Taking time is a luxury that no interim manager can afford. Those first 100 days, viewed as decisive for a new chief executive, can be more than the total time an interim executive has to analyse a problem, devise and implement a solution and move on.
"You go in knowing you've got to be productive from day one," says Sophie Castell, a former senior marketing executive at Coca-Cola, who went independent four years ago and is currently on an interim assignment.
"You have to be able to assess a situation very quickly, work out what you need to do and which people are going to be able to help get it done. You have to be politically astute. I learnt how to do that working at Coca-Cola."
Demand for interim managers is at an all-time high, according to Russam GMS, a UK provider of interim managers that conducts regular surveys of the market. The UK's Interim Management Association (IMA) estimates that annual compound growth at 8 per cent over the past two to three years.
Providers say growth is being driven by a combination of talent shortages, constraints on permanent managers' time and the need for wisdom and experience, notably in high-growth companies fuelled by private equity. Where the interim manager was traditionally a stopgap, 70 per cent of assignments now involve change management, project management or business improvement, according to an Ipsos/Mori survey carried out for the IMA.
The survey put the average length of assignment at 108 days.
"There's no question that the very first week or two are crucial," says Geoffrey Dunn, a finance director who became an interim executive in 2004. Some ruthlessness is needed when deciding what can be achieved. "There's no point in starting a programme you can only get halfway through."
He specialises in turnarounds after a career in companies such as 3i, GKN, Xansa, Global One Telecommunications and Swift. By the end of the first week in an interim role, he aims to be close to a decision on what can be achieved in the time available. If the assignment is three months, there will be a week to 10 days to put a plan of action in place.
Identifying what the challenge actually is can be difficult. It may be different from what the interim has been told. Interim managers often come into a confused situation and have to deal with demotivated, anxious employees.
His assignments have included planning and leading the due diligence team for a big acquisition by a UK construction company, and devising a strategy to restructure pan-European operations for a US information technology company.
He typically spends his first week listening, first to each member of the finance team, then to his fellow executives, about what they see as the challenge, what resources they need and how things could be improved.
Interims need to demonstrate their added value with quick successes. And this means taking some risks, based on experience, says Brian Partridge, an interim human resources director who has held permanent posts at Ford Motor, Rank Xerox, BAT and British Nuclear Fuels.
Research by Boyden Interim Management, a provider of short-term executives, has revealed the importance to many interims of leaving a legacy. "They weren't just technical fixers," says Anton Fishman, Boyden director.
"They were often acting as coaches and mentors a year or two on to individuals they'd worked with and this was hugely satisfying to them."
Given the pace at which they work, interims have little time for self-analysis. But the research has identified critical qualities for effective interim work. They include an ability to learn and adapt, intellectual restlessness, resilience and intuition. Interims also need enough self-belief to get the job done, often in the face of resistance or denial.
