Well-established in U.K. as HR strategy, process being adopted by Canadian employers
Several years ago, Indra Lachu was working full time as vice-president of finance at Goodwill in Toronto. But since then, she has worked steadily at numerous organizations in the city — a gallery, Waterfront Toronto, United Way, a church and Public Services Health and Safety Association — as an interim director of finance.
“Usually, when an organization is going through changes or if someone just walked out and (the employer doesn’t) have time go out and do a full search for a senior-level, financial person, they want someone as a senior interim person to come in and hit the ground running,” she said.
Interim management is on the rise, according to several industry experts.
Jon Osborne, vice-president of research at Staffing Industry Analysts, estimated the market for contingent management jobs will grow 90 per cent over the next decade in the United States, according to a March 2010 article in Fortune magazine.
The growth of interim management has been spectacular, said Frances Randle, managing director of interim management, recruitment outsourcing and predictor practices at Knightsbridge in Toronto. With the pace of business being so fast, employers don’t always have the volume or resources to respond quickly and interim managers or executives provide knowledgeable, senior talent on the job, within days.
“Plus, because of that fast change, what you need today is not necessarily what you might need in a year’s time, so (employers) need the flexibility,” she said. “It’s just-in-time resources…. What you need, when you need it.”
Interim management is an accepted fact in Europe as part of the HR strategy, said Greg Petkovich, president of Atticus Interim Management in Toronto. It started in the United Kingdom and, in the last few years, has migrated to Canada as part of staffing strategy.
“What’s driving that uptake is, at the executive level, there is dissatisfaction with the traditional consultancy,” he said. “There is recognition by using a senior executive, an interim manager, to own an end-to-end solution — from the beginning where they do analysis to the middle where they integrate with employees through the next part, where they implement, to the final part where they exit out and provide continued support — is a more effective way of guaranteeing a successful outcome for a project.”
Interim managers differ from consultants, who typically come into an organization and ask a lot of questions, find out about internal resources, research the market and trends and then report back on what’s needed, said Randle.
“(Consultants) don’t typically implement and they’re not necessarily strong operations people,” she said. “They haven’t been there and done it, they’ve just gone out and researched it.”
Interim talent is also cheaper than consultants, said Randle, as they are paid like a full-time employee who earns bonuses and benefits. A consultant, however, can charge two or three times more, she said. This also allows organizations to hire an interim manager for a longer period of time — averaging nine to 10 months — at the same price.
“(Consultants) typically don’t live with you either, where our interims tend to be right in your environment, living with your people and getting a feel for the buzz in the organization and the culture and really understanding what you’re trying to accomplish,” said Randle.
When the individual goes into the client’s office, he really acts like part of the management team, said Jane Matthews, president of the recently established Odgers Interim Canada in Toronto, part of executive search firm Odgers Berndtson.
“They’re there to get things done, they’re there to execute, so they’re not there just to make assessments, they’re really acting as part of the management team,” she said. “It can be a long period of time to recruit the right person today so to put somebody in on an interim basis to either stabilize the situation or maintain the momentum of the business while they’re looking for the right fit, it just takes the pressure off.”
Having a deadline really makes a difference when it comes to getting the work accomplished, said Matthews.
“They’re in there with specific objectives, a specific time frame, they’re not building a career, they don’t have a history with the organization that they need to be cognizant of when they’re making decisions and suggestions. And they don’t have the political concerns or concerns in terms of various relationships,” she said. “There’s a lot of candour that comes with going in and not having any of those constraints.”
When the executive director at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Ottawa went on extended sick leave, the gallery decided to hire an interim executive director. It was made clear to staff and the community he was to be treated as an employee, said Alison Burkett, chair of the board of directors at the gallery.
“A consultant sounds like somebody else is still making the decisions and they’re in an advisory role.”
The interim was thrown into the role and it was a bit like catching a moving train, she said, as the gallery was in the midst of doing a sustainability plan, going to city council for funds and significant strategic planning.
“He had to catch up, learn quickly, be part of discussions as much as he could to that point in the formulation of the plan and, into the summer, he’s taken the lead with the staff in terms of implementing the plan,” said Burkett.
Typical interim responsibilities include the implementation of a systems application, a product launch or preparation for an annual general meeting. About 80 per cent of the assignments are extended and 35 per cent of interims in Canada are hired permanently, though in the U.K. — where interim management is a booming, well-established practice — it’s only five per cent, said Randle.
Quite often the interims — who can range from CFOs to vice-presidents of sales or IT roles — are overqualified for the positions but they’re the type of people who like to keep busy, like sharing and helping clients develop people internally, she said.
“Our interims actually love the fact that they’re somewhat of an outsider because then they don’t get sucked into all the politics and that doesn’t pre-occupy them,” said Randler.
When someone has been working on a job for many years, doing things a certain way, it’s good to have an outsider come in and identify areas that can be improved, said Lachu.
“Plus, I am learning each time I go to an organization, despite what I bring to it, learning new systems, new ways of doing things, I’m getting exposed to a different set of stakeholders, the leadership is different, the shareholders and stakeholders. And also understanding different companies’ operations — you realize everything is different but similar.”
