What is Interim Management?

A few words for those who do not know the business of Interim Management. It is an activity consisting in integrating experienced managers into organisations for a period of a few months to approximately 2 years, to lead a major transformation, lead a strategic project, support a manager in difficulty or replace one urgently. All managerial positions can be the subject of interim management assignments, the most concerned are those of managing director, finance manager, human relations manager and those of operational positions.

What is Impact Interim Management?

Isn’t Interim Management by definition impactful? Yes, of course, but here the notion of impact is the same as that given for impact investing or impact companies. I therefore propose the following definition.

Impact Interim Management (IIM) is based on the notion of overall performance of an organisation, integrating economic, social and environmental performance. An IIM assignment is therefore defined as a temporary management job incorporating a significant improvement in either social, societal or environmental terms, or on 2 or 3 of these dimensions. Improvement should not come at the expense of one of the 4 pillars of Overall Performance.

Is Impact Interim Management relevant?

My promotion of IIM to Interim Management professionals and my practice of IIM as part of my interim manager assignments for 13 years suggest that the answer is no, it would not be relevant! Indeed, apart from a few rare assignments for experts in ISO 14000 or 26000, the concepts of Overall Performance, Sustainable Development or CSR appear very rarely in the specifications of the assignments. And asserting its commitment in this area can leave the impression of a lack of commitment in the economic dimension, the priority of almost all assignments. Thirteen years ago I heard expressions like “we don’t want a green manager”, nowadays I still hear reactions like “your image as an operational manager will suffer from this positioning”.

And yet the latest dramatic scientific data on climate change, the fall in biodiversity and various pollutions; our experiences of record heat and drought and the disappearance of birds and insects; the progress of ecological political parties; the European Union’s Green Deal; the rise of impact investing… all these phenomena upsetting society can only soon prevail in the definitions of most interim management assignments.

So fundamentally the IIM is relevant but, promoting it is still avant-garde to this day and requires caution in formulating its presentation and motivations. It should soon become obvious and it risks falling victim to usurpation or becoming fashionable which would distort its true meaning. Ultimately, it will therefore only be able to keep its relevance if it is based on the measurement of its impacts within the framework of a standard, such as ISO 26000 or the SDGs (the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals) for instance.

Examples of Impact Interim Management assignments

• Assignment including in its definition an objective and an assessment of progress in terms of …
  • … personnel safety
  • … management of psychosocial risks
  • … quality of life at work
  • … environmental impacts
  • … CSR approach, ISO 14000, ISO 26000 or other standards.
  • (some of these points seem obvious, but I don’t remember having read them in any of the assignment definitions I accessed).
• Turnaround of a company integrating Overall Performance goals (not just economic)
• Improvement of Overall Performances (not just operational)
• Project management with Overall Performance goals
• Leading a business transfer, integrating the revitalization of the place relieved of its activity
• Definitive shutdown of an industrial site (provided that this has an indisputable economic or other meaning) integrating Overall Performance objectives
• Development of a non-harmful activity for society, by integrating an approach such as eco-design or circular economy or carbon footprint
• And finally, the ideal IIM assignment in my eyes: definition with the parties concerned of the “raison d’être” and the culture of the entity concerned, then transformation of its organisation and its processes in order to align them with this ” raison d’être “.

A Impact Interim Management assignment does not have “to change the world”. It can be an ordinary mission, simply integrating a priority such as “staff safety” and without negative impact on other dimensions of Overall Performance. Finally, an assignment with a purely economic objective can become an Impact assignment, thanks to the circumstances and / or the opportunism of the interim manager, allowing a social or environmental impact to be added during the assignment.

Conclusion

A rapid development of Impact Interim Management or something equivalent would be a sign that the business world has aligned itself with the social and environmental challenges facing our society.

