What is an Interim Executive? Interview with Interim Management Expert Chuck Besondy
Chuck Besondy is a principal at One Accord Partners and is co-author of Leadership on Demand: How Smart CEO’s Tap Interim Management to Drive Revenue. You can read more about Interim Sales and Marketing Management by Chuck Besondy at his blog One Riot-One Ranger.
Can you give a brief explanation of what an interim executive is and how they can help an organization?
To answer this question properly would require writing a book, which has been done. Visit www.leadership-on-demand.com.
I’ve seen many definitions of interim management. The one I like best is:
“Interim management is the temporary provision of additional 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 a company. In this situation, a permanent role may be unnecessary or impossible to find at short notice. Additionally, there may be nobody internally who is suitable for, or available to take up the position in question.”
The way this alternative staffing solution helps organizations is often profound and significant. If we look at the functions of Sales and Marketing, interim executives fill gaps in leadership, fill gaps in skill sets and best practices, fill gaps in bandwidth, and fill gaps in expertise—all for a season—so that higher levels of revenue performance and growth can be achieved. Sometimes the business is in a crisis or turnaround situation, most often however the company simply needs to quickly fill a critical short-term gap in order to maintain momentum and growth.
When should a company consider hiring an interim executive?
One way to look at this question is to realize that most executives and senior managers are in reality employed for an interim period. They just don’t know in advance when their contract ends. The fact is, a company uses a senior manager only for as long as that manager provides value to the organization. That may mean 6 months. That may mean 3 years or more. Consider that the average tenure for a CMO in a large corporation is 27 months and you begin to see the truth in this.
A company should consider hiring an interim executive (in marketing or sales) when any of the following situations exist:
Revenue has flat-lined or is in a state of decline and the existing revenue team is unable to turn the situation around.
Inject interim managers with objective insight, fresh energy and proven best practices into the organization to work side-by-side the existing team for a season.
A leadership gap exists.
If there is going to be a vacancy at a director, VP, or C-level in the marketing and sales organization for more than 2 months the organization will experience a loss of momentum. Put an interim executive in place to provide skilled leadership while a search for a FTE progresses.
A bandwidth gap.
Most companies face this situation at least once a year. Typically, the gap in resource bandwidth is associated with the go-to-market activities for a new product, or a market expansion. In these situation there simply isn’t enough experienced managers to effectively handle the temporary surge in work load. Bring in interims to either drive the new initiative, or to maintain the primary business activities.
A skill-set gap.
Small companies trying to become mid-tier companies; mid-tier companies trying to break through to be large companies frequently face the same problem. The management team lacks some of the experience and skills necessary to take the company to the next level. An interim executive can provide that needed level of expertise for a season, taking the company to that new level, and coaching the existing management team along the way.
Photo by romainguy
