Interims managers are different, are not obvious, driven by emotional inteligence. I argue that these are the the client differentiators of their experience of an interim assignment, technical, management skills simply have to be excellent and taken as read. That said when you dont know a professional should ask! – so we dont have to know everything? and organisations have plenty of untapped resources for the interim to leverage.

 

This is the link with differentiators

 

There is alot of “ego centricity” in interim management, alot of passion BUT not a whole lot of factual research, nor is it a subject at UK business schools yet, so there is a whole lot of passionate subjective ranting (including me)!. To add some objectivity and background – Below is some research and thinking from Holland (who have a more mature market than the UK, and input from a Dutch Universities Jaap Schnevelin 2009 that research IM; see links below )

 

Lily v b Broekes view:

Towards a new way of managing people and organisations as a perspective shift from self-driven to environment-driven where ego is part of the environment. In the future there will not be 1 Leonardo da Vinci but together we will be Leonardo da Vinci

A definition of an interim manager (Dr. Martin Dorchester)

A highly experienced senior executive hired on a short-term basis of typically 3-9 months.  Has completed a minimum of 3 assignments

Martins update on emotional intelligence and interims.. Martin Dorchester 2009

 

“Emotional intelligence, or EI is the ability to understand your own emotions and those of people around you. The concept of emotional intelligence, developed by Daniel Goleman, means you have a self-awareness that enables you to recognise feelings and helps you manage your emotions.”

“So, for us, emotional intelligence is not a synonym for personality; it is about how we manage our personality.”

“Forget IQ. Brains may come in useful, as may social class and luck, but as a predictor of who will succeed in any area of life, EQ is the thing to worry about”

“It is with the heart that one sees rightly: what is essential is invisible to the eye”

 

The elements of EI are (Daniel Goleman)

:

  1. Self-Awareness
  2. Self-Regulation
  3. Motivation
  4. Empathy
  5. Social Skills

 

Martin Dorchester Research shows charachteristics of his snapshot sucessful interims from around the world

 

  1. Self-motivation:
    1. Feelings/gut instinct
    2. 20.8%
  2. Self-regulation:
    1. Responsibility/religion/spiritualism/positivity
    2. 41.7%
  3. Motivation:
    1. Values, goal driven, end results
    2. 8.3%
  4. Empathy:
    1. Visual. Voice change, in their shoes
    2. 8.3%
  5. Social skills:
    1. Interaction, rapport, mimic
    2. 20.8%
      1. Average IQ score 104
      2. Highest 121Lowest 99

 

Martins summary concludes:

 

Successful interims can be identified by:

n  Not concerned with personal status

n  Trustworthiness

n  Courage and resolution

 

The link with QA here is that the decision making process is very intuitive (or based uopn gut instinct), an ability developed through the drivers of who we are, this is what enables us to be effective. There are dangers with this too as it can be become distorted (we are flawed), Entrepreneurs & interim Whitehall 09

 

Lily v b Broeke goes on:

 

Decisiveness

  1. Interims become different types of  “leaders”
  2. Interims/Providers require training in non-technical areas:
  • Importance of CPD

 

It is about people, relationships and methods of engagement

  1. Those with low levels of EI prone to counterproductive behaviour
  2. Successful interims are found to possess high levels of emotional intelligence

n  Anticipate, cope with, and manage change

 

  1. 70% of the climate is driven by the interim
  2. Vision : have a dream and make peoples dream alive
  3. Personal maturity : in balance with yourself and knowing yourself
  4. Connecting: support strongly and counterpoise strongly
  5. Authentic (gives you freedom)
  6. Modest (its the team, not just you)
  7. Show your emotions

 

Research into Interim Management

Lily v d Broek 2009

 

How does Lily thik we will get there?

  1. Clarity in definition IM
  2. Education, coaching and accreditation
  3. Create learning communities
  4. Selection: survival of the species (lt) and not survival of the fittest
  5. Self reflection and mirroring
  6. Proactive and courageous (no guts no glory), trial and error