Will you go in the interim?
In October, I was in Switzerland on a business trip. Of course, during leisure hours we were allowed to enjoy the traditional mountains-cheese-chocolate, in the afternoon to show as much as possible of the very best from the world of business. So, one day, I visited the company-inventor of the word "interim" (I will not indicate the name here) and this word, or rather, the concept, was one of the most vivid impressions of this trip.
At first glance, this is something like an anti-crisis manager, but this is not quite the case. More precisely, not at all.
Suppose a top manager or owner of some operating company has problems: well, there, profits are falling, or operating efficiency is lame, or you want to sell the company and you need “presale preparation”, whatever. The existing staff (or yourself) cannot solve the problem, there is no time to find a suitable leader (or there are simply no such specialists on the horizon with proven experience). And there is a problem. And now, about 40 years old, a company has appeared on the market that offers to hire interim. Or a whole group, if the project is large.
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As the manager told me, they go to the interim with boredom. "Star" or just very experienced professionals, often over 50 years old, just at some point realize that going to the office on a schedule is sad. There are no interesting projects, the regularly received amount is not worth sitting out, and the pension is still far away. These are selected among the already existing colleagues in the shop in the company-provider and get into the database of interim.
The hiring process is quite simple. You contact the provider company, describe the problem and - after about 3 days - 2-3 people are selected for you with the experience of solving similar problems for an interview. You meet with them, look at each other (yes, you may not like them and then they will not work with you at all), choose one and sign a contract (with the company, of course). The terms of cooperation are simple: an urgent consulting contract with a bonus for success (this is approximately 50% of the monthly amount of interim remuneration, if there is no result within a specified period - the bonus is not paid), the duration is what the interim you choose (usually about a week to draw up a plan of action). In addition, there is one very important "but."
Appearing at the enterprise, the interim should receive a maximum of powers. For example, to become a deputy general director for "his" direction. This item can not be deleted from the contract with the company, because otherwise, the interim does not guarantee the achievement of results in the above mentioned terms.
According to the organizers of the meeting, the average time of hiring an interim is from 3 to 6 months. Specialists require completely different: from veterinarians to professors. Contracts are often extended: new goals are offered to interim, the achievement of which, as a rule, without the elimination of the initial “pain” would be impossible. Well, or simply they see a specialist in business and understand his real value, as well as the fact that he can go on vacation or a new project tomorrow. Speaking of vacation. The average interim takes about one contract per year, that is, it works for about six months. This is due to the fact that the specialist actually gives all the best on the project: regimes with a 60-hour working week are not uncommon, and in this mode it is easy to “burn out”.
For the projects themselves, this is, first of all, a challenge. As a rule, the customer already brings a completely sore situation, giving up or intending to do so. They told a case when the owner of a very large plant for the production of some alcohol infusion turned to the provider in search of a manager, since was on the verge of bankruptcy and laid all he had to the bank. He would not have been able to pay for the cost of the interim, if he had not corrected matters. However, the company interviewed suitable interims, one of whom agreed to help. After about 8 months, he made the company the necessary turnover, but then he offered the owner to extend the contract, because I saw the growth potential of this product, which there was simply no one to realize. The happy owner agreed, and the interim, rested a couple of months on vacation, increased the company's turnover 15 times over a year and a half.
Interestingly, the initial formulation of the problem by the customer, with a more detailed study, is the problem of the owner. In this case, the company returns the money, because experience shows that the owner does not dismiss or change. And even if you try to persuade him to abandon his destructive principles, there is a high risk of relapse. Reputation is more expensive than money, so they refuse immediately.
Of course, experienced CEOs are most often hired, especially when growing national companies enter the region and need someone who knows local rules and has a good track record. The interim can not only write a development plan in the region, but also undertake to realize it. For an additional fee, of course, but on condition of returning the bonus if there is no result at the appointed time.
Sometimes it turns out that there are no suitable interim requests. The company does not quench and sends a request to the widest possible range of participants and those who wish, as a rule, are. So, a couple of years ago the owner of a hotel chain came to the provider with a non-standard request: he was defeated by bad elevator outsourcers, he suffered serious losses from the cost of complex repairs or equipment replacement, and there were no others on the market. Interim with experience in the service business took up the project, created a subsidiary of this hotelier, put the service, so much so that in just a couple of years this “daughter” occupied more than 50% of the elevator service market in the region. The delighted owner sought out his savior and presented him with a share in this company.
