Article Author: Patrik Falk, Interim CEO
Your company may need reinforcement at some stages, and an Executive Interim Manager offers a flexible solution, effectively addressing various responsibilities and challenges. Depending on the situation, there are Executive Interim Managers who can smoothly navigate between different levels, while others specialize in specific areas. What type of leadership does your company need to thrive in an increasingly changing world?
In this article, I want to describe three different roles that an Interim Manager can take to support a client with a critical and time-limited need for specific expertise.
- Executive Interim Project Manager: This role involves overseeing a project or transformation in a business where ambiguity exists and there is a fixed deadline. It requires clarity and decisiveness. An Interim Project Manager quickly identifies key areas needing improvement, sets clear goals, and ensures the team is focused and motivated. They must also handle stress and uncertainty while providing a calm environment for the team to work. In these situations, interim leaders are valued for their ability to turn chaos into order, lead under pressure, and deliver results against all odds. They also build trust with stakeholders, especially owners, boards, and management.
- Executive Interim CXO in a Corporate Leadership Group: This role entails understanding and navigating complex organizational structures. An Interim Manager gains a comprehensive overview of the entire operation and balances the interests of different departments. Strategic thinking, prioritization, collaboration, effective communication at a high level, and ensuring execution are crucial. Executive Interim Managers are appreciated for their ability to foster calmness and cooperation among different parts of the company and their contribution to ensuring the company’s overall strategic direction is followed sustainably. Coaching leadership, often outside the interim manager’s operational responsibilities, adds value.
- Interim Chairman of the Board: As Chairman, visionary leadership and the ability to see the big picture are required. The Interim Manager engaged for this role has a deep understanding of the company’s business, is a skilled decision-maker, can conduct a board skills analysis, and has the ability to inspire and gain trust from both board members and corporate management. This role often involves acting as a bridge between the company’s operational management and its owners or shareholders. Executive Interim Managers are valued for their strategic thinking, direction-setting, and ability to create a culture of accountability and transparency while mentoring both board members and CEOs and their management.
In all roles, it is important to remember that success is not just about achieving short-term goals but also contributing to long-term sustainability and growth. This is achieved by constantly adapting to changes in the environment, encouraging creativity, and creating a healthy work culture. Interim leaders can balance these aspects and are appreciated not only for their immediate successes but also for their contributions to the organization’s long-term success and competitiveness.
Once you have identified the challenges your company faces, an interim manager can be of great benefit, regardless of the level of support you need. This flexibility can be crucial for achieving success. If your challenge appears unclear or if you are unsure about the type of support you need to achieve your goals, help is closer than you think. With the assistance of an Executive Interim Manager, you can clarify this and fill the roles you need within two weeks.
Read our interview with Patrik Falk about the value an Interim Manager adds to a business facing or in the midst of critical business challenges.
Case studies with examples of assignments Patrik Falk has undertaken as an interim CXO, Project Manager, and Chairman of the board.
Interim Project Manager for a Critical Initiative at Risk of Delay
Client: Public Sector
Challenge:
The implementation of a new and extensive operation had one year remaining until deployment, and there was a risk of IT implementation delays. Simultaneously, a completely new IT organization needed to be established, including recruitment.
Assignment:
Two weeks into the assignment, I promised the management that we would achieve deployment with a well-functioning IT function according to schedule. A program office was created to drive and execute nine major complex projects in addition to the main operation. A new IT organization was recruited, where the team already had experience with operational models for IT organizations and Business Management systems that could be quickly implemented.
The program office successfully implemented all nine projects according to the deadline with a well-functioning and efficient IT function.
Interim CXO in a Corporate Leadership Role
Client:
State-Owned Company recently created after previously being part of a government agency.
Challenge:
As Quality Director, I was tasked with ensuring consistent processes at all ten locations. The first step was to identify the customer, which was a matter of debate. My responsibilities also included the investment portfolio, project offices, and ensuring a consistent approach at all ten locations where the company operates.
Assignment:
The company, fundamentally a spin-off from a government agency, did not have a business management system or operating model in place. In the role of interim quality director tasked with introducing a consistent approach at all locations, the corporate management needed to agree on some basic aspects so I could create a business management system with an operating model to be rolled out to the ten locations.
Intensive work over three months was undertaken to clarify who the company’s main customer was. One-third of corporate management, originating from the infrastructure sector, saw the infrastructure itself as their primary customer. Another third, from companies using this infrastructure, considered those companies the most important customer. Finally, the last third of corporate management had no history and argued that individuals, indirectly utilizing the infrastructure, were our main customers. After many discussions, we decided that our main customers are individuals.
The next step was to decide the operating model (there are basically three operating models regardless of the company: customer intimacy, product leadership, and operational excellence). An operating model also includes culture, organization, main processes, governance model, and IT. Since we had decided that the individual is the primary customer, we concluded that our company is driven by operational excellence. The goal was to provide the individual customer with the best experience throughout the system in the smoothest way possible while becoming more productive every year and reducing the cost per transaction with individual customers. To achieve these goals, I needed to build very good relationships with all members of corporate management and all local site managers. Communication and the ability to lead corporate management through this process were highly appreciated. In the role within corporate management, it often means taking on the role of coach and mentor, not only for the managers who report directly to oneself but also for others. During my assignment, I acted as a coach and mentor for managers who reported to other corporate management members.
The interim assignment for 13 months resulted in significant effects. We succeeded in implementing a uniform process at all ten locations. A central focus of this work was to always keep the real customer in mind – the individual. This created a proud and driving atmosphere within the organization and facilitated the reorganization needed to ensure a consistent approach could be smoothly implemented. Investments had previously been an area where we felt resources were insufficient. But with our shared vision for the business, we could now direct investments to the areas with the greatest impact. We found that we no longer felt underfunded in this regard.
Interim Chairman of the Board
Client: Great Earth Scandinavia AB
Challenge:
As interim Chairman of an FMCG company in health and wellness, my task from the owners was to carry out a generational shift and enable the founders to retire.
Assignment:
Immediately upon taking the chairmanship, I conducted an analysis and valuation of the company to ensure that the business could be sold within a couple of years. The valuation indicated virtually no value in the company because it was owner-managed and lacked competence within management. As part of the business plan I led, the company repositioned its brand, moved its main sales to pharmacies, became the first company in this health and wellness segment to start an annual sustainability report, and joined the UN Global Compact as part of its sustainability efforts.
The company was sold 3 years later, and the owners received a two-digit million amount in the upper range. I led the management buyout that was carried out and arranged the financing when the company’s management bought the company from the founder.
At that time, there was an external CEO in place, a functioning management team, and a board with external members with complementary skills. In the role of chairman, I owned the business planning process and acted as a mentor to the CEO and management.
In 2020, Patrik was awarded the Golden Club in Gävleborg for unlisted companies by the Board Academy for the work he performed as chairmaan of Great Earth.