A. INTRODUCTION

This is the second of a series of blogs that explores the every day reality of the professional interim. Five micro case studies have been received and have been analysed to validate the five research propositions that I highlighted last week. The five cases are being  published as a separate blog.

I would very much like to thank the five contributors and will let the reader dwell on why more professional interims have not stepped forward to share their views? Perhaps it is to do with disinterest, apathy, or fear of being “marked” by some ISPs (interim service providers) as a bit of a radical or a trouble-maker? 

The five contributors were:

1. Wendy Williams
2. Andrew Turner
3. John Gelmini
4. James Elliott
5. Christian Fielding

I would argue that Wendy and Andrew are probably two of the most experienced and capable professional interims that have operated in the UK market place. Andrew, like myself, has operated at the top of the profession for over twenty years. Wendy brings ten years plus as a top-tier professional interim (PI) and another ten years as a consultant. John Gelmini is a well-known consultant and interim, with more than fifteen years experience, and has been an active campaigner for the interim industry to improve its offering. James Elliott has specialized as a PI/management consultant in Financial Services sector for over ten years – I employed him as an interim some years ago and now regard him as a close friend, as well. Christian Fielding volunteered to help with this research and has a career of ten years as a PI/independent consultant on top of an earlier career at PwC.

The reader is reminded that this is qualitative research that seeks to capture the subjective reality, so the reader is strongly encouraged to read the five cases and reflect on the citations from the cases.

B. ANALYSIS OF THE FIVE PROPOSITIONS

Proposition 1 –  Interim industry is imploding from the absence of definition and effective boundaries, ineffective marketing and patchy quality assurance. Two groupings are emerging (1) contingency workers and (2) specialist C level independent executives & consultants.

There would appear to be quite strong support for Proposition 1, for example:

Now there is a much looser grasp of the concept of interim, it has difficulty in describing itself and is seen more as a transient occupation, rather than a profession. It is less focused on delivering cost-effective expertise and more about doing job fills.  It has become commoditized by the ISPs whose major focus is to win the business at any cost. They do not differentiate on value by selling the cost-effective loan of an expert (Wendy Williams).

The IM industry is at a cross roads; or perhaps more accurately, senior IM’s at C level are at a cross roads. My view is that in order to remain credible players on the management stage, senior IM’s will have to review their routes to market, no longer relying upon ISP’s as their point of entry (unless they are contractors or temp staff), and recognising that the lone-wolf approach has significant weaknesses, not least of which is lack of strong branding (Andrew Turner)

What’s in a name? Definitions, definitions, it’s on the altar of these terms that IM is being sacrificed, as there is no really clear description of what an IM is, or should be, so the term has become all things to all men, probably reducing its value in the minds of many to the lowest common denominator. This is the greatest change undergone by the sector. In the days when the likes of Chris Behan, Carl Hague (Praxis), Martin Wood et al strutted their stuff upon the stage, their emphasis was upon the provision of high level management talent to fill gaps at Board level; to provide top management talent that was in short supply within the client organisation. Almost by definition this approach was a low volume, high value business model (Andrew Turner).

The interim community has changed in that the number of ISPs has and is reducing and rates at the bottom have fallen below what they were a decade ago. At the top end, rates are firm for a handful of people and power has moved firmly in the direction of clients because short-sighted ISP’s have not been firm enough and have allowed bogus interims(redundant managers/ executives looking for income whilst looking for work) onto their databases whilst deliberately forcing down rates (John Gelmini)

There must be a clear dichotomy between professional career Interims and those who, due to layoffs caused by the recession, see interim work as a stop-gap prior to future full-time employment. Intermediaries should recognise this market segmentation and structure their organisations accordingly. Currently, too many intermediaries are utilising both inefficient databases and generalist staff who have little, if any, knowledge of their specialist offering (James Elliott)

In the last ten years, I have noted an increase in the numbers of interims in the market space – perhaps fuelled by individuals such as myself, who were keen to set up and run their own organizations or be part of something smaller than the large corporate firms? I also sense there has been a very large growth of intermediaries offering both interim and perm roles. In fact there appears to be a blurring between interim providers and recruitment firms and consultancies (Christian Fielder) 

Proposition 2:  As a result of the Cabinet office and EU procurement bureaucracy, interim has become completely commoditized, differentiation is increasingly on cost, rather than quality or expertise

Again the five micro cases have broadly endorsed Proposition 2, for example:

It has become increasingly difficult for ISPs with the complex and bewilderingly nonsensical procurement hurdles.  The poorly thought out recruitment criteria is usually based on a permanent role and not interim, so it effectively screens out potentially great interims – who naturally, will fail to match.  Interims don’t even get to the see the clients or scope the assignment properly, so ultimately the organization recruits the lowest common denominator (Wendy Williams).

As a result of the de-layering and downsizing that took place in the 1990 which was driven as much by a drive for efficiency as by the technological revolution in IT, today the emphasis is predominantly upon the high volume and much lower value supply of contract labour and temporary staff, the preserve of the recruitment industry (Andrew Turner). 

Proposition 3:  The Public Sector is getting poor value-for-money and wasting millions of pounds on branded consultants, when professional interims could provide a more cost-effective solution

The five cases provided very little insight into Proposition 3. So for the moment, Proposition 3 remains open for further clarification and validation

Proposition 4: Interim providers have largely been taken over by professional recruiters and technical selling against criteria, rather than more accomplished business leaders capable of providing the client with real value added

The five micro cases have provided some evidence to support Proposition 4, for example:

 It has become commoditized by the ISPs whose major focus is to win the business at any cost. They do not differentiate on value by selling the cost-effective loan of an expert (Wendy Williams).

What’s in a name? Definitions, definitions, it’s on the altar of these terms that IM is being sacrificed, as there is no really clear description of what an IM is, or should be, so the term has become all things to all men, probably reducing its value in the minds of many to the lowest common denominator. This is the greatest change undergone by the sector. In the days when the likes of Chris Behan, Carl Hague (Praxis), Martin Wood et al strutted their stuff upon the stage, their emphasis was upon the provision of high level management talent to fill gaps at Board level; to provide top management talent that was in short supply within the client organisation. Almost by definition this approach was a low volume, high value business model (Andrew Turner).

I sense that the use of tightly defined criteria and especially perhaps an over focus on sector experience means that transferable skills are being potentially being ignored. In addition I understand that use of searches on key words in CVs/Linked In etc may well ease identification of candidates because it is quicker but as a result the client may well end up missing out on the “best” interim for the role (Christian Fielder)

Proposition 5: Many established professional interims have lost their way in the economic downturn and are either retiring, taking permanent jobs or a hotchpotch of economic activities awaiting better times

The five cases provided very little insight into Proposition 5. So for the moment, Proposition 5 remains open for further clarification and validation.

C. CONCLUSIONS

The five independent cases have provided rich insight into the professional interim community over careers, ranging from a minimum of tens years as a PI to over twenty years. Broadly, the cases endorse my own views and support a number of the propositions that I made last week.

For me personally, I am now retired and plan to focus on other areas. However, it hoped that the three related blogs on the every day reality of the professional interim (including the five cases) will continue to stimulate some debate, either below or elsewhere.

Finally, to really conclude, for most of the last twenty plus years, I have been proud to call myself a professional interim!