Le métier de dirigeant de transition nous expose dans chaque mission à la problématique de l’évaluation des membres du personnel que l’on encadre et au delà. L’absence d’historique dans la société, le contexte difficile, la conduite du changement et la nécessité d’aller vite avec les moyens du bord qui caractérisent la plupart des missions de transition exacerbent le besoin d’évaluer rapidement et efficacement la maîtrise par nos collaborateurs et nos partenaires de leur fonction.

La maîtrise de la fonction s’analyse suivant 4 critères :

• la motivation,
• l’aptitude,
• les connaissances,
• les conditions d’exercice.

La motivation est la principale source d’efficacité dans la tenue d’une fonction. Hyper motivé, un employé se surpassera pour compenser ses inaptitudes, développer ses connaissances et faire face aux conditions difficiles. Non motivé, il exploitera insuffisamment ses aptitudes et ses connaissances et renâclera à la moindre difficulté. Il peut trouver cette motivation dans l’amour de son métier et elle peut être développée par ses managers et son environnement de travail.

L’aptitude à tenir un poste est une condition nécessaire à l’efficacité de la personne. Avoir la santé pour exercer une fonction éprouvante physiquement et/ou mentalement, être rigoureux pour manier les chiffres, créatif pour développer, … chaque métier a ses aptitudes associés qui doivent être prises en compte dans l’évaluation de la maîtrise d’une fonction. L’aptitude est difficile à développer, il vaut mieux en général orienter sa carrière en fonction de ses aptitudes et les améliorer que de s’acharner à développer de nouvelles aptitudes.

Le niveau de connaissance de la fonction conditionne le niveau de responsabilité que l’on peut occuper. La formation et l’expérience permettent de la développer. L’aptitude et la connaissance constituent à elles deux la compétence.

Les conditions d’exercice de la fonction regroupent les éléments extérieurs qui influencent la capacité à la maîtriser : la bonne définition de la mission, sa communication aux personnes concernées, l’environnement familial, les moyens d’accès au lieu de travail, l’environnement professionnel, la disponibilité de la personne, etc … L’optimisation de ces aspects, souvent négligée, a pourtant un impact important sur la qualité de son travail.

Ces quatre critères doivent être pris en compte lors de l’évaluation et le recrutement de personnel.

Dans le cas d’un manager, ces 4 critères doivent être pris en compte pour évaluer la maîtrise du métier et le savoir faire managérial. Un bon Directeur Financier, par exemple, doit maîtriser la fonction financière et la fonction de manager d’une équipe de financiers. Cela paraît évident, mais pourtant, que d’experts de leur métier gagnent leurs galons de manager sans maîtriser la dimension managériale !

Il y a plusieurs moyens d’évaluer la maîtrise d’une fonction par une personne, en fonction de l’importance que l’on lui donne, des moyens financiers et du temps disponibles. Un manager ou un service RH peut trouver ou mettre au point une grille d’analyse pour évaluer rapidement la maîtrise de sa fonction par un collaborateur suivant ces 4 critères. Pour une approche personnalisée et aux résultats beaucoup plus détaillés, moyennant un coût relativement important et une durée de plusieurs semaines, je recommande le bilan de compétence par un cabinet spécialisé. Pour un traitement de plusieurs collaborateurs avec une vision d’ensemble, l’intervention d’un spécialiste de l’assessment est plus adapté. Par exemple, un des leaders mondiaux du capital investissement de retournement utilise cette méthode à chaque nouvel investissement. Il fait interviewer les 30 principaux responsables hiérarchiques de la société nouvellement acquise, suivant un processus formaté, 2h par personne, avec restitution sous forme d’organigramme par thème, faisant ressortir les plus et moins de l’entreprise. Les résultats sont utilisés pour décider le remplacement de responsables et aider au recrutement.

