Short-term fix

With the economy tightening, many organisations are turning to flexible interim management (IM) solutions, hiring an experienced interim executive for a few months to a year rather than making a permanent appointment. John Bridges (pictured) reports.

Over the past 15 years or so the IM sector has gown steadily to about 1bn a year in fees and there are now over 10,000 interim executives active in the UK, some operating internationally.

For the hiring organisation, the benefits of interim management (IM) include almost immediate access to highly experienced and relevant, cost-effective, and motivated management skills, to lead new initiatives, to cover absences through illness or maternity leave, or to operate as a safe pair of hands, since most interims are sensibly over-qualified for the roles they are put into.

For the interim executive, IM offers a challenging lifestyle, variety of assignments, good earnings, good work/life balance, and the satisfaction and autonomy of running ones own micro business. Additionally, interims operate largely outside the normal corporate politics and hence are normally viewed as less of a threat than a new career appointment. Another benefit is the ability to have more family time overall, since most interims only work on assignment approximately 70 per cent of the time.

It is challenging though, and interims will generally need new assignments two to three times a year in order to make a living. Normally each opportunity is selected competitively, so time must be set aside to source the vacancy and win through the interviews to secure the assignment. It is also not the kind of lifestyle that should be entertained by someone with major financial commitments, due to the uncertainty in income over the year.

Typically, interims operate at about half to two-thirds of equivalent management consultancy day rates and hence often provide much better value than consultants. The distinction between interims and consultants is not always clear cut, but typically consultants review data and advise senior management, whereas interims plan and then implement solutions within an organisation, working as part of the management team.

There are now about 200 IM agencies and providers in the UK, and most of the leading ones are members of the Interim Management Association (www.interimmanagement.uk.com). Having said that, some 70 per cent of assignments are found by the interim themselves, through their own networking and business development activities, so the interim providers (agencies), rather surprisingly, dont yet control the majority of the market.

Unless one has a very specific skill set and industry focus, the best way to obtain the all-important initial IM assignment is through personal networking often with the interims last or a previous employer. Once the interim has completed one or two assignments, then the providers are more likely to view the interim as an established operator and register them on their databases. Some of the leading providers have over 8,000 interims registered on their systems, and so making personal contacts and managing relationships become key.

Experienced managers often decide to become interim executives following (planned or unplanned) redundancy from their employer. They realise that they have the experience, skills and personal qualities to be able to add value to clients and also feel the need to do something entrepreneurial, such as launching their own business. Nowadays it is fairly easy to set up a limited company and launch a micro business, but the real challenge is learning how to network and uncover and secure new assignments.

One of the things that interims can do to differentiate themselves in the market is to join a professional association, for the networking opportunities, and seek a high level of accreditation as a Certified Project Manager (CPM) and a Certified Management Consultant. But the key thing overall is your personal relationships, with providers, other interims and with former employers and clients.

When not working, the typical interim will be networking with other interims and with potential clients, meeting the providers, trying to develop business and further developing their skills and accreditations.

Interims are similar to consultants in that they are driven by client needs. As an example, over the last six years I have worked on assignments in Edinburgh, Warrington, London, Hatfield, Bristol, Leeds and Manchester, in a variety of sectors and organisational cultures. If youre lucky, you can work from home or from a local client office, just like a client employee, but the norm is to be based on the client site. Some interims try to work within say an hours commute from their home, but this naturally limits the number of assignments for which they can be considered.

IM seems to benefit both the clients and the interim executives themselves, and its growth over recent years shows that it is an executive resourcing policy that will only become more acceptable and mainstream over time.

• John Bridges FAPM MBA CMC is director of IPPM Ltd. (www.ippm.co.uk), a micro consultancy focusing on interim programme management and management consultancy in cost reduction and business process improvement. Over the last six years he has completed assignments within the Telecoms, Utilities, Financial Services and Central Government sectors across the UK.