Interim management education is neither simple nor straightforward; in fact, most interim management candidates have broad-based experience with some experience as a senior executive, but a wide variety of different educational backgrounds.
Most interim managers have at least an MBA; in certain management tracks, having a law degree, nursing degree, MD, or Ph.D. will set you far ahead of other candidates.
For the most part, though, the important part of your education is on your CV.
Formal interim management education
Interim managers almost always have an MBA; this is because it’s terribly difficult to find a position on any executive track without an MBA (or in the health professions, without a medical degree of some sort).
A good interim management education will include a good deal of IT information, as that’s where business trends seem to be leading.
After the MBA, most interim managers also have specialties: human resources, OSHA, change management, nursing or law, executive management, IT, etc.
The more advanced your degree is in any one of these fields, the better your chances of finding a position as an interim manager.
Informal interim management education
The most important part of any interim management education is on the job. Companies looking to hire an interim manager are going to look for one who has the experience and proven track record to show he’s capable of the job.
Therefore, your best recommendation comes from your CV. To ensure you can demonstrate this sort of an education, you should volunteer for a variety of different responsibilities.
Learn everything you can about IT, accounting, marketing, human resources. Try to befriend more experienced executives and benefit from their knowledge.
If you’re really lucky, you may be able to find a mentor. Mentors will help you greatly with interim management education by sharing their experiences with you and helping you target skills you need to develop.
A mentor will help you determine what your role in the company should be, and assess your needs and what you can contribute to the company.
Most importantly, your mentor will help you learn how to assess those things in yourself and in others.
Using interim management education
One of the most important things an interim manager has to offer a company is his or her knowledge.
Interim managers have a very special sort of knowledge – with experience, they can come into a company and target its weak spots with pretty good accuracy.
If you could teach your regular employees how to do this, you could really work toward efficiency.
Interim managers are good teachers. They are generally willing to share their skills and information with you – after all, they’re outside the political loop and don’t worry about competing with you.
A company who has hired an interim manager and is looking to use him as efficiently as possible could do much worse than to give him a teaching and mentoring role as well as other responsibilities.
When becoming an interim manager, be generous with your knowledge. Don’t hoard it, share it.
Information becomes more plentiful when you give it to others, after all. And we could all use more information.
