Interim Manager or a Consultant?

Many executives who initially think they need a management consultant ultimately decide to deploy an interim manager. In fact, a recent survey of 100 senior directors in UK companies showed that 78% felt that interim managers offered clear advantages over management consultants.

Like consultants, interim managers provide:

• The latest thinking
• Short-term access to top management talent
• Strategic capability
• An independent eye
• The ability to fast-track a critical project

Unlike consultants, interim managers are:

• Implementers as well as being strategists, analysts and planners
• Loyal to your business objectives – not their consultancy's objectives
• Flexible to do what you need – not restricted to doing things the way their consultancy prescribes
• Focused on your profitability – not their consultancy's profitability. They are not incentivised to sell in additional services you don't need
• They are strategists as well as hands-on – they are on your team to deliver your strategy
• More cost-effective

At our Recruitment & Corporate Success Forum, Duncan Sedgwick, Chief Executive of The Energy Retail Association, said: "It is all about horses for courses. If I really want someone to get stuck in and make things happen quickly, then I would go for the interim."

To see whether your requirement is best matched to an interim manager or a consultant, take our free online test. This will guide you through a series of 19 questions designed to help establish where your project or role sits on the spectrum of distinct skills and attributes that distinguish interims and consultants.

For a more thorough discussion of interims as an alternative to consultants, request our In the Interim report on the UK market for interim management and other fast-track executive resourcing.

Thinking of using a management consultant? Contact us first to see how you could manage your project differently.

If you are a prospective candidate, learn more about being an interim manager.