What distinguishes
interim managers?
Highly motivated managers
with the ability to get things done
What distinguishes them, what goals have they set for themselves and why do they not like to be employed on a permanent basis?
Interim managers are problem solvers with leadership experience and strong implementation skills. They are available to a company for specific tasks and for a limited period of time and create added value for the company.
They are often leaders from higher management positions who want to contribute their expertise to projects without having to keep their own career ambitions in mind. They want to concentrate fully on the task at hand, take responsibility and get things done. Interim managers are not defined by titles, positions or budgets, but by their task, experience and personality.
According to our study “Interim Leadership Personalities“, their central leadership motive is to take responsibility. They have a high motivation to lead. As interim leaders, they occupy an intermediate position between the permanent executive and the freelance entrepreneur. They combine two perspectives: firstly, a long-term, responsible corporate identity with the company and secondly, a goal- and performance-oriented implementation focus typical of entrepreneurs.
The study, for which 248 completed interim mandates from all industries and functions were evaluated, is based on a self-assessment by interim managers and an external assessment by interim providers and leads to the following results:
1. interim shows positive return on investment
Interim managers generally create significantly more added value than they charge their clients in personnel costs. In our study, 85.7% of all evaluated interim mandates were profitable for the clients – in some cases by a multiple of the daily rate.
2. High-performance managers
They are passionate about leading (80.4%) and very performance-oriented. 96.9% aspire to consistently deliver top performance. This is at the expense of work-life balance, only 9.8% give priority to leisure and private life over work.
3. Sustainable employee development
Interim managers working for companies on a temporary basis attach great importance to responsible dealings with employees (95.5%) and their personal/professional development and advancement (98.4%).
4. Storm-tested breakwaters
The majority of the interim managers studied are extremely resilient – even compared to permanent managers. I.e. they are psychologically very resilient, robust and hardly to be ruffled even in heavy seas.
5. High employee recognition
At the end of the project, 88.9% of all interim managers have won the recognition and trust of their employees. They are very fast at on-boarding: 54.4% already enjoy employee trust after four weeks, 84.7% need two months.
6. Inspiring professionally and personally
Interim Manager punkten bei Mitarbeitern fachlich durch ihre Kompetenz, Erfahrung und bisherigen Erfolge (96,4%) sowie persönlich durch ihre Vorbildrolle, Optimismus und Stabilität (85,9%). Dadurch können sie Widerstände positiv entkräften und Veränderungen zum Erfolg führen.
In addition to these scientifically surveyed leadership motives, which are shared by a large majority of independent managers, a very heterogeneous spectrum of personalities can be found in the group of interim managers. This makes it all the more important for us providers to take a close look at the personal characteristics and the “individual signature” of our pool members.
This is the only way to select the ideal candidate for each specific personnel requirement.
