Interim Management, change management and executive recruitment from BIE Interim Executive
*
Mori HR Directors' Dinner Discussion on Interim Management

3.3. How can Interim Providers promote themselves?

First and foremost, respondents are seeking an interim provider who can offer a resourcing solution.

“All organisations, public, private sector have resourcing issues, vacancies they can’t fill, skills, knowledge gaps... An interim is potentially a way to solve some of those issues, but it is never presented as a resourcing solution. It’s ‘We have this candidate, this interim manager and have we got a vacancy’... If you had a different business model that is actually about resourcing and cost efficiency...then I think they have a market they could develop and grow”

Respondents also think that interim providers can play a more active role in promoting understanding of the role of the interim. As mentioned earlier, there is still a perceived lack of awareness and knowledge of interims in some organisations. And, in many organisations, line managers are influential in the appointment of interims – yet they are less likely to be contacted by interim agencies, even though they may well be more receptive than their HR colleagues.

“The interim market doesn’t promote itself particularly well. It is a relatively young market, probably 12, 15 years old, but many people in the organisations simply don’t know what an interim is... I don’t think people in organisations know enough about, with the exception of HR people, what interim managers really are and what they can deliver. And I am not sure of the extent that interim management companies actually promote that”

Some of the areas interim providers could promote to put forward the case of the interim are:

  • the business case for interims – respondents think changes in maternity and age discrimination rules, for example, are pushing this case in favour of interims

    “We have talked about flexibility, no pensions, no overheads, etc. but I have never met an interim supplier that has sat down with me and put the economic flexibility business case together to use interims... no pensions, no overheads, etc.”
  • the lead time on recruitment. Respondents think that HR seem to be exiting people more readily when they quit, and sometimes that vacant position could take nearly a year to fill.

    “I think that market hasn’t really been exploited so that you can, very often, somebody at (executive) level hands their notice in, particularly if it is in a sensitive area you will exit the business that day, and you immediately have a gap and if you haven’t got succession planning you need to fill that void for a finite period of time, 10 months to a year.”
  • the interim as a mentor to aid succession planning

    “I think very often there is a coaching model… an interim with the right coaching skills can help someone, an internal successor, in transition to that new role more successfully, whereas what you tend to do with the model now is stretch that person now into the role and then they fail or they break because they are under so much pressure. Again there is a market, it is almost a coaching role for an interim to come in and help somebody else to develop into that role...”

Another suggestion was for interim providers to get in contact with professional bodies, e.g. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and have a presence at regional conferences, so that respondents can perhaps talk to, and learn more about, the interim provider there. The Association of London Government (ALG) conference was also mentioned as a venue where an interim provider could seek involvement in if they want to target local authorities.

< Back | Next >

To discuss your interim management requirements with BIE call +44(0)20 7222 1010
*