Interims can provide broad generalist skills

Interim managers can provide businesses with "good, broad generalist skills", according to one expert.

Demand for interim managers could soon rise in the UK following the recent comments of one industry expert.

Sue Smith, partner at executive recruitment and interim management firm Boyden, has advocated the use of such workers, saying that all businesses will come to a point where an interim manager could bring fresh ideas to the table.

Ms Smith claimed that most business come to a stage where the operation has outgrown the ideas of the founders and said that this is where an interim manager's experience can prove of value.

"It could be the family that have started a business and you need to bring in someone who can perhaps guide that business through to the next stage," she commented.

"So, you are bringing in people who have been there and done it before to actually guide, manage and advise."

The comments will come as good news to a number of limited company contractors working in the UK in a consulting capacity.

Ms Smith also explained that by turning to an interim manager, businesses can benefit from a bespoke service that caters to their needs rather than gaining industry insight from a firm that offers set reports.

"They aren't like a consulting firm where people come in and they are trying to introduce a methodology which is pertinent to Deloitte, or PwC," she added.

"The individual comes in with their own background and knowledge and listens to and spends time with the business - and then will advise on good, broad generalist business skills."

It comes shortly after another industry expert claimed that the role of interim managers has evolved in recent years.

Diane Morris, director of InterimWomen, recently stated that such workers are no longer thought of as a skills stopgap.

Interims are now expected to deliver strategic projects for a defined period where skills are not internally available to a firm, she explained.

Source: www.brookson.co.uk

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