Traditionally, Companies have used change as a competitive lever, so that those with more resources had large qualified management and operational teams(,) and powerful R&D areas with which to lead the transformation from within. In recent years, this strategy has proven to be tremendously rigid, slow, costly and unable to compete with the speed of Start-ups (and) to provide society with the changes it demands. Speed and efficiency have become the only possible strategies and for this, Companies demand flexibility and seek collaborative environments.
Interim management seeks to provide companies with additional tools with which to execute their transformation strategies in a flexible and effective way.
Interim management is a specialized professional service that incorporates external managers into Companies for a certain period of time to achieve certain objectives (and) thereby producing a positive impact on the income statement.
Interim management focuses on execution which differentiates it from other professional services, such as consultancy, which is predominantly focused on advice. In certain projects, it is common for the Interim Manager to collaborate with consultants and advisors, or to execute a strategic plan in which they have collaborated.
The interim managers have extensive, and successful experience in managing situations similar to those faced by the Company. This allows them to make a diagnosis, quickly design an action plan and execute it while minimising risks. They are managers specialised in leading change processes in medium and larger sized organisations. Therefore, they have outstanding managerial skills and are used to managing complex situations.
The Interim Management model emerged in the United States in the 1970s, after the first oil crisis. Many Companies realised the impossibility of maintaining large and expensive management structures and began to reduce them. This process put a significant number of very experienced managers on the market. At the same time, many others, as a result of the crisis, faced new situations without having managers with sufficient experience to lead them.
In this context, interim management companies emerged with the aim of making it easier for companies to incorporate the executives they need for a limited time. Years later, Interim Management arrived in Europe initially in the hands of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, subsequently spreading throughout the continent.
Since then, the Interim Management industry, like any other, has developed adapting to both the needs of Companies and Interim Managers themselvess. On the one hand, the rate of incorporation of new executives has increased exponentially, as well as the functions they have performed and on the other hand, Companies demand increasingly specialised functional, sectoral and geographical experience. They also require managerial and change management skills aligned with the current socio-economic context, as well as mastery of new technologies.
It is clear that, for any company, having a highly qualified, cohesive and capable management team is a great competitive advantage. For this reason, all of them have implemented talent recruitment, identification, development and retention programs that allow them to form excellent current management teams with solid succession plans.
However, the speed of change in the environment, together with the uncertainty that said change generates, does not guarantee that the indicated efforts will allow the necessary managerial resources to be available at all times, much less knowing what skills and abilities will be necessary in the future.
Interim Management allows for a more efficient management of the company’s resources, allowing the rapid incorporation of managers when they are needed, instead of having them present in the organisation permanently.
Interim Management therefore complements Human Resource policies, allowing companies to have lighter structures and ensuring at all times the incorporation of trained, specialised managers who have already overcome situations such as those they face. This last aspect is very important, because it not only allows a reduction in execution times, but also minimises the risk to any project. In short, adding value from day one.
It is also worth highlighting the performance of an Interim Manager. When an executive decides to join a project, he does so after a rigorous analysis of motivations and capabilities to add value from day one.
One of the aspects that managers most value in the Interim Management model is the possibility of focusing on the execution of a single project, however complex it may be. The combination of motivations, previous experience and exclusive dedication make any Interim Manager perform over and above 100%.
Taking all of the above elements into account, Interim Management allows a project approach to be applied to any initiative. Clear quantitative and qualitative objectives, a time horizon and adequate profitability must be defined. With these parameters, Interim Management becomes a profitable and flexible investment.