When and why to engage an interim manager

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Overview

Bringing in an interim manager, as part of your management team may be an option when you have considered the following:

There is a specific project or a management role/vacancy to fill that has: a start date, measurable deliverables and an estimated completion date.
There are no suitable internal management resources available or the skill set does not exist in house.
Time is of the essence and you need someone now or in the near future.
There may be uncertainty in the future for this role which means that taking on a permanent person is not appropriate.
There is an employment ‘freeze’ but you need additional management resources for a given time.
You need to cover absence, maternity, a long notice of period, etc.

The significant advantages of using interim managers are:

They are very experienced managers who ‘hit the ground running’ and are engaged to deliver on their projects and roles.
They are employees of their own limited companies and are therefore not employees of their clients. This means there is no expensive employment contract to enter into or unwind.
They are paid a daily fee with no on-cost and are only paid for the days they work. Holidays, sickness, etc. are not charged.
They are normally engaged on a full-time basis but this can also be part time. Average contractual engagements are around 6-9 months.
They only engaged for as long as required giving complete flexibility.
There is always a ‘pool’ of available interim managers and this means they can be in post, if required, within days.
They are often engaged to bring about change that is difficult or impossible for incumbent management to deal with.
They have a measurable Return on Investment (ROI) for their engagements.