Interim management: The ER doctors of business

Private equity managers and portfolio companies are facing unprecedented volatility in their management teams. C-suite turnover hit a record high in 2021 and remains elevated. And while the impact of these departures is felt throughout companies at every level, gaps across commercial sales and marketing functions are among the most important to fill.

There is a lot at stake: PE firms trying to optimize growth need stable leadership to execute plans for their investors. Commercial executive roles currently take 120+ days to fill, leaving critical functions un-led or under-led. Even when hired, a new full-time executive will need 60+days to make an impact. That translates to a minimum of six months of stalled progress when a sales or marketing leader departs.

This not only derails growth plans, but it can also have long-term effects on the health of a company. To fill commercial leadership gaps, organizations often default to non-commercial executives who do what they think is best – cutting budgets and heads and slowing or stopping recruiting processes. Key customers don’t get attention. Deals take longer or don’t happen at all. Numbers begin falling along with company morale.

This can be avoided by filling critical roles with experienced interim commercial executives. If consultants can be thought of as company doctors, interim executives work in the ER – diagnosing issues and holding together teams to keep a company’s critical revenue-driving functions alive while navigating financial distress or a crisis of leadership.

Free of company (or industry) politics and directly responsible for results, the best commercial interim managers can deliver extraordinary results in a short period of time. Companies also benefit from several advantages vs. leaving a role unfilled or staffing it with someone underqualified:

• ‍Speed: Not only can interim executives be hired immediately, but they’re also used to working in short time frames with a high sense of urgency and deliver results quickly‍
• Skills and Experience: Interim executives are usually overqualified for the role they fill; they have “been there and done that,” with deep industry and functional experience and many successful interim assignments under their belts‍
• Objectivity: As independent third parties, interim executives have no agenda or baggage and will provide honest and objective perspectives to their sponsors regarding the state of the company‍
• Success Rate: As high performers experienced in leading teams, interim managers enjoy challenges and are obsessed with achieving their mission goals – they get results!

Having the right commercial executive at the right time can deliver the outcomes that private equity managers and their portfolio companies are seeking in this volatile environment. Candela Partners can help – as a premiere boutique management consulting firm we have senior leaders who have successfully executed many significant C-level interim assignments across multiple industries.  

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