Experts Ought To Be ‘On TAP’
And Not ‘On TOP’
More and more companies are starting to explore the idea of using the interim executive.
This means, some people who will come into the company for a short space of time to do a specific job or lead a piece of work. People with the knowledge and experience to do it and get the job done quickly and efficiently, an expert for want of a better definition or description
Especially in these turbulent times, many organisations need access to people that have the skills, the knowledge, and the experience to get it done fast, quick, or even better. Many organisations are using these people on an interim basis, either for so many days a week or even full time for a set period of time, depending of the size and scale of the job or the role that needs doing.
Many companies are having to be far more agile, move at pace and pivot when needed. Sometimes it is not about size, being a multinational or an early stage start-up; all have the need to access an expert when the need arises. No company can carry all the knowledge, skills, or expertise that they need all of the time, or in the abundance that might be needed in the peaks we are currently experiencing.
Twenty years ago, I built a team of a dozen CIO’s, people from industry for a large global consulting firm who then used these people to support clients and even lead bids for new clients. They would typically work under the full-time CIO within a client, in a deputy capacity running assignments and would have particular responsibilities and duties to deliver whole tracts of work and report to the full-time CIO on a weekly basis. Basically, they were a second pair of hands within the organisation especially during periods of major change or transformation. In many cases they were veterans in some cases more senior to the person that they reported to. So, this is nothing new and has been around for years.
Then, as we now have with COVID-19, we are in a stressful time, with major upheaval with unprecedented issues which in many cases are unique but not unparalleled. In many ways it is a little bit like getting in a contractor to fix something, you do not need them full-time, just until they have fixed the problem. Interim executives work the same way, they are your ‘hired gun’ brought in to solve the issue you have, give them the authority as if they are permanent and senior within the business, assess the problem, come up with a strategy to solve it and execute it.
With COVID-19
The issue many companies are having at the moment is the sheer number of issues they have to face across the business and often the enormity of the issues or the fact that they don’t have the expertise in-house to deal with it. This can cover just about every area of the business, technical, sales, hr, operations and even delivery for some companies.
COVID-19 has shone a light on many companies and revealed the vulnerabilities they have, and many boards are reluctant to commit to hiring permanent replacements until they can see the landscape again.
With smaller organisations and often with start-ups they generally have a structured and planned growth and can manage the skills, knowledge, and the experience they need during the growth period. They often start off with people that can wear multiple hats and will slowly add to the team over time, building out the leadership team. What COVID-19 has done for many of these companies is multiplied the scale of the issues and the size and complexity of them. They now need help someone with the skills, knowledge, and the experience to manage the issue. It is also the unique issue of everyone working from home, which clearly throws a new dynamic in to the pot for many companies.
Leavers
Another time that the need for an interim executive comes into play, is when someone leaves the business unexpectedly or at short notice. We don’t generally do enough ‘succession planning’ across the business, and when a key figure leaves quickly, we simply can leave the shoes vacant. It often takes time to identify, screen and select a suitable replacement and this can often take 3 – 6 months or longer if the person you want, has a long notice period themselves.
In many situations it’s important to have the shoes filled until we find a suitable long-term replacement on a fulltime basis and having an interim in quickly stops any negative impact an unexpected leaver might cause. Choosing a safe pair of hands to hold onto the ‘tiller’ is important until you find a suitable permanent replacement.
It is also a good time to look long and hard at the skills, knowledge, and the experience you need in the replacement. It is likely to be very different to the last person you hired into the role as roles change over time. Spec the role and job description for the person you are going to be looking for next, not on the person that just left.
Real Experts
There is also a growing number of veterans, not unlike within the contractor fraternity who don’t want the politics of employment and these veterans don’t want to get bogged down with all the fluff. They generally have skills, knowledge, and the experience as well as specific things that they like doing. Being employed full-time often means they get side-tracked into doing things they don’t like doing. As an interim executive they also get to choose which gigs they accept and the work that they do. Most of these people choose to be an interim executive and would sooner do this than a permanent role.
With most roles, over time and during the initial growth of a company, you will often need different skills, knowledge, and the experience at different times. This often happens. Take a Managing Director or CEO in a start-up; the person that gets things off the ground, is a very different person to the person that manages the hyper-growth or the person that manages mergers and acquisitions or even the ‘trade sale’ or the ‘IPO’. Put it simply, you just need different skills, knowledge, and the experience to make it work, and work well, so having an interim executive on board with the skills, knowledge, and the experience can make the difference in getting it right.
