{"id":85,"date":"2010-05-18T11:21:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-18T11:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/?p=85"},"modified":"2025-04-02T04:45:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T04:45:57","slug":"interim-management-the-first-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/interim-management-the-first-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Interim Management \u2013 Life at the Sharp End (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Part 1: Interim Management: Life at the Sharp End of the Business<\/a>
Part 3: Interim Management: Turnaround<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interim Management – The First Week<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Never is the saying more true to the letter \u201cThere is no second chance for a first impression\u201d than when you first enter your new company as an interim general manager. You prepared yourself well, you have your script and you have the necessary authorisation by the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you feel well prepared for the task. At this point, let me say a word about the dress code and I do not mean white tennis socks. You will have to fit in which means that if your client is a manufacturing SME in a more rural area of the country it is a bad idea to show up in Oxford shirt and pin-stripe suit. Do not overdress nor underdress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First Week \u2013 Day One and beyond<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, do not enter the company on your own, having to explain to the receptionist who you are. The chairperson of the company or his\/her deputy is at the reception to meet you and introduce you to whoever they deem necessary on your way to the boardroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There, the first meeting of the executive committee (on the continent, the executive management members usually are not members of the board but members of the executive committee or Vorstand as it is called in Germany) will start immediately. The situation is different if massive lay-offs are necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These have to be prepared before the first day and the executive meeting serves as a last briefing about the script for the information meeting with the entire staff. So let\u2019s assume that the following is a company without the need for mass-layoffs to balance the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the introduction round which has to be broad to give you a feeling about the character of every person present in the room you start with the first meeting, after having explained a few ground rules some of which may seem like trivia but you will need to establish yourself as the new boss immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n