. Consultants will advise, but not implement, interims roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. According to Sean Egan, CEO of Bluecycle.com [a BIE client]: “With an interim you get what you pay for – with a consultant you often buy from the expert and get the trainee doing the job”........
Three years ago, MORI UK needed a finance director quickly for a management buyout, and appointed one within a few days through BIE. More recently, when the need arose for an IT director, Mike Everett, MORI’S MD, decided to go down the same route again. He says: “We had a homegrown IT team that lacked experience and needed someone more senior to run it, but I wasn’t sure what the role would involve. We brought in an interim IT director ... who was vastly over-qualified for the job – we have 250 staff in London, but she had run departments six times that size, so had instant credibility. Some of the team thought they could have done the job until they realised how much experience she had”........
Mike Everett advises keeping flexible. “Set wide parameters and prepare to change your mind when they tell you what really needs to be done.” But he says that the first item is to plan their departure. “Partly because interims are expensive, but mainly because they’re good at short-term goals but are less effective if they become part of the furniture. Our IT director stayed six months, which was perfect.”
Widget Finn, Livewire, GNER magazine, Summer 2003
To discuss your interim management requirements with BIE call +44(0)20 7222 1010