The brilliant future of interim management

Interim Management or Freelance consists of strengthening the management, on a full-time but  temporary basis, in order to carry out a mission on behalf the organization.

Major trends such as globalization; the gig economy, the emergence of new technologies; mounting pressures on costs and performance; the digitalization , Artificial Intelligence, the need to act fast to exploit opportunities; and a decline in the conventional talent pool cause companies to react in many ways – for example, we see how organizations modify their structures and processes; introduce new systems; outsource, sell or acquire companies or new business units.

This business predicament often leads to tough and ever changing demands on management to look at new ideas and new ways to get the job done. To address this, interim managers are being parachuted into businesses to tackle often large projects, at both senior level and more operational , middle-management level.

Interim Management or Freelance consists of strengthening the management, on a full-time but  temporary basis, in order to carry out a mission on behalf the organization: in the form of Transformation Project, Project management, Crisis management, or Replacement of a manager.

Companies are now bound to fast and profound transformations in an unprecedented way as they face disruptive geostrategic, demographic, ecological and digital changes all over the globe. Hence, the use of high caliber individuals or highly skilled Experts as additional management resources, in order to cope with both daily business challenges and the implementation of transformation projects, proves to be a good solution for going forward. The interim management solution allows companies, during a limited period of time, to keep control of their operations, without entailing permanent fixed cost

"Research published across multiple industries shows that Interim Management/Freelance has become a rapidly expanding business choice and its strong growth in developed economies offers a bright future."

But what’s future exactly?
Intermediary level interim management is about to consolidate the flow of independent work (freelance), which is on the rise, in all developed societies, at the expense of traditional salaried employment. Whilst senior executive level interim management help directly achieve the more significant objectives attached to transformation projects requiring hands-on involvement covering preparation, execution phase and handover.

We need to distinguish between two levels of interim management.

An intermediary level: which translates into the placement of operational, functional or project managers who are able to fill a position (human resources, digital, marketing, IT sales, operations, finance, etc.) and to drive forward organization and cross-functional projects.

A senior executive level: the engagement of highly experienced senior managers capable of driving large-scale transformations such as post-merger integrations, development of new activities, international expansion, turnarounds, corporate restructuring and exits from crisis.

What are the benefits of using an Interim?

  • There is no recruitment fee
  • Interim Managers can start immediately
  • Interim Managers are overqualified for the roles they are asked to fulfill and as a result they can get off to a brisk and successful start.
  • Interims are non-political individuals who look for the root causes to problems rather than getting caught up in office politics or silo protectionist mentality
  • Experienced Interim Managers have experienced a broad bandwidth of best practice through their various previous assignments and can therefore guide, advise and help to implement the various actions required to achieve the assignment objectives
  • They represent a good return on investment often adding more value to an organization than the total cost of the assignment
  • They can offer peripheral benefits to an organization such as staff coaching and mentoring as a result of their broad business experience
  • There is no redundancy or exit cost to an interim assignment

Do you want to learn more about the opportunities for interim management solutions within your organization? Please contact us.

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