Green Park Interim & Executive Search www.green-park.co.uk

What do you need from a client to ensure your interim assignment is a success?

2011-12-13T01:25:00.000-08:00

I posted this discussion on Linkedin to see what interims most need from their client to make an assignment successful. There were some interesting comments and some differences in opinion, but there was a general sense of agreement over the conditions clients need to provide to get the most value out of an executive interim.

To begin with most interims agreed that they need the clients to provide a clear brief at the beginning of an assignment. Without clear objectives and goals, it makes it very difficult for the interim to hit manage expectations and be seen to ‘do the job’ properly. If the client and supporting team are able to articulate the business problem as early as possible it is easier for the interim to work out the plan to address challenges that lie ahead and plan to overcome them. It’s a simple point really, but anyone in the interim space knows a good briefing is rather a rare bird.

Following on from a good brief, there is a clear need for a robust induction to the organisation. An interim comes into the organisation ‘blind’, not having had the opportunity to gauge the culture and environment. It is important that the interim meets with and knows their key stakeholders from the outset so that they have a clear picture of the organisational structure and systems ensuring no time is wasted finding out reporting lines or scouring for information vital to the project outcomes. Interims are supposed to make a ‘fast start’, but they do need support to get it.

Timely decision making also featured strongly in the responses. Delays around reaching key decisions can hold up the project and alter the goalposts of the assignment. Interim managers need to have assurance that the client is willing to make decisions in a timely manner in order to allow the project to move forwards achieving targets on time and to deadline. Interims are results driven by nature, and they need the client to help them keep momentum.

Other remarks emphasised the importance of trust. Trust between the client and interim is key to the assignment progressing smoothly and quickly, delivering the goals set; without trust, the assignment is at risk of floundering before it has even begun.

Perhaps the most important thing interim managers need from a client is ongoing feedback. It is important that the interim manager knows how they are performing against the pre-agreed targets so that the best outcomes are achieved for all parties. Key stakeholders should be involved in giving feedback on the interim manager’s performance against their expectations and what areas they can improve on to help the organisation move forwards. In this way, the interim knows which areas to focus on to deliver the best results for the organisation.

As always, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts…

In your opinion what would be the single most important ‘characteristic’ or ‘attribute’ an executive interim manager should demonstrate?

2011-10-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

I posed this question to various Interim Management forums on LinkedIn recently - not surprisingly it sparked a lot of debate from senior interim managers: more than 150 comments. In some cases, the debate was even quite heated! Please click here to follow some of the threads.

While I knew there wasn’t going to be one right answer, many key themes emanated from the discussion, most notably the need for interims to demonstrate adaptability and flexibility in a new assignment. When an interim is brought into a new organisation, the role is often subtly different from what they were briefed on in the initial interview. The interim needs to demonstrate the ability to assimilate to the culture and various issues, foreseen and unforeseen, that arise from the preliminary stages of a new assignment. From my 16 years of experience, the client wants to see that the interim they hired is ‘customer focused’ in that they want to adapt the firm to the different environment and stakeholder challenges as well as creating workable solutions to problems.

A second key attribute that stood out for me was the desire to add value and demonstrate return on investment. Clients tell me they need to see real returns when they take on an executive interim – particularly in today’s austere environment. They need to ensure that the capital they have invested in them is making an impact on the business. Organisations want the interim to leave a legacy that delivers value long after they have left to help the business forward. Although the interim is only there for a relatively short period of time, it is the ability to put in place new approaches and sustainable ‘ways of doing things’ that is key to the success of the long term goals of the business.

The discussion also uncovered other attributes such as the ability to demonstrate resilience, perseverance, a proven track record and leadership; all of which I consider to be important in their own right.

So what is the ‘right’ answer?

A large number of people argued that one characteristic is more important than another, while many cheated slightly and said it is a mixture of several attributes that are key to delivering an assignment successfully. It’s hard to argue with that, knowing the complexities of assignments, organisations and the economy.

As the market begins to recover tentatively and organisations enter a new phase, I feel that interim managers need to bring with them fresh, innovative ideas and approaches to their assignments, to help clients change or grow. On many occasions, I have seen how interims that possess the skills to innovate can be an excellent resource to affect changes and set a platform for growth. In fact approximately 25% of our placements in the last 12 months have been ‘efficiency management’ briefs.

As a final thought, I want to introduce the ‘chameleon’ theme that came through the discussions several times. For me, that adaptability and flexibility – and ability to assimilate into an environment – are at the core of successful interim management.

As always, I’d be interested in your thoughts on that…

Interim Management Trends October 2010

2010-10-27T08:53:00.001-07:00

The comprehensive spending review across the Public Sector will certainly affect the interim management professionals operating in that market, but it is probably too early to anticipate the full impact of the changes. More than half a million redundancies are expected among the Civil Service’s permanent employees, and of course non-permanent staff can make an obvious target for leaders sharpening their pencils as they look for immediate cost savings. However, for interims, there is probably a silver lining: redundancies inevitably leave gaps that need to be plugged, and transformation programmes create opportunities and almost always require new talent at short notice. After the dust settles, organisations that are hiring will be likely to look for interim solutions to mitigate their risk and to handle time sensitive projects and programmes – and thereby avoid committing to permanent headcount. The caveat is that there is still a great deal of uncertainty, and the new Public Sector will hire with far greater attention to detail and due diligence.

On the Private Sector side, the ongoing recovery in demand for interims across Financial Services and Retail and Consumer markets is cause for some optimism. In the last six months, we’ve seen a 26% increase in interim FS roles, with Retail and Consumer not far behind, with an 18% increase. Both areas tend to be focusing on growth and transformation, which is encouraging following a protracted period of inertia since the financial crisis. It’s an interesting time, but there are some promising signs that we’ll be facing a brighter outlook in the New Year.

Interim Management Update September 2010

2010-10-27T02:32:00.000-07:00

It’s an interesting time to be in interim management. The Public Sector slowdown looks set to hit a critical point in October, when we should have a better idea of where – and how much – the Government will be spending. How will interim managers fare? One of our most experienced senior interims went so far as to describe the sector as ‘held together by interims’, and pointed to any number of high profile Civil Service initiatives and organisations that have historically relied heavily on (and still rely on) interims. Realistically, the ‘non-permanent’ workforce always seems to attract the sharpened budgetary pencil, and our interims across the Public Sector are reactivating their Private Sector networks in anticipation. However, cutbacks very often generate an increase in demand for interims in the following months, as organisations realise ‘someone needs to do the work – and fast’ and re-engage interims, who have experience assimilating themselves into the culture and making a difference from the first day.

On the Private Sector side, the Financial Services sector continues to grow, with a noticeable increase in interim Finance and Change roles in particular. While the change roles for the last couple of years might have been classed as ‘remedial’, the roles emerging in the last few months have been far more positive, focused around change for growth, including expansion of operations and product lines. It’s an encouraging sign, and hopefully a precursor to a lift in demand for interims across the ‘corporate’ office, as companies backfill the infrastructure they need to support growth.