The seven phases of an Interim Management assignment
Phase 1 : Select the manager and confirm the assignmentThe interim manager should be able to quickly adapt and analyse, to work autonomously, to be result oriented, stress resistant, communicative, etc.
Also he must clearly understand the objective of his mission, potential deviations, means at his disposal and the company he gets involved with.
Phase 2 : Prepare the assignment
Preliminary meetings should be used to gather information on the market, the company, the operational rules, the current businesses and the staff. Once on the job, he will have to quickly get his own opinion on many issues and persons; thus, all the information previously gathered will make this work easier for him.
Phase 3 : Operational start of the assignment
The new manager should prepare his arrival well to ensure that his he gives an impression of authority and serenity right from the beginning. He will have to quickly implement the first levers of power: set up a management committee, build a circle of trustworthy people who will be his sources of information, etc…
In this third phase, he quickly imposes his mark by setting the first rules and by taking some safe decisions.
Phase 4 : Observe, analyse… and navigate at sight
When the circumstances are favourable, the transition manager takes some time to study the environment he is in charge of before determining how to achieve the defined goal.
Mostly he must act quickly though. He may even have to take important decisions right from the first day. In that case he must do everything at once and to the best of his abilities - manage, observe and analyze the company in order to be able to get to the following phase as soon as possible.
Phase 5 : Action plan definition
The action plan must be a mix of ideas from the interim manager, bringing an external point of view and expertise, and the best ideas from his staff who will feel valued when their opinion has been taken into account. Sometimes circumstances need a quick reaction and priority changes. It is very important though that some actions with strong impact are carried out as soon as possible.
Phase 6 : Execution and communication
Once the interim manager has established his leadership and the action plan has been announced, he needs to prove himself. The action plan must remain the axis of the assignment. It can be adapted if some actions prove irrelevant or unfeasible. The regular publication of its progress is vital to show the team as well as the client the progress made to reach the objective.
Phase 7 : Power transfer
Once the objective has been achieved, the interim manager finishes his mission by transferring to the succeeding management all his knowledge regarding the entity he was in charge of, the progress report of the action plan and his advice for the future.
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