Naturally, I asked the core question: “what about IT professionals, is there a demand for them?”
I was surprised not by the fact that there is a demand, but by the excitement that appeared in the vis-a-vis. It turns out that the average age of IT management specialists began to decline (35-45 years), and their efficiency is several times higher than non-technical interims. Moreover, the interim with IT background, although it costs the customer less, as a rule, manages to sort out any organizational problems and quickly fix them. “But they rarely know how to sell, and therefore we don’t give them marketing projects,” the company representative regretted.
In general, "fresh blood" increasingly comes to them from the venture capital market. They praise the children who have grown and successfully sold their companies further to large corporations. They say the composure and professionalism of the founders going wild. To be honest, I was very surprised: it would seem that I did it once and do two, turn into a serial entrepreneur. But no, the speaker shook his head to this question: “As a rule, a specialist is not engaged in developing a business at full capacity, because its main drive was in the project, and not in the development of business around this project. His interests are not related to making money as such. Such interims make stunning projects, but only if they really “ignite” them. ”
The circle of specialists is narrow and it happens that an interim, taking a project, gathers a team of professionals known to it from the market and from the database of interims as well. Then the company gives customers a discount "for livestock" - yes, yes, this is the term used by the representative. Responsibility for the management team lies on the "main" interime, as well as the distribution of shares in the target bonus.
Of course, many were interested in money. How much is this service. The answer is simple: multiply the remuneration of a specialist of this class twice and get a price tag. How much goes to the interim itself, modestly kept silent, having limited to the phrase: “no one complains.” With sound reasoning, which we conducted with colleagues that evening in the blue eye, it turned out that this is a normal price, more or less comparable with the market for ordinary consulting, only in such an interesting wrapper.
And looking at all this, I thought: “For as long as I can remember, the most fragile and difficult decisions were made in situations where I myself had little experience or just time to figure it out. It, of course, gave experience, but as in that joke: “I thought I had opened a business, but no — it turned out, I just got experience.”
What do you think, will the interim take root in the IT environment? The provider has already opened a representative office in Russia, oh, how interesting markets are for him ...
NB I don’t have an affiliated company at all, I just wondered if I understood the motivation of successful professionals correctly. After all, the westerners are tired of the routine and I understand them, but what’s there is this.
Would you go to the interim?
At first glance, this is something like an anti-crisis manager, but this is not quite the case. More precisely, not at all.
Suppose a top manager or owner of some operating company has problems: well, there, profits are falling, or operating efficiency is lame, or you want to sell the company and you need “presale preparation”, whatever. The existing staff (or yourself) cannot solve the problem, there is no time to find a suitable leader (or there are simply no such specialists on the horizon with proven experience). And there is a problem. And now, about 40 years old, a company has appeared on the market that offers to hire interim. Or a whole group, if the project is large.
')
As the manager told me, they go to the interim with boredom. "Star" or just very experienced professionals, often over 50 years old, just at some point realize that going to the office on a schedule is sad. There are no interesting projects, the regularly received amount is not worth sitting out, and the pension is still far away. These are selected among the already existing colleagues in the shop in the company-provider and get into the database of interim.
The hiring process is quite simple. You contact the provider company, describe the problem and - after about 3 days - 2-3 people are selected for you with the experience of solving similar problems for an interview. You meet with them, look at each other (yes, you may not like them and then they will not work with you at all), choose one and sign a contract (with the company, of course). The terms of cooperation are simple: an urgent consulting contract with a bonus for success (this is approximately 50% of the monthly amount of interim remuneration, if there is no result within a specified period - the bonus is not paid), the duration is what the interim you choose (usually about a week to draw up a plan of action). In addition, there is one very important "but."
Appearing at the enterprise, the interim should receive a maximum of powers. For example, to become a deputy general director for "his" direction. This item can not be deleted from the contract with the company, because otherwise, the interim does not guarantee the achievement of results in the above mentioned terms.
According to the organizers of the meeting, the average time of hiring an interim is from 3 to 6 months. Specialists require completely different: from veterinarians to professors. Contracts are often extended: new goals are offered to interim, the achievement of which, as a rule, without the elimination of the initial “pain” would be impossible. Well, or simply they see a specialist in business and understand his real value, as well as the fact that he can go on vacation or a new project tomorrow. Speaking of vacation. The average interim takes about one contract per year, that is, it works for about six months. This is due to the fact that the specialist actually gives all the best on the project: regimes with a 60-hour working week are not uncommon, and in this mode it is easy to “burn out”.
