Interim Management
Interim management is the provision of effective business solutions by an independent, board or near-board level manager or executive, over a finite time span. Such complex solutions may include change, transformation and turnaround management, business improvement, crisis management and strategy development. interim managers are often experienced in multiple sectors and disciplines.
Introduction
Interim Management is a specialist and relatively small sector, though growing very healthily. Why is this? Well, whilst traditionally seen as an ‘end of career’ option, this is definitely no longer the case. More and more senior are CHOOSING interim management, sometimes at the peak of their careers, for a whole host of reasons including challenge, variety, the opportunity to focus on what they love/are good at, as well as more personal ‘lifestyle’ reasons. Interim Management is much less nowadays about ‘holding the fort’ – temporarily filling in for gaps left by senior people (e.g. for maternity/paternity, sickness, leaving etc) and much more about delivering change (e.g. project/program delivery, turnaround, M&A, outsourcing).
Clients too are attracted more and more to interim management as they look for people with genuine experience, a strong track record and a focus on delivery. End -user satisfaction with interim management is very high.
In this Section of the WFL website, you can read about Interim Management – it’s definition, its positioning, how it works and how it fits in to the resourcing market. My aim is to help you decide if interim management is right for you and, if it is, to help you succeed.
Interim Management – an overview
Interim Management is an immensely satisfying career for some, but it’s not for everyone.
It’s often exciting, challenging, financially rewarding and can offer real variety. On the other hand, many may experience it as stressful, not least because without an assignment, you have no income!
SIMON BERRY – Interim Management Specialist
Simon is the lead for Interim Management within WFL. He has worked independently for over 22 years with clients in a wide variety of sectors. He has also helped over 1000 senior executives to forge successful careers in interim management.
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Simon BerryManaging Director, Professional Performance Ltd
Key questions
Whilst you may have a myriad of questions, here are some of the most common. Some are probably more relevant only to those who have not yet made the leap into interim management, whereas others will undoubtedly be of interest to more seasoned campaigners.
- Interim Management definitions – the definition of Interim Management has changed and continues to change. In this section, you’ll find some of the history
- Remember, you are running a business. When you choose interim management as a career, you are actually choosing to run a professional services business with all that entails.
- What are Interim Management Providers? – Interim Management Providers are effectively agencies for those looking for interim managers. They are a very valuable route to market, but it pays to understand how they work in some depth, before approaching them.
- WFL’s List of primary Interim Management Providers. There are perhaps hundreds of companies purporting to be Interim Management Providers, though all are not equal in their commitment and professionalism.
- Annual Interim Management Survey. The Institute of Interim Management runs an annual survey, where Interim Managers can vote for their’favourite’ Interim Management Providers. The report gives the top 100 based on these votes.
- The Interim Management Market – size and research. It’s been notoriously difficult to get anything authoritative about the size and breakdown of the interim market. By their nature Interim Managers are independent and don’t tend to report on what they are up to! This section gives the best indications based on what research there is.
- Business Planning & Strategy Just because it’s only you in the company doesn’t mean you don’t need a business plan!
- Marketing – (Note 6.1.8)
- Selling and Networking – (Note 6.1.9)
- Accounting & Financial and Personal Financial Management – as you will be running a business, it’s important to understand the financial implications
Phil Doggett’s new book “The Secrets of Interim Management
There are – and have been over the years – a number of books written about Interim Management – here’s probably the latest. It’s well worth reading. To read it, you’ll need to buy it from Amazon – see below.
We think that Phil Doggett is typical of what is best about a successful Interim Manager– and he wrote this book when he “retired” (in italics advisedly!) Other things may well have worked equally as well, but here he describes what has worked for him.
This is what Phil has to say about his book:- “The Secrets of Interim Management”, a new and unique handbook, has just been published. As the first of its kind, it is an invaluable guide for:
- Aspiring interim managers
- Interims just starting out
- Established interim managers
It also gives valuable insight to those organisations considering using interim managers and those working in the interim industry.
The book is based on personal experience from a thirty-year career as an independent interim, covering over 40 separate assignments. It has three sections:
- What interim management is about
- How interim management works in practice
- The Secrets of Interim Management
The book reveals:
- The “50 Secrets of Interim Management”
- The “ Essential Interim Assignment Criteria”
- The “10 Interim Daily Commandments”
The book is available now on Amazon. Follow this link: www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Interim-Management-Handbook/dp/1527210987
Phil Doggett would be pleased to receive any comments or questions that you might have on [email protected]
Relevant Websites to look at – and mentioned in this Section:-
- REC.uk.com: The Recruitment & Employment Confederation – the de facto professional association of the recruitment Industry in the UK
- interim-management.org.uk: The Interim Management Association – The professional association of the UK Interim Management industry and part of REC
- iim.org.uk: The Institute of Interim Managers – The professional association of individual Interim Managers
- Interim-Hub.com: The Interim hub – a source of info about Interim Management
- apm.org.uk: The Association of Project Management – one of the two UK membership organisations in the UK With 22k individual members and 590 corporate members
- pmi.org.uk: The Project Management Institute – one of the two UK membership organisations in the UK – this one being the UK arm of US global parent. PMI has 3k UK members, mainly corporate
- iconsulting.org.uk: The Institute of Management Consultants – and part of the Institute of Management – see below
- mca.org.uk: The Association of Management Consultancies – the UK professional body for management consulting firms
- managers.org.uk: The Institute of Management – large, long established and well-known – but concerned with employees. But certainly worth a look.
- IPSE.co.uk: The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed is the largest association of independent professionals in the EU. With 68k members, IPSE is a not-for-profit organisation owned and run by its members. It was previously known as The Professional Contractors Group, focusing on IT Contractors, still the bedrock of its membership
