The interim management industry continues to grow. Corporations and mid-sized companies are turning to interim managers for problem solving in projects, challenging business situations and interim solutions to unmet staffing needs.
The staffs and internal task forces that could be afforded in the past have long since shrunk or been eliminated under the dictates of cost-cutting. As a result, promising projects often remain unfinished or progress is slow. In addition, the demographic trend in Germany means that the supply of (young) workers and managers is lower than the number of older employees who will leave the labor market in the next few years. All this creates demand for interim managers.
Lack of clarity about the term “interim management”
However, in our daily work with our prospects and clients, we repeatedly find that many entrepreneurs are still not sufficiently familiar with the term “interim management” and the services provided by interim managers. For which entrepreneurial need is the interim manager the right choice from the toolbox of personnel services?
Related terms such as temporary manager, freelancer, interim professional, interim expert, temporary worker and others are also circulating, which obscure the brand essence of interim management. It can also be seen time and again that there is uncertainty as to which problem a management consultant and when an interim manager might be the better choice.
Against this background, key market participants, including HANSE Interim, and association representatives of the interim management industry from the DACH region intensively discussed the further development of the industry at the invitation of the AIMP (Arbeitskreis Interim Management Provider) at the 6th Summit on 01.07.2022 in Lucerne.
Definition Interim Manager
There was also an intensive discussion about the brand essence of interim management and the following catchy definition of the interim manager was adopted:
“Interim managers are problem solvers with leadership experience and strong implementation skills. They are available to a company for specific tasks and for a limited period. They create added value for the company.”
From the definition, the distinction from the management consultant becomes clear. As a rule, the consultant has no implementation competence assigned to him by the entrepreneur, but only an advisory function. In the focus of his activity he develops concepts for e.g. strategies, reorganizations, restructurings, etc., and accompanies their implementation in an advisory capacity in the most favorable case.
The interim manager, on the other hand, usually only briefly analyzes the initial situation in his start-up phase – this can also be the concept to be implemented by a consultant – to focus on solving the problem within the scope of the competence assigned to him by the entrepreneur in an estimated period of time on the basis of his management experience and proven implementation strength.
The definition also creates a distinction from the interim expert. Interim experts are often used in project teams as a project member because the project team lacks a certain mostly technical competence in the project team. An example could be the use of an interim expert who has been experienced in shipbuilding for many years and who is used in the context of an evaluation of a ship under various planning scenarios as part of a larger evaluation team of an auditing company.
We are pleased that this has once again sharpened the brand essence of interim management.
Your HANSE Interim Team
Andreas Lau and Christian Heuermann
Management
