A brief history of Interim Management
In just a few decades, interim management has evolved from a practical response to constrictive employment law to become a strategic approach to executive resourcing.
Interim management is widely used throughout Europe and is increasingly practiced in other major trading blocks. The UK has become established as the centre of excellence in the use of interim managers and its interim management market is now estimated to be worth billions of pounds a year. In 2006 alone, over 1,200 assignments were completed by members of the UK's Interim Management Association - like Alium.
Initially, the majority of interim management assignments were 'gap fillers' - a safe pair of hands to take on a key vacancy at short notice. Today, however, interim managers are additionally used more strategically in both public and private sectors to manage change, embed business improvement and assume responsibility for delivering key programmes and projects.
A recent Ipsos MORI survey for the Interim Management Association (2007) found that some 70 per cent of assignments in the public and private sectors were for change, programme and project management, as well as business improvement. In addition, the survey found that:
- Assignments still vary in length, from a few weeks to over a year, but trends show that contracts are gradually becoming longer: the average duration of an interim manager's contract in 2007 was around 133 days, as opposed to 107 days in 2006.
- The cost of an interim manager ranges between £500 and over £1,500 a day (excluding providers' fees, expenses and VAT).
Your questions answered:
Who becomes an interim manager?
How do interims work?