In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, interim management has become a strategic solution for organisations seeking fast, flexible, and experienced leadership. Whether closing leadership gaps or driving urgent transformations, a skilled interim manager can deliver high-impact results with speed and precision. This interim management guide explores the five essential skills every interim manager must master to succeed.
According to the Institute of Interim Management (IIM), interim managers are defined as “bringing well-qualified skills and expertise to bear at short notice, without the overheads and shackles associated with employment. They consult, plan, advise, implement, and embed the lessons, then exit, handling a range of key strategic and tactical interventions”.
Having often delivered similar projects or dealt with similar challenges across various organisations and sectors, interim managers have the deep expertise needed to evaluate complex circumstances, as well as the ability to offer a fresh, objective perspective. This enables them to provide the required leadership solution needed during crisis and transition; to mitigate risk, drive rapid change, and offer transparency throughout the transformation process.
However, to achieve these criteria as an interim manager, it is essential that you have the right skills to succeed. Drawing on the expertise within BIE’s interim management team, as well as conversations with our interim network and the market, we have identified the five key skills that we believe any interim manager needs.
With organisations often seeking assistance/support from interim managers during various periods of change, interims are often entering high-pressure, high-stakes environments; therefore, they must possess the correct skill set that enables them to assess situations quickly, build trust fast, and deliver meaningful change.
Here are five key skills needed to succeed as an interim manager.
Change management is about guiding organisations through transformation while addressing the human side of change. For interim managers, this means quickly assessing the landscape, implementing improvements and supporting teams through disruption, to ensure that the change is not only effective but also, during unstable periods, is embraced by those impacted across the organisation. Therefore, effective change management requires interim managers to anticipate and minimise employees’ objections to change in order to understand their hesitations and apprehensions.
Organisations rely on interim managers during periods of growth, uncertainty, rapid transformation, or crisis. These are the moments when effective interim management becomes vital, requiring the ability to quickly assess, lead, and deliver results; be that performance of the business or people objectives. Effective change management in these situations means clearly communicating the vision, addressing resistance, and delivering results within tight timeframes, all while keeping teams engaged and focused throughout the transition.
The skill of strategic thinking refers to an interim manager’s ability to understand an organisation’s long-term goals and objectives, thus aligning resources and anticipating trends to make decisions that support the success of the organisation, while navigating the complexities that can arise within an interim role.
As a professional in interim management with a service-oriented approach, you enter organisations with the clear objective of delivering defined outcomes or solving specific challenges, rather than building a long-term career within the organisation. Therefore, working in high-stakes environments, during periods of change, it is crucial to be able to make quick assessments and steer the organisation by implementing strategic decisions. Interim managers are brought into organisations to provide a fresh perspective to identify problems, turn things around and get initiatives on track. Therefore, strategic thinking allows you, as an interim, to identify root causes, align with organisational goals and prioritise high-impact actions; all things that can be facilitated by making tough calls that provide solutions that may have been overlooked previously due to office politics or long-standing relationships.
Stakeholder management is the ability of interim managers to identify, engage and manage the expectations of internal and external stakeholders. With a vested interest in the organisation or project, stakeholder support and alignment are critical. Organisations often seek out the service and expertise of an interim manager due to their strong Emotional Quotient (EQ). Therefore, as an interim manager, you are expected to build relationships and ensure open and effective communication is maintained to understand and address the needs and concerns of the stakeholders.
Resistance from stakeholders can seriously hinder successful change implementation. It can block progress toward project goals, damage team relationships, and undermine your authority.
From frontline employees to the boardroom, when entering an assignment, interim managers must rapidly establish credibility and rapport across the organisation. Trust and buy-in are integral to ensuring stakeholders are receptive to change.
Problem-solving requires an interim to effectively analyse and implement solutions to complex situations under pressure, while also identifying the root causes. During crisis and transition periods, providing answers to these identified issues, interim managers offer organisations long-term stability and success.
Interim assignments are inherently challenging, requiring swift action and expert leadership. Your role as an interim manager is to drive outcomes, embed solutions and exit, leaving behind a more stable, better-performing function or team. Furthermore, as you are frequently hired by organisations in complex situations, such as underperforming teams, inefficient processes, or unresolved issues, it is crucial that you assert both authority and operational responsibilities when placed within an organisation. The possession of robust analytical and decision-making skills, along with creativity, distinguishes top performers.
Adaptability and resilience are essential in order to remain flexible, focused and effective in high-pressure or changing environments. These skills are also key in situations where you may need to recover from setbacks quickly.
Interim management requires interim managers to enter an organisation with minimal onboarding while swiftly integrating into leadership teams, to offer organisations immediate value during periods of change, crisis and growth.
With the nature of interim work requiring interim managers to move frequently between various industries, companies and cultures, your success can balance on your capacity to quickly adapt to new cultures, industries and challenges, as well as hold a calm, solution-focused mindset even in circumstances where things don’t go to plan.
Businesses are in a position where they cannot afford long delays in leadership or strategy execution. With each sector being impacted by market volatility, digital disruption and skills shortages, interim managers offer a key solution to stay ahead of their competitors.
Whether you’re an experienced interim manager or exploring a transition into interim management, mastering these five skills will enhance your impact and marketability.
For opportunities and advice on your next assignment, contact our interim management team today.
