Interim managers need understanding

Interim managers need understanding

Interim managers – the "supply teachers" of the business world– have become an established way of filling temporary gaps in management expertise or manpower. However, the role of an interim manager is not without its problems – many organisations do not relish an "outsider"breaking into their established relationships. This can be true of both employers and fellow managers. This means that interim managers are on a hiding to nothing – they come with "baggage"; everyone knows they are not going to be around for ever, and most assume that they're not good enough to hold down a full-time management position. In both cases, this tends to limit their authority.

Such attitudes are odd – far from being an imposed outsider, the interim manager should be regarded as a temporary friend. In other parts of the organisation, everyone expects any temporary staffing problem to be addressed by the recruitment of temporary, skilled and experienced personnel – so why not in management?

So, why do these negative attitudes persist? Perhaps because "temporary"is seen as being inappropriate for a role that has long-term consequences –it seems to be like putting a temporary sticking plaster on a major wound. Also,managers have to deal with – indeed sometimes circumvent (or at least understand) – the culture of an organisation. This is obviously difficult for an incoming interim manager.

Furthermore, many interim managers do not know exactly for how long they will be required. This makes such common management tasks as goal setting and decision making much more difficult. It also means that interim managers have to build understanding, motivation and loyalty very quickly. Loyalty may be difficult to achieve if the employees had a particular respect and/or liking for the outgoing manager who created the vacancy – the interim manager will naturally (and unfairly) be compared unfavourably to a much-liked, and well-known individual. Staff also know that building up a relationship may be a waste of time – the interim manager is going to leave soon.

Things are not necessarily any better if the outgoing manager was a poor manager. He may leave behind a dispirited, bored or discontented set of employees. Such employees often resent an incoming manager who tries to change their "comfortable" existence – and in so doing opens them up to risk.

In practice, of course, most managers are good managers – they have the confidence to set themselves up as interim managers, and usually this confidence is based on a good management track record. The real problem is that a good manager does not necessarily make a good interim manager. The roles are different.

We all know that generally it is wise to "look and listen" in any new environent – to discover histories, contexts, backgrounds, etc. Change may be needed but it is wise to wait until you understand the situation and why it arose. Hurried change is often ineffective change. The problem for an interim manager is that he/she does not have time on his/her hands. He/she may not be able to wait – and the organisation may not expect him/her to do so. Indeed, the organisation may have recruited an interim manager to take fast,decisive – and unpopular – action. The senior executives hope that any"mud" will stick to the interim manager as he/she leaves. The net result is that the interim manager has to size up a situation quickly and take rapid action – this is unsettling to the organisation, and often resented.

Of course the better interim manager will understand these issues – and will keep at least part of his/her mind on the "how will this affect my permanent replacement?" question. But this, again, is a false situation. They end up being more cautious than they would be if they were the permanent manager.

All this does not mean that interim management is a bad concept – only that both the organisation and the manager must understand these issues. The organisation should remember that interim management is almost always better than no management; and should adjust its expectations to match the situation.