Published in Les Echos Executives on 03/14/2019 by ANTOINE FAVIER
Trend – Linked to operational projects, temporary assignments, strong challenges and an urgent need, the profession of interim manager is becoming standardized. With “pure players”, recruitment firms, independent managers and managerial associations, 4 families of players stand out in this market.
Interim management is on the rise. More and more senior executives want to combine their expertise with interim management assignments. This is, for them, to provide assistance to a company anxious to cross a course in certain specific situations. Interim management is therefore an opportunity for companies, in the event of major challenges and urgent need, to benefit from highly qualified operational managerial skills for, for example, financial or supply chain functions, operations departments , sites or factories. When the requesting company is in the transformation phase, that is to say in 60% of cases, estimates Grégoire Cabri-Wiltzer, vice-president of the network of “pure players” at the National Federation of Transition Management (FNMT ). But also, in 30% of cases, when it comes to temporarily replacing a key person in the event of “gap management” or even to manage a crisis situation (10%).
The missions, which can extend over 4 to 18 months, last on average 7 months. “Our business has become more professional with the establishment of a reference system to establish good practices in our profession. They consist of three successive stages: translating and understanding the client’s needs, identifying and presenting a manager, and finally managing the follow-up of the mission” considers Grégoire Cabri-Wiltzer, himself also president of the transition management company NIM Europe. . The vast majority of interim management assignments concern functions often represented on the management committee, those of general management, human resources, finance or industry.
