The market for interim managers may be in the doldrums along
with the rest of the IT market, but the business case for employing
temporary managers remains strong.
Interims can be employed to carry out a wide variety of tasks. For
example, veteran interim manager Colin Beveridge has had a wide
range of roles during his career, including:
- Acting as a "safe pair of hands" during a merger of utility
companies;
- Providing maternity cover for a European services
manager;
- Being a programme manager and sponsor of infrastructure renewal
projects at UK clearing house Bacs.
Although the reasons for employing interim IT managers have not
changed, the market has. With the low levels of activity in
corporate IT, such as the reduction in mergers and acquisitions and
fewer projects, the demand for interims has fallen
dramatically.
There are no figures stating the number of interim managers but
Richard Lambert, chairman of the Interim Management Association,
estimates there to be about 100 interims with the experience to
take on an IT director's role or manage a major project.
Interim managers' rates have plummeted in recent years, according
to industry observers. Typical day rates are now £400 to £500,
compared with £1,500 during the run-up to 2000.
Interims are further discounting their rates to win one of the few
assignments around and every job is flooded with applicants. IT
directors can pick and choose who they want - and usually name
their price.
"The market is over-supplied with top quality people and the entry
age is dropping," said Norrie Johnston, managing director of
interims agency ExecutiveOnline.
"We see people aged 38 when it used to be 48. Rates in the IT and
telecommunications sector are down by about 40% compared with three
or four years ago. I am recruiting an IT operations director at the
moment and have had 35 responses in the first day."
To have any chance of winning an assignment, interims should target
a specific post and justify why their experience and ability
matches the required profile, rather than relying on the client to
wade through CVs to find theappropriate candidate.
Interims are normally over-qualified for the jobs they are taken on
to do. The aim is to acquire somebody who can hit the ground
running, who has many years' experience and needs no hand-holding
or running in.
Interims are also outsiders with no political or emotional baggage
or partisan loyalties. They can also be brought in by management to
knock some heads together and incite action on a stalled
project.
However, interims are often brought in simply to tide things over
between permanent appointments. Succession management is seldom
seamless and an interim can be an essential "patch" at levels where
it can take months to find a new permanent manager.
Jennie Lewis was appointed as an interim IT manager at the London
Borough of Waltham Forest last October. Her job description was to
make the department more efficient.
Although her initial contract was for only four months, it has been
extended to one year. Prior to her appointment, the council had not
had a permanent head of IT for two years.
"Where an interim really comes into their own is when there is a
change management agenda," she said.
Lewis said outsiders stand a greater chance of succeeding in
transforming not just the procurement or implementation processes,
but also in getting end-users to recognise IT as a vital resource
rather than a needless expense.
"That is my toughest task," she said, "but the message is getting
through."
Since her appointment Lewis has set up new service level agreements
and monitoring processes and also leads a series of e-government
projects.
However, interims are not a universal remedy. Experts have warned
that over-reliance on successive or multiple interims can lead to
short-term thinking and create instability.
Interims can also sometimes "go native" and align with political
fiefdoms, seek to artificially extend their assignment or wheedle a
permanent position in the company.
Experts have also warned that the interim manager's remit needs to
be clearly defined in order to get value for money.
"It is extremely important to understand what you want the interim
to do. For example, if you want them to help educate the existing
team, expertise in coaching and team building has to be a primary
requirement," said John Mahoney, vice-president at analyst firm
Gartner.
"If you are looking for a hotshot head of operations, you may find
it has all gone swimmingly but there has been no knowledge
transfer."
The relationship between the interim and the hiring manager is also
crucial. Lewis goes to management board meetings, works as an
operational and line manager and is asked to complete staff
appraisals, but is still an outsider. "I am a hybrid. I can say
things a permanent manager cannot," she said.
Interim managers can fulfil various roles, ranging from
tough-talking departmental trouble-shooter to managerial support
for a large project. However, experts recommend that interim
managers should be used sparingly and organisations should be aware
of the resentment an outsider could generate.
In certain circumstances interim managers can do more harm than
good.
Interim benefits
Duncan Sedgewick, former business transformation director at
Powergen, offers seven reasons for choosing an interim manager:
- Delivery; consultants draw up plans
- Fast arrival - sometimes in days. You do not always know what
is needed three months in advance
- Focus on task and not diverted by internal politics
- They do what you tell them but the assignment must be
clear
- They do not become jaded and remain enthusiastic. If this
changes they can easily be replaced
- Instant expertise provided in areas a company may lack
experience
- Interims can be neutral but are sometimes deliberately employed
as "agents provocateurs" by top management to critique internal
situations.