The year 2020 brought about a situation that modern humans and businesses had never encountered before. This situation requires an immediate response and unconventional steps for companies to survive the crisis they suddenly found themselves in. Some managers with experience in crisis situations decided to help and share their know-how so that businesses can endure the crisis state caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
David Kálmán, a member of the Top Heads network, focuses on the areas of commerce, crisis, and strategic management. He published the ebook “Compass into Crisis,” and this article features an excerpt on the topic of Interim Management.
Book: “Compass into Crisis”
How Will We Manage Together?
I have done my utmost to ensure that this book and article contain no filler or fluff. My aim is to provide solutions and extend a helping hand as soon as possible to entrepreneurs, freelancers, directors, business owners, and management staff.
As a freelancer myself, I understand that if businesses and entrepreneurs encounter problems, it can have very detrimental effects on the economy. It is a challenging situation that requires new skills, goals, and perspectives.
Our collective goal should be to work together now and emerge from this crisis period stronger, wiser, and better.
I see an incredible number of good people who have started helping and dedicating their capacities to support those on the front lines. This is already proof that we will manage.
Let’s take a moment to stop, reflect, and think about how we can help the economy, our surroundings, and how we can survive this situation healthily, and how we can involve ourselves or our company.
I did just that, and that’s why I wrote this book, to start helping as soon as possible.
“We are entering an unknown future, but we are still here, and as long as we are obsessed with life, there remains hope.” – John Lennon
Excerpt from the Book:
Interim Management
This is not the time to play the hero. It’s essential to protect your business, people, resources, and future.
There is no time for panic, indecision, major mistakes, and hesitation.
It is time for deliberation, decisive actions, calming those around us, and hope supported by facts.
Is it time for interim management or to allocate some competencies to a company providing interim services?
Just because we managed a company during good times doesn’t make us infallible. None of us are superhuman, and sometimes it’s necessary to turn to external expertise. If we start to feel that the situation is overwhelming us, if nervousness is rising and we are hitting a ceiling with our time capacities, the best step is to “pour ourselves a glass of truth” and call in the experts.
No, it does not mean that we have failed. It means we want to do everything possible for our business to survive and continue.
We need to throw our EGO in the trash and be rational and honest with ourselves and everyone who depends on our decisions.
Politicians, CEOs, Coaches, Directors of the largest plants, all rely on many specialists and do not hesitate to turn to them. This is why they are successful.
Let’s throw away all inhibitions and call in the person or people who can help us competently and quickly.
Who is an Interim Manager?
An interim manager is a person with practical experience from various fields and companies. Someone who has experienced many situations in practice and can offer a helping hand in the form of expertise. Among them are often former CEOs (Chief Executive Officer), CFOs (Chief Finance Officer), CMOs (Chief Marketing Officer), COOs (Chief Operations Officer), CHROs (Chief Human Resources Officer), Directors, and specialists.
An interim manager is engaged for a period of 1 to 12 months.
They can react quickly and competently to the situation. They can make quick and qualified decisions, delegate tasks, and utilize capacities and specialization to the maximum.
After analysis, setup, implementation, and practical control, their engagement ends (thus the company’s cost is eliminated), and by agreement, they remain as an external advisory body.
Advantages of an Interim Manager
- Efficiency: They are highly efficient and productive. They can be helpful in setting goals and achieving them.
- Flexibility: They can make quick and qualified decisions based on analyses adapted to the situation.
- Precision: They understand the importance of data and know whom to turn to within the specialization.
- Leadership: They can delegate competences and utilize capacities based on experience. They connect teams and can inspire people.
- Costs: They know tricks for quickly reducing and optimizing costs.
- Focus: They know what to focus on. They are well aware of priorities and stick to them. They eliminate details that often distract attention.
- Listening: They always listen to our goals and suggestions at the beginning of the agreement. Based on them, they can respond or adjust them competently.
- Unburdened by relationships: They look at everything without prejudices, subjective opinions, and assumptions. They have rational thinking and focus on activities and their implementation.
On behalf of TOP HEADS, we would like to thank Mr. Kálmán for his contribution, and if you found the excerpt from his book “Compass into Crisis” interesting, you can download it here.
