Leading change management and addressing organizational restructuring processes are among the main reasons why Interim Management services are hired. This interview discusses all of this. Ricardo Fernández, interim manager with international experience, specializing in team leadership, business development, digital transformation of business models and implementation of disruptive technologies, among other specialties.
Madrid, November 21, 2022
It is a fact confirmed by Interim Management companies that the demand for this type of management services is increasingly high. What are the advantages offered by this way of working, which is relatively new in Spain but fully established in other markets?
Regardless of the nature of the engagement, whether for a temporary replacement or for specialized expertise in resolving a challenge, the advantage in both cases is knowing that there is an expert in the market who has successfully performed that function or solved that challenge before, and on multiple occasions. The expected result is the logical consequence of this advantage: achieving the objective with immediacy, clarity, speed, and competence.
In 2021, it presented TL-LT, a disruptive methodology developed to define a 360º strategy for the digital transformation of the company as a whole. What does it consist of and how is it put into practice?
TL-LT is the acronym for Transforming Leadership and Leading Transformation.
Transformation isn't simply about changing things to "make them better." To transform, you have to actually do things. differentlyThis requires a rebellious leadership style. Why should the managers in charge—who are in that position because of their success to date—do things differently, when doing them the way they've always done has gotten them where they are?
TL-LT is based on two principles, and both are very obvious, yet uncommon.
The first point is that the company itself knows the most about the business and its sector. An external party (consultant, advisor, interim manager, etc.) can match their knowledge of the sector, but never their knowledge of the company itself, its culture, dynamics, and behaviors.
The second point is that, while technology is currently the greatest driver of transformation (as electricity and computers once were), true transformation requires going beyond technology itself and embracing leadership styles, organizational structures, and relationships that are very different from the norm. A caterpillar doubling its speed will make it faster, but only one that transforms into a butterfly will be able to fly. That's the essence of it, but applied to the business model, leveraging the disruptive power of new technologies, which are emerging at a rate unmatched in the past.
TL-LT is a methodology that addresses the impact of new technologies in all areas of a company: its products, services and operations, asset and stock management, customer relations, etc.
And it does so by combining real-world examples (more than 100) with a series of guided workshops that allow the management team to rethink aspects of their own traditional business model. One example, to illustrate what I'm talking about, is the smart product workshop. In this workshop, we choose a traditional company product that is 0% digital—for example, a suitcase, a padlock, a tire, an album, or any other example. Through four interconnected questions, the management team is guided to transform these products into smart, connected, or digital products, thus opening up new business models that complement or replace the current one ("if you don't do it, someone else will").
The management team is not told what to do (traditional approach in consulting), but its members are helped to find out and understand how they could do things differently, combining knowledge of their own company with real examples of the possibilities offered by new technologies.
Some of the managers who have implemented it agree that “it is a very practical, collaborative, dynamic, engaging, agile, and fast methodology. In just a few hours, we have all worked together toward a common goal and reached consensus that would have been very difficult to achieve previously.” This methodology is fully applicable in an Interim Management format, that is, in project management. This is the case with some projects I have developed as an interim manager through EPUNTO Interim ManagementIf your readers are interested in this topic, I would invite them to visit the page www.tsdt.es .
What type of projects are you most comfortable with, and which are the most suitable to develop through an Interim Management company?
In my case, although I could contribute to temporary replacements, what I like and have specialized in is transformation projects, which, I confess, I also enjoy carrying out.
The beauty of it is that there are as many challenges as there are companies, and no two are alike. Some examples of challenges include: mergers or acquisitions, where the aim is to establish and manage synergies; undertaking a digital transformation process; and identifying the need to transform a portfolio of products or services. They also arise in situations where the goal is to reverse a drop in sales and/or margins, and where rapid growth and/or a drastic improvement in profits are required.
There's a general belief that the best professional profile to lead a transformation is someone with proven experience in that same sector. I can say from my experience that it's the opposite. Not knowing the sector, its practices, and common "bad habits" makes you act like a "child," questioning established criteria and models. For example, if I had come from the photo album manufacturing sector, I probably wouldn't have been able to help transform Hofmann, a photo album company whose sales were declining year after year with the rise of digital cameras (smartphones didn't exist yet), into a B2C company specializing in mass digital printing. If I had been from their own sector, perhaps I would have improved their market penetration or market share, in a market that, within a few years, would practically disappear, compared to what it once was.
In relation to the current situation in Spain, will the Funds be the ones to benefit? Next Generation capable of revitalizing the Spanish economy and transforming a business fabric as fragmented as Spain's?
It should have been that way. But I am very critical of the criteria used to redistribute those funds.
I would have advocated for giving a larger share of the pie to small and medium-sized enterprises and the self-employed. However, the opposite has been done, rewarding large corporations. This will mean that the impact at the national level will end up being much smaller than it could have been. That money will go more towards corporate profits than towards the structural transformations that, in my opinion, our business sector needs.
He recently attended the presentation at IE of the “1st International Study on Interim Management” promoted by EPUNTO IM together with its partners in the Interim Management Business Institute What surprised you most about this study conducted in 51 countries, in collaboration with 45 companies?
Few surprises. It confirmed what was already known and the trend in the sector in recent years: that Interim Management is expanding throughout Europe, including Spain. And it also confirmed that Spain is still lagging far behind other countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Benelux, and the Nordic countries. Lagging behind in both supply and demand.
Regarding the supply, this is because in southern European countries job security and stability are considered more important.
Regarding the demand for Interim Management services in Spain, it has much to do with the culture affecting the current generation of Spanish managers, where the circle of trust still relies on bringing in an external consultant who comes in and "decides how we should act." Although interim managers have successfully tackled similar challenges in the past, there is still a sense of unease.
That said, it's also fair to mention that something has been changing rapidly over the last two years, with a significant increase in the volume of opportunities. These days, it's rare for a month to go by without us receiving at least one or two calls asking about our availability.