An increasingly common practice in the business world, interim management involves hiring an experienced, often independent, manager to carry out a specific assignment in a company undergoing a major transformation. It’s a flexible, efficient solution to meet the needs of every business, and a powerful tool for success in a constantly changing world.

A company most often calls on an interim manager to manage an exceptional situation, a transformation or restructuring. Initially, its role consisted of managing a crisis: site closure, managing a media crisis, a merger-acquisition requiring a reduction in staff, implementing a job protection plan, replacing a manager who had left suddenly at short notice… These are what we call “defensive” missions.

The firms’ scope of intervention has expanded over time, and they also delegate managers to take the lead on so-called “offensive” assignments. In this context, it’s no longer a question of managing a crisis. The mission is more operational and requires technical skills. The interim manager generally has at least ten years’ experience in his or her sector of activity, which enables him or her to quickly identify the needs of the client company, and to become operational very quickly.

To make the right choice, it is important to consider several criteria:

• Solid experience in managing situations similar to those faced by your company;
• Adaptability to work with different corporate cultures and personalities;
• Clear vision of company priorities.

The mission of an interim manager is to put his or her operational and managerial skills to work for companies facing major management challenges. Experienced and results-oriented, the interim manager generally works on site, for an average of 9 months, to manage change of any kind. Depending on the context in which the company operates and its precise needs, the objectives defined are highly variable.

The course of the mission is always the same:

• Analysis of the situation and definition of objectives ;
• In collaboration with the firm specializing in interim management, set up indicators for a results-oriented mission;
• The firm puts you in touch with a suitable interim manager;
• Start of mission, taking into account the urgency of the situation;
• During the mission, regular monitoring of the indicators initially set up;
• At the end of the assignment, review and handover between the interim manager and the teams.

FAITHFUL EXECUTIVE is a leading interim management firm with operations in France and abroad. We support our customers (large groups, subsidiaries of large groups, ETIs, SMEs, SMIs, start-ups) in their high-stakes transformation, and intervene in strategic projects, turnarounds or replacements of managers at short notice. Our strength? Introduce interim managers in less than 48 hours, thanks to our pool of over 10,000 interim managers who have held senior management positions.