The introduction of interim management to your company should be explained carefully to your staff. Interim management is the management of a temporary business function by a consultant appointed to a senior executive position. Interim managers perform a wide variety of important tasks, from managing changes in the organization to filling in when a business has lost an important executive and doesn’t have an immediate replacement.
Most interim managers are experienced senior executives from a variety of backgrounds who have chosen to eschew the traditional boundaries of an executive and instead take a variety of short-term and long-term positions in different companies.
Any introduction to interim management requires one to understand where interim managers come from. Interim managers make their career choice for a variety of different reasons: they might require the flexibility of an interim role, they may have been downsized from earlier positions, or they might have begun their careers with the intention of entering the exciting and varied challenges of this role. Typically, they are overqualified for the position they enter, allowing them to slip into the position seamlessly; and they are active, hands-on members of the management team from day one.
Interim managers are typically loyal to their own portfolios – in other words, the most important thing to an interim manager is the success of the job they are currently in. They are independent, and their future careers depend on making your company work as well as it can. Because of being part of a variety of different companies, interim managers are very good at gaining cooperation and support from other members of the management team and from company employees.
A hidden advantage of the introduction of interim management to your executive team is that an interim manager has no vested interest or close bonds within your company, and can tell you the unvarnished truth. This makes them a real asset when your company is undergoing radical change of any sort; they will probably see inefficiencies where you would never even look, and they’ll tell you about them.
Typically, in fact, interim managers work with companies going through some sort of change, and are often assigned the position of change manager until the company infrastructure is successfully transformed.
An interim manager, moreover, is generally answerable only to himself, not to a consultancy firm or other outside agency. He doesn’t have split loyalties; instead, he is totally committed to doing the task you have set before him in the best way he possibly can. Rather than being an advisor to your company, an interim manager is a responsible member of your management team, and should be held accountable for the job he does.
Instead of gathering information, as a consultant often does, an interim manager acts on that information. He is a vital and active member of the management team for the time he’s there, and the best ones work themselves out of jobs pretty quickly. But there’s always another one waiting!
Interim management and your company
Your company’s introduction to interim management should be smooth. Let your regular management team know that you have an interim manager coming in to handle specified tasks. If you have the option, have your management team vet your interim manager before bringing him on board; this will alleviate any tensions at the beginning of your interim manager’s tenure.
Your interim manager, while being a primary member of your management team, is only a temporary addition. Your management team is probably much more permanent. Yet your interim manager has a valuable perspective that your management team lacks. Keep this in mind when you are mediating any disputes.
The introduction of interim management into your company will probably cause at least some friction. By keeping in mind the purpose of your company’s change or interim needs, you will best be able to manage your interim manager, and yet keep your more permanent staff happy.
