When someone mentions Interim Management you might be one of many who immediately picture a crusty 50+ male wearing a suit Noah gave away at the Ark jumble sale (which now has worn leather patches on the elbows) and flying in from Western Europe to save the day! Oops, sorry if that rings a bell with anyone in particular; you know who you are!
Quoting from Wiki; Interim Management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, crisis or change within an organization. In this situation, a permanent role may be unnecessary or impossible to find on short notice. Additionally, there may be nobody internally who is suitable for, or available to take up, the position in question.
“Heavyweight”, “executive” are terms which propagate an expensive-to-hire perception and while this is often incorrect and unfair many people shy away from using the valuable services of people who have bags of experience and skills. As people stumble up the seniority ladder they inevitably become less hands-on and more strategic and their ability to generate something like Forecast Bias and Accuracy KPIs from raw data diminishes simply because they do not do this on a day to day basis.
If you need someone to look ahead and guide your corporate ship through muddy waters over the next 3-5 years then check out the senior Interim possibilities. However, there is another approach and that is through bringing in specific expertise at the relevant seniority and skill level. If you need someone to set up a robust suite of KPI’s then why not embed someone in your business with those precise skills? They will be leather elbow-free and will be focussed on getting the particular task in hand completed and completed well. The task you require the embedded Supply Chain expert to carry out will be something they have achieved many times in your sector and in your country and in your language.
Embedding an expert comes with the same benefits of an Interim Manager, e.g. no appraisals, no pay rises, no career management etc, but at a significantly lower cost to the business. As in many aspects of life you tend to get what you pay for but the point here is that you should “pay for what you get” – no more, no less.
Consultancy fees are always an emotive subject but if you take time to look at the detail I am absolutely sure you would be surprised at the cost effective and highly skilled possibilities available, especially here in Romania. Click this link and have a think!
