How to select an interim management provider?

There are many interim management providers throughout the UK, Europe and the USA. Indeed the choice now appears to be so large it must be difficult for client organisations to decide where to start with the search for an interim manager.

I have listed below a number of considerations that might be useful in your decision making process.

• Expertise – does the interim provider already service your industry/operating sector? Ask how many assignments they have fulfilled in equivalent roles over the past 12 months
• Geography – Is it important that you can meet with your provider on a regular basis during the assignment? If yes, then choose a company which operates relatively locally to your organisation
• Flexibility – Do they always get back to you when they say they will? How quickly did they respond to your enquiry or request?
• Heritage & Size of Organisation - Is the interim provider a long established company. Have the senior executives worked for the company for some time. Do they have an established database of pre-qualified interim managers?
• Interim Manager Vetting – how does the providers vet their interim managers? Do they conduct face to face interviews with all managers prior to short listing?
• Code of Conduct – Is the interim provider bound by a code of conduct enabling you to be safe in the knowledge that you are dealing with a reputable company?
• Size – Do you want the reassurance that you are dealing with one of the larger providers or are you comfortable dealing more with a smaller concern which may be able to provide you with a more bespoke, flexible service.
• Financial Stability – Are they a financially viable business? are their rates competitive against their competitors? Interim providers will always ask you for exclusivity for up to 48 hours from receipt of an assignment. It may make more sense for you to select 2-3 providers at the enquiry stage rather than offering one company total exclusivity as assignment fees vary considerably from provider to provider.

Of course ultimately chemistry also plays a vital part because you have to have confidence that you can work with your chosen partner. Good Hunting!

Interim Providers must work harder…..

Paul Wilson, Managing Director of Aster Interim Solutions believes that interim management providers need to work harder on their marketing skills for the sake of their sector as a whole in order to take full advantage of this expanding market.

He states “I often attend networking events/meetings and I am regularly asked what my company does. There tends to be a respectful silence when I state “We provide interim managers”. Indeed even senior executives of companies ask, “What is interim management”. I get asked the question so often that it has caused me both embarrassment and caused me to re-consider our marketing policy and how best to approach our potential customers.

All statistical evidence points at a growing interim market sector where skilled senior interim executives are making a significant difference to client businesses the length and breath of our land, yet this growth seems to be coming in spite of the relevant immaturity of the interim management sector. Imagine what could be achieved if we were able to get our message across to the senior executives of the majority of the UK’s companies”.

Wilson continues, “We have cause to re-examine our marketing strategy. However I believe the onus is on our industry as a whole to make this sector more ‘visible’ to its potential clients. Some interim providers/organisations have already shown the way forward with their award schemes, training courses, strategic alliances with and sponsorship of trade organisations, but I still believe we need to ‘shout our message’ out louder.

We need to connect more with business at their embryonic stages, make relationships with business schools and offer the venture capital market place something other than just a financial skills service.

Our own company has partnered with the Cranfield Management Association from the Cranfield School of Management in an effort to increase awareness of interim management as both a career option and a service. However, this is just the beginning and we intend to increase brand awareness over the coming months with a number of marketing initiatives designed to appeal to the mass market.

Watch this space!

Paul Wilson Managing Director Aster Interim Solutions Ltd - Interim Management