For the projects themselves, this is, first of all, a challenge. As a rule, the customer already brings a completely sore situation, giving up or intending to do so. They told a case when the owner of a very large plant for the production of some alcohol infusion turned to the provider in search of a manager, since was on the verge of bankruptcy and laid all he had to the bank. He would not have been able to pay for the cost of the interim, if he had not corrected matters. However, the company interviewed suitable interims, one of whom agreed to help. After about 8 months, he made the company the necessary turnover, but then he offered the owner to extend the contract, because I saw the growth potential of this product, which there was simply no one to realize. The happy owner agreed, and the interim, rested a couple of months on vacation, increased the company's turnover 15 times over a year and a half.
Interestingly, the initial formulation of the problem by the customer, with a more detailed study, is the problem of the owner. In this case, the company returns the money, because experience shows that the owner does not dismiss or change. And even if you try to persuade him to abandon his destructive principles, there is a high risk of relapse. Reputation is more expensive than money, so they refuse immediately.
Of course, experienced CEOs are most often hired, especially when growing national companies enter the region and need someone who knows local rules and has a good track record. The interim can not only write a development plan in the region, but also undertake to realize it. For an additional fee, of course, but on condition of returning the bonus if there is no result at the appointed time.
Sometimes it turns out that there are no suitable interim requests. The company does not quench and sends a request to the widest possible range of participants and those who wish, as a rule, are. So, a couple of years ago the owner of a hotel chain came to the provider with a non-standard request: he was defeated by bad elevator outsourcers, he suffered serious losses from the cost of complex repairs or equipment replacement, and there were no others on the market. Interim with experience in the service business took up the project, created a subsidiary of this hotelier, put the service, so much so that in just a couple of years this “daughter” occupied more than 50% of the elevator service market in the region. The delighted owner sought out his savior and presented him with a share in this company.
Naturally, I asked the core question: “what about IT professionals, is there a demand for them?”
I was surprised not by the fact that there is a demand, but by the excitement that appeared in the vis-a-vis. It turns out that the average age of IT management specialists began to decline (35-45 years), and their efficiency is several times higher than non-technical interims. Moreover, the interim with IT background, although it costs the customer less, as a rule, manages to sort out any organizational problems and quickly fix them. “But they rarely know how to sell, and therefore we don’t give them marketing projects,” the company representative regretted.
In general, "fresh blood" increasingly comes to them from the venture capital market. They praise the children who have grown and successfully sold their companies further to large corporations. They say the composure and professionalism of the founders going wild. To be honest, I was very surprised: it would seem that I did it once and do two, turn into a serial entrepreneur. But no, the speaker shook his head to this question: “As a rule, a specialist is not engaged in developing a business at full capacity, because its main drive was in the project, and not in the development of business around this project. His interests are not related to making money as such. Such interims make stunning projects, but only if they really “ignite” them. ”
The circle of specialists is narrow and it happens that an interim, taking a project, gathers a team of professionals known to it from the market and from the database of interims as well. Then the company gives customers a discount "for livestock" - yes, yes, this is the term used by the representative. Responsibility for the management team lies on the "main" interime, as well as the distribution of shares in the target bonus.
Of course, many were interested in money. How much is this service. The answer is simple: multiply the remuneration of a specialist of this class twice and get a price tag. How much goes to the interim itself, modestly kept silent, having limited to the phrase: “no one complains.” With sound reasoning, which we conducted with colleagues that evening in the blue eye, it turned out that this is a normal price, more or less comparable with the market for ordinary consulting, only in such an interesting wrapper.
And looking at all this, I thought: “For as long as I can remember, the most fragile and difficult decisions were made in situations where I myself had little experience or just time to figure it out. It, of course, gave experience, but as in that joke: “I thought I had opened a business, but no — it turned out, I just got experience.”
What do you think, will the interim take root in the IT environment? The provider has already opened a representative office in Russia, oh, how interesting markets are for him ...
NB I don’t have an affiliated company at all, I just wondered if I understood the motivation of successful professionals correctly. After all, the westerners are tired of the routine and I understand them, but what’s there is this.
Would you go to the interim?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/297492/
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