Le principal intérêt de l’évaluation de la maîtrise de la fonction est de comprendre les points forts et les points faibles de la personne évaluée, puis de fixer des objectifs et un programme d’amélioration. Une démarche plus poussée consiste à suivre l’application de ce programme puis, suivant le principe de l’amélioration continue, réévaluer périodiquement la maîtrise de leur fonction, rehausser les objectifs et adapter le programme d’amélioration, ainsi de suite…

Voici un exemple réellement vécu de mise en pratique de ces principes. Lors de sa prise de fonction en tant que directeur général d’une société dépendant à 90 % des marchés publics, le nouveau dirigeant est informé qu’une chef de service de rang n-2, à un poste clé pour l’entreprise (réponse aux appels d’offres) est inefficace. Lors de l’interview de cette personne, il diagnostique qu’elle a l’aptitude pour le poste (organisée, sérieuse, orientée résultat), un niveau de connaissance insuffisant (beaucoup d’expérience à ce poste mais pas formée aux dernières réglementations), une motivation bridée par des relations difficiles avec la direction précédente et des mauvaises conditions d’exercicede sa fonction car insuffisamment connectée aux autres services commerciaux. Dans les mois qui suivent, cette employée gagnera rapidement et fortement en efficacité, grâce à une mise à niveau de ses connaissances sur le plan réglementaire, en lui confiant des missions lui permettant d’exprimer et partager son savoir-faire (plus de motivation) et en l’invitant mensuellement à une réunion de travail où elle joue un rôle central (meilleures conditions d’exercice).

Pour en savoir plus : la « Maîtrise de la fonction occupée » et une des 7 dimensions du programme de formation Manager 21 présenté dans www.didier-douziech.fr. Cette approche du management propose une méthode pour établir une grille d’évaluation suivant les quatre critères cités plus haut et met à disposition un outil d’amélioration de la maîtrise de sa fonction.

The background of this article are two French firms in trouble, with around one hundred employees and twenty million in revenue each, hiring an Interim Manager. These two manufacturers of industrial equipment are subsidiaries of two international Groups of about 1,000 employees and € 200 million in revenue. Each local company suddenly loses his top manager, for different reasons, but that lead the Groups in both cases to assign an Executive Interim Manager. This aims to take control of the French subsidiary to drive organizational change and allow time to set up a sustainable solution for the management of the company.

This is not a fiction, both cases were experienced by the same Interim Manager 1 year apart

In parallel to the operational takeover of his organization, the Interim Manager begins each assignment with an “integral audit”(1) of the company per four dimensions: functional, operational, communication and value system. Regarding the functional dimension, he analyzes the quality system, procedures, rules, flows, … At the operational level, he evaluates each key person, implementation and impacts of processes, and staff involvement. He also analyzes the quality of communication between people. Finally, using Spiral Dynamics method, he studies the culture of the organization and its environment and ways of thinking and behaving of key people.

He concludes from these detailed analyzes that the two organizations, at the Group level as at the French entity level, have in common a pyramidal organization, dominated by a traditional and autocratic management style, sometimes even repressive. Search for optimization of financial profit and cash management takes over social considerations. The competitive environment is very harsh and exacerbated by several large accounts very demanding in terms of price, quality and reliability of delivery.

Based on these diagnosis, in both cases, the Interim Manager establishes an action plan to reorganize the local company

The difference in freedom of action of the Interim Manager between the two situations is accentuated by the contrast between the levels of independence of the two subsidiaries

Obviously, the impact of these differences is visible in the results of the two assignments

The chemistry necessary for the success of an Interim Management assignment is complex

Among its ingredients, such as for a conventional Manager or an employee, the degree of autonomy and freedom of action given to the Interim Manager are key success factors.

(1) : The “Integral Diagnosis” is part of the tool box to optimize organizations entitled “Management 21”, used by the Executive Interim Manager who performed these two jobs. Management 21 consists of 5 steps: Needs, Integral Diagnosis, Choice, Change and Perpetuation. Some of the “tools” used by Management 21 : The Work, Process Communication, Lean Management, Appreciative Inquiry, Spiral Dynamics, …

(2) : PSE = Redundancy and restructuring plan according to the French law

The world is changing rapidly under the influence of the monetization of society, the pressing environmental issues (1) and the digital transformation (2) that affects all fields. The functioning of organizations is inevitably impacted by these changes, as well as the way we work and therefore the role of an Interim Manager. But how?

