For weeks now, you’ve sensed that something is happening, but the daily operations are overwhelming you. Meetings, calls, reports, presentations. On top of that, a colleague from accounting is leaving, and the boss needs that contract with the client on her desk by tomorrow. You’ve only glanced at the monthly results, the service margin didn’t seem right, but you’ll look into it when you have time. But it probably won’t be next week either because you urgently need to finish the forecast.
SoundS familiar? Almost everyone in a managerial position can relate to such scenarios.
If, at such a moment, you learn that the company is facing restructuring, that you’ll have to close some operations and lay off employees, or that you need to prepare the company for a strategic investor, an urgency instinct might kick in, even panic.
As Swedish scientist and doctor Hans Rosling writes in his book “Factfulness”: “Take a breath. When your urgency instinct is triggered, other instincts join in and shut down your ability to analyze. Ask for more time and information. You are rarely in a situation of either/or.”
Problems are usually more complex than they appear at first glance, and to solve them effectively, we need time and data. And we usually don’t have time.
Imagine having someone at hand in such a situation, who, after discussing with you, tells you how they read the current situation in the company, suggests what they would do, and if you agree, actually does it.
After they leave, you know where the problem lies in your cash-flow plan or what happened to that service margin. Or perhaps the financial plan for that restructuring is ready. And you can breathe again.
No, it’s not a utopia.
The person who walks through your door to help you could be an Interim Manager. But first, someone has to call them. And before calling them, the company must admit it has a problem that it doesn’t have the capacity to solve. It doesn’t need to know exactly what the problem is, but something like “our profitability doesn’t seem right, it’s very inconsistent” or “our cash-flow isn’t working out” is a sufficiently good description of the problem for an experienced Interim Manager to know what to do.
A good Interim Manager is like a top-notch specialist doctor, whom you go to when you have a major health procedure ahead. You don’t need to discuss whether they understand what’s going on and if they know what to do. You are entirely confident that they not only know what to do but also how to do it; they have a perspective that surpasses yours. They have the education, practice, and renown. They have the knowledge, tools, and experience. They are a pro you need when you can’t afford trial and error.
Author: Xénia Konopková – Kovačovská (Interim CFO)
1Hans Rosling: Moc faktov, vydavateľstvo Tatran 2019, str. 235