When is an Interim Manager the Right Choice?

What is an interim manager? The easy answer is that an interim manager is an experienced executive who takes short-term assignments.

But a highly-skilled, rock-star interim executive is so much more than that.

“It’s badly understood…and a lot of companies don’t understand when to fully use us,” said one experienced interim executive. “We are there to bring change, to shake things up, and to deliver projects that internally couldn’t be done before.”

And then they do something a traditional full-time executive likely wouldn’t even consider: They leave. They ultimately work themselves out of a job.

That’s because a true interim executive is wired for change. For challenge. For making a difference.

Once they’ve achieved their goals at one company, they are ready to move on to their next challenge.

Change Management Experts

Companies facing a period of transition or unexpected challenge — anything from the abrupt departure of a C-level leader to a market disruption — turn to interim managers for help.

Unlike new permanent hires, an interim executive can be onsite on short notice — sometimes in as little as 48 hours — and will stay for a defined period of time or until the goals have been met. Then they move on to the next challenge.

And, unlike management consultants, an interim executive will go beyond analyzing a company’s needs and developing a plan. An interim will stick around to implement the plan, rallying the management team, board, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders to meet the challenge.

The ultimate goal of an interim executive: to have an immediate impact and develop effective solutions that will ensure the long-term health of the organization.

Interims represent the ultimate end-state of the gig economy, allowing organizations to express specific high-level needs and find a tailor-made executive who brings far fewer complexities and risks than a traditional permanent executive.

In addition to filling the immediate need to take executive control due to a vacancy in the organization, Interims add value in many types of circumstances, bringing deep domain expertise to difficult business challenges or opportunities. These may include:

● Expanding into unfamiliar territory (geographies, markets, products, etc.)
● Successfully scaling with rapid growth or expansion
● Retaining high performance/quality during hyper-growth
● Breaking out of internally-focused, management and decision-making
● Addressing stalled growth
● Filling gaps in the management team (bandwidth, skills, or ability to solve major issues)
● Planning and executing a turnaround, often when the survival of the company is at stake
● Developing succession plans
● Correcting poor financial performance
● Innovating and optimizing processes to address quality issues or scale limitations
● Developing realistic strategy
● Reinventing the customer satisfaction/experience
● M&A and integrating acquisition(s)
● Driving innovation and fresh thinking in products or services