A prospective study (3) presented in the article “The Future of Work” in the Futuribles Magazine of September 2017 (HÉRY Michel, LEVERT Catherine, « L’avenir du travail. L’impact des technologies sur l’emploi et sa pénibilité », Futuribles, n° 420, septembre-octobre 2017, p.5-18. ) postulates 5 assumptions regarding the evolution of society and their impact on the way we work (4). I have taken some excerpts from this study, marked “in quotation marks and italics” and supplemented them with other sources and my own managerial experience to present you 5 assumptions of evolution within the context of the work of an interim manager.

 1st assumption: Financial profit comes first => Interim manager: victim or executioner?

In this assumption, “the demands of shareholders in terms of return on investment, which have constantly risen over the last thirty years,” continue to increase. They aggravate the “very strong growth of medical conditions such as musculoskeletal disorders and those associated with Psychosocial Risks… The increased intensification of work causes accidents and medical conditions, but also premature fatigue of workers and exclusion from the labour market due to lack of suitable jobs. This leads to a society operating at several speeds, with healthy employees on one side and marginalised ones on the other,  more or less struggling on compensation packages and minimum allowances.”

Interim managers are often key players in these organisational modes, which lead to exclusion, accidents and medical conditions. They may also be victims. However, a seasoned interim manager, thanks to his independent status and his ability to alternate varied missions and inter-missions, stands a better chance to cope with the changes than other workers, and even to develop professionally and maintain his health.

2nd assumption: Digital transformation as a job destroyer => the robot interim manager

“Robotization has accelerated and the gains are concentrated in sectors and companies that have been able to take full advantage of automation and could improve their competitiveness in increasingly competitive markets.” The most pessimistic scenarios that predict the destruction of up to 50% of jobs become reality. Thus “the employment rate is falling and funds are lacking to finance social protection“. Also in this case, “a two-speed society is developing, with bands of severe poverty“. On the one hand the are the designers, makers and profiteers of this increasingly robotic world, on the other hand the “populations who just manage themselves to get by, who live on small jobs, and in precarious situations“.

To make a living from his job, whether he specializes in IT or not, the interim manager must constantly be on the lookout, re-train, and ensure the teams, he takes charge of remain at the forefront of digital transformation and bring added value to his clients. When there is an opportunity to implement a job-destroying technological “progress” and/or to downsize the workforce accordingly, the interim manager either proves himself efficient and able in carrying out this change, or he excludes himself from an increasing share of his market.

3rd assumption: Digital transformation at the service of mankind => the interim manager as moderniser

In this third assumption, digital transformation allows to “simplify tasks, but also to reduce the health and safety concerns of working populations. Value-added gains are used to finance social protection and training. They benefit everyone. The general improvement of health, living conditions and prosperity enables the population to work, train regularly and consume, maintaining general well-being.”

In this context too, the interim manager must be constantly on the lookout, training and ensure the teams, he takes charge of remain at the forefront of digital transformation and bring added value to his clients. When his mission requires him to implement technological progress that will put into question the organization entrusted to him, he will also be in charge to redeploy the affected personnel to other activities.

4th assumption: Harmonization of organizations => the energy liberating interim manager

According to the study “Future of Work” presented by the Futuribles Magazine, which inspired this publication, “excessively structured and pressured work organisation leads to such detrimental effects on the economy (loss of skills, lack of innovation, recession…) that companies” turn to radically different modes of management “looking at concepts that are collective, collaborative, return to the local level”, decentralisation of powers, self-determination and agile organisation.  Models such as free enterprise (5), harmonious enterprise (6) and other concepts that meet these needs are implemented in most of the organizations. They promote employee engagement and contribute to social stability and higher living standards. The jobs they create provide citizens not only with financial security, but also a sense of self-esteem and optimism.

