The role of the Interim Manager

"The right interim can make an immediate contribution to enhancing and improving shareholder value. in private equity-backed businesses this demands a range of qualities, including exceptional interpersonal skills. such an interim can normally only be found through the engagement of a specialist provider" Alan Cornish, non-executive chairman, Azzurri Communications. Member of the chairmen’s board, 3i

Interim management has an identity problem. Why should this be the case? The term goes back more than 20 years and the market for interims in the UK is as strong as anywhere in the world, with the possible exception of The Netherlands, where it began. Even so, there are still many companies and business people who are far from familiar with the role.

In a survey of UK business leaders in large companies carried out by MORI in 2001, the majority of those questioned said they had never used an interim executive. The proportion is significant. The research – MORI's annual Captains of Industry survey – is one of the most respected surveys of its kind, involving individuals at the level of chairman, chief executive, managing director or president from among the UK’s biggest companies.

Of those who had used an interim executive, 16 per cent had engaged the interim to take hold of the reins after a sudden departure. About one-tenth of those questioned had used an interim to manage an acquisition, and about the same proportion had used one to manage a closure or sell off.

Almost the same proportion of business leaders had taken on an interim executive to speed up momentum in a particular project, and approximately 17 per cent had used an interim for crisis/turnaround of a business. In a few cases interims had been used in mentoring, management development and in preparing teams where a business was facing an uncertain future.

Increasingly, it appears, interim executives are being hired to deal with difficult situations as companies seek experienced, capable, proven executives to add additional horsepower at critical times. In these circumstances, consultancy is not enough. “Consultants don’t usually dowhat we do. We have to go into a business at short notice, make a swift assessment of what needs to be done, make some recommendations then ensure they are accomplished. We don’t just advise, we do the job,” says a senior experienced interim executive who fell into the role after working for three years turning around a business as a managing director.

“In fact it turned into an interim product manager’s job. I enjoyed the freedom and the ability to use all the skills I had,” he says. That job lasted just over two years, more than most conventional interim positions, but the experience convinced him that he could work solely as an interim. That was in 1996, and he has had few regrets since making the move, but he says there remains a problem of role recognition among potential clients. “

In my experience if you say to 90 per cent of business people ‘I work as an interim manager,’ they will look at you totally blank. I don’t think that many people in industry understand the full scope of interim management. A lot of people think interims are people you bring in when somebody is off sick or when you have fired someone.

“In my last assignment my role was that of mentoring the management, getting them to understand what their responsibilities were to other people in the company and helping teams to work and co-operate between departments. You need experience and you need to understand how people relate to each other to do that kind of thing.”

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The role of the interim manager

How do they fit in to a business and what do they do?