Interim executives can also be good for managing turmoil, trauma, or change. They can wield a stick more easily to get the house in order, ready for the next phase of growth (night of the long knives) and they can clear the decks and get things sorted ready for the next permanent hire.
Try before you buy
Its also an opportunity to try before you buy.
With the rise of interim resource this is something many companies are looking for as well, what with major turmoil, trauma and change happening, they want to see the pain and resentment if there is any, walk out the door with the interim executive at the end of the engagement. But if you find a good one that is willing to take ownership, they may be worth considering for the longer term.
Most interim executives have battle scars, and even a few grey hairs. It will have taken them years to get to the top of their profession and are generally not cheap, so be prepared it will cost, probably more than you are paying a permanent person.
A good analogy is a Doctor who has the title ‘Dr’, a surgeon on the other hand is a ‘Mr’ you might say he has transcended beyond, morphed, and become an experts, just like an interim executive. You bring them in to sort the issues out and then go back to working with the Doctors, to bring you back to full health.
Sales Teams
More and more companies are looking at bringing extra heads in at this time, especially into territories that they can simple not service themselves at the current time. There are currently difficulties, what with all the travel restrictions and quarantine legislation having to quarantine for two weeks in and again when you get back. This is happening across Europe as well as for people who have to go from state to state in the US. It is just easier to get a person locally to pick up the reins and service the clients and potential clients and do the socially distancing meetings locally that need to happen.
In many cases this is a good way to do a ‘Try before you buy’ model. If they are successful, then it is likely you don’t want to lose them out of the team if they are hitting their numbers. You can keep the exposure and risk low, during the current pandemic and hire permanently when we get a vaccine and life returns to our ‘Better Normal’.
Recruiters, Head-hunters, or Executive Search
To make this work you need an experienced hand, someone that has a solid network to reach the people that you need. Someone that can help discern what and who you are looking for. It is not something you can do off a Job Description as you need to understand and validate the behaviour of the person that you are looking for against the role.
Many will treat the engagement just like a retained search and charge, a % of the annualised salary or package – as a one-off placement like a permanent hire, (depending on the terms -40% on engagement, 30% on shortlist and 30% on hire) the client is then responsible for paying the interim executive on a monthly basis. Others will manage the monthly payment to the Interim and charge a margin each month.
Likely trait needed
You will need positive yet also a patient leader, strong man management experience, an ability to be flexible, a diplomat, but complete transparency is an absolute must. They will be confidence and be comfortable in their own skin, politically savvy, but also have a level of humility. They tend to be people of action, who don’t suffer fools, have a high bandwidth, and are very committed.
I hope you have found this of interest and would value your feedback:-
howard@william-howard.com
About the Author
Howard Longstaff has over 25 years of experience delivering people within the talent acquisition arena.
He has worked extensively across the UK, Europe, USA, Canada as well as in South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Over the last 20 years he has specialised in two fundamental areas, although he often covers a wider remit due to his thirst and understanding of technology. The first area which he has a real passion for, building ‘Sales Teams’, pulling together the very best ‘A Players’ and creating something very special for his clients.
To do that, he needs to have a clear understanding of what his client wants, so establishing clear communication with the client is paramount, understanding the nuances of what they are looking for and documenting this. Understanding the technology, the opportunity, and the growth potential all help to find the ‘right fit, first time’. He is one of the few head-hunters that is willing to guarantee his work, offering 12 months free replacement.
The second area he loves getting involved in, is the leadership team, the C-Suite, helping to get the balance right, cover the gaps in knowledge, skills and experience, working on the assumption that ‘No one is perfect but a team can be’?
Howard is someone who thinks outside the box, has an eye for detail, but is perceptive, looking beyond the surface of just skills and experience. He wants to know and understand the candidate behaviour as well as the emotional intelligence, the motives that drive the candidates he interviews. He is looking for the best fit for his client but also looking to ensure it is a fit for the candidate as well.
In the last 25 years he has also built his own companies and opened offices in New Zealand, Los Angeles, New York and most recently several companies in London. Specialising in technology companies, he has delivered permanent resources across practically every department. This has predominantly been for technology start-ups (Enterprise Software Co’s) but also for many leading management consulting and enterprise clients.
Howard is someone that uses technology to enhance the hiring process, to save time, money and effort and take the pain out of the process, but to find those ‘Exceptional People, who are so hard to find’. He operates a ‘Private Client Video Portal’ keeping everything together, the video, as well as psychrometric behavioural assessments on candidates and interviewing on an emotional intelligence level. He has repeatedly built teams across three continents, so has a good breadth of knowledge across the talent acquisition arena.