In this context, organizations that use interim management need interim managers with radically different skills and know-how from traditional interim managers, who mainly bring business experience, the ability to manage and train teams and deliver results.  Rather, they favour managers who develop or maintain the performance of the organization entrusted to them, their own human dimension and that of all the people concerned. These managers take their personal development, and that of their team members very serious, and strive to master management methods that contribute to the coherence and harmony of organizations (7).

5th assumption: Search for Global Performance => the global interim manager

The excesses of unbridled liberalism aggravating social injustice, global warming, various forms of pollution, depletion of resources, geopolitical confrontations and the loss of meaning, brings on an almost generalized awareness of the necessity to react drastically. There is a radical change in the model of society. “People and quality of life play a central role in companies and society.” Gradually, influenced by the population and inspired by success models such as Patagonia, Pocheco, the Archer Group or the village of Ungersheim (8), public bodies, companies and associations are giving priority to strategies and organizational methods that genuinely combine economic development, social and societal development and environmental preservation. Greenbashing and facade CSR policies are no longer accepted.

In this context, the interim manager is selected based on his or her capacity to develop the Global Performance (9) of his or her organization, according to the following 4 dimensions: economic efficiency, staff well-being, environmental performance and positive impact of the organization on the community and future generations. And all this in synergy (10).

Which assumption to use and when?

These 5 assumptions are already a reality to varying degrees. The first, “Financial profit comes first”, is no more than the amplification of the dominant economic model. The “Digital transformation” is in its early stages and is looking for a path between the 2nd assumption “job destroyer” and the 3rd assumption “at the service of mankind”. The 4th and 5th assumptions “Harmonization of organizations” and “Search for Global Performance” can only be found in a few rare organizations, but they give rise to more and more publications, debates, awareness building, projects, vocations, globally, especially among young people. This gives a chance to the last 3 virtuous assumptions to overtake the first 2, but at what speed?

The defenders of the 1st or 2nd assumption treat, in the name of “realism”, the 3 other as utopian visions and consider them only in a minor way or, in some cases, use them to give themselves an artificially responsible image or good conscience. Utopians dream of a quick switch to the 3rd, 4th or 5th assumption. The true realists, who are still in the minority, are aware that at the risk of plunging into a devastating crisis, human civilization has no other choice but to shift towards a world driven by Global Performance and harmonious organizations within the next ten years latest. At the same time, they are aware of the huge challenge inherent to this shift in paradigm.

What approach should the interim manager adopt?

For his part, the interim manager, a key actor in the implementation of these 5 assumptions, has, to simplify, the choice between 5 approaches:

1. to ignore these issues;
2. to reject the issues and to refuse to believe in it;

or to be aware of the issues and opt for one of the following:

3. to be passive, by selecting one’s missions based on criteria that correspond to one’s values, without being militant, at the risk of reducing the number of potential assignments.
4. to be cynical, by acting along any of the 5 assumptions, according to the opportunities of the assignment, to get the maximum benefit from it;
5. to show militant engagement, by selecting one’s missions according to clearly stated criteria (e. g. refusal of pre-defined missions to close down a company) or by accepting missions corresponding to any of the 5 assumptions, but by seeking to influence the course of the missions and the organizations in which one intervenes according to one’s values (e. g. supplementing a purely financial mission objective with an approach to improve the quality of life at work). The interim manager must of course respect the client’s objectives if he or she wishes to remain in the business, but he or she can also try to change them (11).

Of course, the 5 assumptions and approaches above are caricatured. Reality is likely to be a mixture of these and new realities may emerge. The purpose of these caricatures is to sensitize interim managers to the often neglected purpose of their profession. It is not just about earning a living, social integration, meeting the needs of our clients and to develop further. It is also a means of contributing to the evolution of our society, which is at a crucial turning point.  It is up to each of us to make a contribution!

