I don't remember exactly how the question sounded during the discussion of a possible interim task, but that was the gist of it, and I think it can be one of the biggest dilemmas when someone starts thinking about involving an interim specialist.
There are doubts that if someone commits to only one task, how much will he put into the execution of the task? How can he collaborate with the team? What if things don't work out well?
I have been on both sides, I worked with an interim colleague on a larger project for a few months, then on a similar project as an interim, and a few things became clear.
Those who take on such tasks usually have many years of practical experience in the given field and as managers, they are used to doing the work at a high level, under pressure, to a deadline, and they cannot be distracted from this just because the current task is "only for half a year".
I was just as tense and impatient because of delays, I felt powerless in certain situations and I tried to press the next steps, just as I did just two years earlier in a similar task as an executive, and I saw the same thing in the interim colleague who worked for me earlier. He really wanted to make it work and he gave it his all, so commitment was not an issue for me sitting on either side.
A more exciting topic is how to collaborate with the local team. This partly depends on the task, because if the liquidation of a production unit has to be solved, it is difficult to rely on local cooperation, but in most cases the most important is, how the leader communicates his decision about the involvement of an interim, and how he himself relates to his presence on a daily basis. You can start by saying "since you can't solve the task, I'll bring someone who is better than you", but the same can also be phrased as "I see that this project is a big burden for the team in addition to the daily work, and I don't want to cause any harm to anyone, that's why we bring in someone for a few months to reduce the load". Or “we are very good at making chocolate, but in order to grow and not collapse, it seems that we need to reorganize our internal processes. I was looking for someone who has experience in this, we will learn from him and we will be unbeatable".
One thing is certain, whether as an interim or as a new colleague, when someone is given a task if they do not have the support of the manager, if it is not clear that the work, they are doing is important to the manager, then the team will not cooperate properly with them, and the project cannot be successful.
The third question is the easiest. When I decided to involve an interim project manager as an executive, I thought a lot about the fact that if I hire a permanent colleague who is able to solve this big task, I won't be able to give him projects with the same level of complexity, when we're done, not to mention how much it will cost. If, on the other hand, I hire someone who is OK in the long term, he will not have the knowledge for the given task.
Lehet, hogy csak egy feladatra, vagy csak egy adott időre van szükségünk az adott szaktudásra, változhatnak az üzleti körülmények és emiatt az adott projekt szükségtelenné válik, vagy kiderülhet, hogy nincs meg a kémia, nem megy a közös munka. Ilyenkor el lehet köszönni, ráadásul különösebb macera, és még 2-3 hónap kifizetése nélkül. Az interim menedzsment egy eszköz bizonyos helyzetekre, amit normál foglalkoztatással nem tudunk megoldani, vagy mert azonnali megoldás kellene, vagy mert anyagilag nem racionális. Szerintem érdemes ezzel a szemmel nézni rá, és felvenni a lehetséges opciók listájára.
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