About Interim Management

A service for today's world

The concept of employing an interim manager has been around for at least a couple of decades. Yet, with the need for flexibility in today's fast moving business environment, interim management has become one of the fastest growing areas of management services. More and more organisations recognise just how valuable and effective such services can be.

Read on to discover:

• How interim management works
• How interim management services can help
• Work overload
• Illness or resignation crisis
• Project management or skills shortage
• Effecting culture change
• Business turn around
• Who requires an interim manager?

How interim management works

In simple terms, an interim manager bridges a temporary management gap within a company at senior management or board level. Usually the interim manager is contracted by the company for a fixed term to complete key tasks and achieve set objectives - which are agreed at the outset.

On completion of the contract, the interim manager will then leave the company.

How interim management services can help

An interim manager is a flexible management resource who can provide a company with the right management skills and expertise at a time when it needs it most.

For instance an interim manager can help in the following situations:

• Work overload - all organisations experience peaks and troughs in the demands on their management time. An interim manager can provide a temporary management resource to ensure that a company can implement development projects while daily operations continue

• Illness or resignation crisis - an interim manager could be the answer if a company suddenly finds itself without a managing director or chairman due to unforeseen long term illness or a sudden resignation

• Project management or skills shortage - a company may not have the in-house skills to manage a major development project such as an acquisition. An interim manager, with experience in this particular area can ensure that the project is handled professionally and with the best interests of the company at heart

• Effecting culture change - with no emotional legacy about how the company has been run in the past nor preconceptions about the future, interim managers can be objective and impartial when it comes to introducing new ways of working

• Business turn around - again it's often easier for the interim manager - with an objective eye - to identify problems within ailing companies and implement solutions to turn the business around

This list is by no means exhaustive and interim managers have fulfilled roles as diverse as: mentoring and team development, crisis management, relocation of facilities, setting up new businesses and closing down old ones.

The diagram below shows how interim management can help businesses:

Who requires an interim manager?

It is usually medium to large sized companies that can benefit from interim management services . Yet small companies that are looking to grow may also find interim management invaluable. It provides them with the right skills and expertise at the right time without the financial burden of a full time, senior level employee.

Firth Interim Management usually works with companies whose turnover is between £5 and £50 million. As Stuart Firth's background is in engineering, these companies are typically involved in the engineering, manufacturing or stockholding sectors.

If you'd like to know more about how Firth Interim Management could help your organisation by bridging a management gap then call Stuart Firth now on 01422 824324.