Special Thanks to “Futuribles” for allowing me to quote from their article “L’avenir du travail. L’impact des technologies sur l’emploi et sa pénibilité.” (HÉRY Michel, LEVERT Catherine)

(1) Areas of influence of the environmental issues: energy transition, material depletion, water crisis, human and natural migrations linked to global warming, loss of biodiversity, etc….

(2) Digital transformation = robotization, uberization artificial intelligence, Big Data, etc… see a complete list in the Digital Innovation Glossary.

(3) INRS = Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité pour la prévention des accidents du travail et les maladies professionnelles. The coordinators of this study are Michel Hery and Catherine Levert.

(4) The 5 assumptions presented in the article of Futuribles of September 2017 (www.futuribles.com) which inspired this publication are 1. Work intensification. 2. Privatization of the benefits of robotization. 3. Robotisation with distributed profits. 4. Essence of liberated companies. 5. Relocation. Article original : HÉRY Michel, LEVERT Catherine, « L’avenir du travail. L’impact des technologies sur l’emploi et sa pénibilité », Futuribles, n° 420, septembre-octobre 2017, p.5-18. URL:  www.futuribles.com/fr/revue/420/lavenir-du-travail-limpact-des-technologies-sur-le
A memo on “The future of the managerial profession: Agony or Harmony?” was also published on The Blog of B-Harmonist

(5) Movements of the liberated company: www.mom21.org, www.reinventingorganizations.com

(6) Harmonization of Organizations: www.b-harmonist.com.

(7) See Article:”Liberated enterprise and transitional management” and (8)

(8) Management mode allowing the harmonization of organizations and oriented towards Global Performance: manager21. net.

(9) Models of lead organisations: Patagonia, Le Groupe Archer,  Pocheco, Village of Ungersheim.

(10) Global Performance, a concept developed by the CJD: www.performanceglobale.cjd.net. Read articles: Why integrate Sustainable Development into the strategy and management of your company? and How to integrate the D. D. D. …?

(11) Argument for changing the objectives of the principal: Open letter to 21st century business leaders

About the author: Didier Douziech is graduated from Arts et Métiers Paris Tech, one of the top French engineering schools and he participated to the Advanced Management Programme of INSEAD. He has a 31 years’ work experience, 21 in France, 10 in other countries (Japan, Germany, England and Spain). French is his mother tongue and he uses English, Spanish, German and Japanese professionally. He has extensive experience in most of the key positions in a company: board member, managing director, sales & marketing director, industrial director and data processing manager.

With this multidisciplinary and multicultural experience, since 2006 Didier Douziech has operated as Executive Interim Manager and Consultant in industrial and BtoB service companies, as Managing Director, Plant and Industrial Director or Sales & Marketing Director. This field experience is enhanced by ongoing training in the areas of personal development, communication, change management and sustainable development. As a result, Didier Douziech has developed a structured set of skills, methods and tools entitled “Life skills and know-how of 21st century Managers” which he transmits to his employees when on mission as well as widely through conferences and on the web.

View Didier’s short bio

His service offer:

His prefered position is Managing Director of companies involved in BtoB market. He’s especially efficient in global business development and turnaround of distribution, service and industrial companies. His education and professional experience allow him to be also an efficient sales & marketing director or plant manager.

Specialities:

International environment, component business in the automotive market, glass and material industries, engineering, robotics, NC machine manufacturing, web business, sustainable development, publishing and distribution.

Take an inside look at the different phases of an interim management assignment. Obviously, each assignment has different requirements and focus points, but still, the course of an Interim Assignment is generally the same. One of our vetted executives, Didier Douziech subdivides an interim management assignment into the following seven phases:

Phase 1: Select the manager and confirm the assignment by the manager

Interim manager are often needed during a crisis thus clients mostly look for an experienced manager who can turn around a situation. Therefore they look for strong industry and market knowledge as well as typical abilities of an experienced interim manager: to quickly adapt and analyse, to work autonomously, to be result oriented and stress resistant, to be communicative…

On the other part, the interim manager must clearly understand the objective of his mission, and he must get information about the company he gets involved with. He must carefully examine the contract, particularly the clauses of non-competition and end of contract.

