MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT, INTERIM MANAGER, CONTRACTOR OR PROJECT MANAGER
What are the differences
Executive Interim Manager is still a fairly new term on the CEE market, which quite often leads to incorrect interpretations. Contractors, consultants and project managers have been and inherent part of the business for much longer, which is why their roles are generally better understood.
Let’s start with the first three and then we will explain The key differences.
Management Consultant
Management Consultants primarily focus on improving organisational performance by analysing the existing challenges and developing plans for improvement. They employ well-educated, talented experts with good analytical thinking. Clients can benefit from their extensive bench-marking
data, review of market practices, view across your industry and experience from similar projects. The cost of their work, especially from the market leading professional services organisations, can be quite high.
Contractor
Contractor will have technical or other specialist skills and will have the ability to deliver complex projects quickly, on budget and to specification. They are more tactically focused than strategic and are able to follow clear project briefs, workflows and ready-made tasks rather than to design a programme of work from scratch. Many have the ability to deliver complex projects and adapt quickly to a variety of cultures.
Project Manager
Project Managers have been present on the market for a long time, usually responsible for the implementation of construction, engineering, IT & telecommunications projects. Project manager’s role is primarily focused on planning, delegating and overlooking the work of the project team and overall monitoring, so that set goals, based on specific criteria, are met within the specified time scale and budget.
Competent project manager understands all individual project stages, knows how to plan and supervise them, as well as ensure quality and risk management throughout the implementation. They will also regularly report to the designated project committee.
Interim Manager
Executive Interim Manager is a senior executive person with high qualifications and extensive professional experience gained from several high-level management positions, who can be engaged by a company within days for a defined period of time to solve a specific business problem or lead the company through transformation.
An interim manager can secure a business for the period of time needed to find the right candidate who will be employed permanently.
Neither the management consultant nor the project manager would fulfil this role in such a situation.
So which one to engage ?
While it can be said that an executive interim manager is a management consultant to some extent, the consultant is not an interim manager.
To some extent, an interim manager is also a project manager (in the assignments, when his role is to implement a specific project, process, change or other transformation in the company employing him).
An interim manager may have project management experience, but the scope of the executive interim manager’s role is much broader and has a much higher level of responsibility. The project manager is expected to have experience in project management, not in business matter.
Management consultants are usually tasked to prepare and propose solutions, but are rarely involved in the implementation process. Most of them lack external industry experience or understand what it takes to put theory into practice.
Unlike Executive interim managers, management consultants work for their employer not for you and are often incentivised to cross sell other services you may not need.
Your starting point for deciding whether you appoint a Management Consultant, Contractor, Project Manager or an Executive Interim Manager should be determined by your firm’s:
- nature of the assignment / problem you need solving
- level of support you expect this person to demand of you
- risk appetite
- available budget
You may choose a blend of all options or have a preference, but whatever it, is you need to consider this decision carefully.
EIM Executive Interim Managers
are Strategists and Implementers
Management Consultant vs Interim Manager vs Project Manager vs Contractor
Executive Interim Manager
Approach
- Organised, adaptable, results driven,
- Thrives on change, solving business problems and challenges,
- Has chosen Interim Management as a distinct career choice,
- Results-driven approach based on long-standing experience of delivering solutions.
Skills & Experience
- Experience as CEO, President, Entrepreneur, Executive Director or Senior Manager,
- Reasonably overqualified for the assignment,
- Cross-sector and international experience,
- Ability to transfer best practice.
Responsibility
- Normally given full responsibility
for the assignment, often with
budgetary ownership.
Reporting
- Reports to and maintains the
overall relationship with the
client, - Works with, and as part of, the
company’s management team - Leaves a legacy.
Contractor
Approach
- Delivers a project or services
based on their specific skills and
experience.
Skills & Experience
- Have niche, sector-specific and practical knowledge and experience from delivering previous contracts (usually doesn’t understand the full business case and doesn’t have experience working at very senior levels).
Responsibility
- Has responsibility to deliver a
specific project or services under a
written contract.
Reporting
- Reports to his firm and to the
designated manager at the
client firm at agreed milestones.
Management Consultant
Approach
- Uses mainly standard inhouse
approaches and methods, - Normally operates within one or two
industry sector groups which may
limit his knowledge.
Skills & Experience
- Usually choose to become a consultant at a younger age and complete extensive inhouse training to learn various analytical methods and tools,
- Possess skills and know-how to analyse the company’s competitive position on the market and propose strategies for improvement.
Responsibility
- They advise on possible alternative
strategies and implementation methods, but the implementation
falls under the client’s responsibility.
Reporting
- Reports to the management
consulting firm - As part of their
assignment they will try to cross-sell
other services the client
may not necessarily need.
Project Manager
Approach
- Uses one of the standards methods
for managing projects, selected
based on the client’s preference.
Skills & Experience
- Planning, delegating and monitoring of tasks,
- Usually single-sector focused.
Responsibility
- Has responsibility to deliver a specific project according to a brief and requirements specified by the client, usually requires regular communication/ closer supervision.
Reporting
- Reports to the designated
manager at the client firm at
agreed milestones and on
completion.
Let’s talk about it together
Bohuslav Lipovsky
EIM Executive Interim Management CEE
Together we can find the solution you are looking for
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