Phase 2: Prepare the assignment

The preparation of the mission, for example during preliminary meetings held at the headquarters of the company should be regarded as “silence before the storm”. The interim manager should use this time to gather information on the market, the structure of the company or the services he will be responsible for, the operational rules, the current businesses and especially the staff he will have to manage.

Once in the heart of the subject, he will have to quickly get his own opinion on many issues and persons; thus, all the information previously gathered will make this work easier for him.

Phase 3: Operational start of the interim management assignment

The arrival of the interim manager in the company is a key moment. Therefore the new manager should prepare his arrival well to ensure that his appearance, his first actions and words will be adapted to his role and his environment.

He will have to quickly implement the first levers of power: set up a management committee, build a circle of trustworthy people who will be his sources of information and relay managers, establish a dashboard on the evolution of the market sector he is responsible for and its environment, etc… In this third phase, he quickly imposes his mark by setting the first rules and by taking some safe decisions.

Phase 4: Observe, analyse … and navigate at sight

When the circumstances are favourable, the transition manager takes some time to study the environment he is in charge of, before determining how to achieve the defined goal. Therefore, ideally, a general manager interviews all managers of departments or in key positions of the company, visits representative customers, factories and departments, gets in contact with all the staff, at least by greeting them, if the company size allows this.

All information gathered is oriented towards the defined objective. Actually, the clients, the employees or the circumstances often do not leave the interim manager enough time for this constructive approach. In that case he must do everything at once and to the best of his abilities – manage, observe and analyze the company in order to be able to get to the following phase as soon as possible.

Phase 5: Action plan definition

In my eyes the action plan is a diverse weapon. It helps to synthesize the list of issues to deal with and the actions to take, to appoint the people responsible for these actions and to fix the completion dates. It is also a means to actively involve staff and to show the client that the situation is getting under control and put on the right tracks. The action plan must be a mix of ideas from the interim manager, bringing an external point of view and expertise, and the best ideas from his staff who will feel valued when their opinion has been taken into account.

A few weeks should be sufficient to establish a complete action plan, but there too, experience shows that sometimes circumstances need very quick reaction and that, particularly in times of crisis, action plans are often questioned by unforeseen events and priority changes. It is very important though that at least some actions with strong impact are carried out as soon as possible.

Phase 6: Execution and communication

Once the interim manager has established his leadership and the action plan has been announced, he needs to prove himself. Indeed, there will be many occasions of potential leadership loss and of stagnation of parts of the action plan: more or less open opposition from certain people, return of old habits, diminishing support of the client, sudden turn of the company, an overloaded schedule of the interim manager, etc …

The action plan must remain the axis of the assignment. It can be adapted if some actions prove irrelevant, unfeasible or with an unfavourable “impact/necessary means” ratio. The regular publication of its progress, at least every 15 days, is vital to tame the unruly and to show the team as well as the client the progress made to reach the objective. A transition management period often traumatises the personnel, thus the interim manager should make sure that all people concerned receive correct and regular information.

Phase 7: Power transfer

As indicated by its name, an interim management assignment consists in facilitating the transition from one situation to another, for example from a state of crisis to a stable environment, or from the absence of manoeuvrability to a controlled situation.

Once the objective has been achieved, the interim manager finishes his mission by transferring to the succeeding management all his knowledge regarding the entity he was in charge of, the progress report of the action plan and his advice for the future. This task is an integral part of the interim management assignment and in general, works better than an unaccompanied transfer of his role to a manager who is often already speculating to get the open position.

About the author: As Managing Director of a 1st tier supplier of the automotive industry (90 employees, 20M€ turnover), I achieved an extensive cultural change towards quality awareness and customer service efficiency, launched successfully the application of Lean Management, established cooperation between the French company and its German mother company, achieved a drastic inventory reduction and thanks to these improvements acquired a 4M€ contract with a car maker. View Didier’s short bio