Explosive growth in interim management in 2023 2023 has been a year of significant growth in interim management, and this trend has also become clear in Norway – we at Agile Interim are on track to close the year with growth of around 240%. More and more Norwegian companies are now turning to interim management / Management for Hire to meet their leadership needs. And demand from foreign owners remains consistently high.
Interestingly, we are also seeing a growing trend of younger leaders, some in their 40s, establishing themselves as interim managers. This marks an important development in which interim management is beginning to be recognised as a profession in its own right. It reflects a broader understanding and acceptance of interim management as a strategic and flexible solution to leadership challenges.
Trends in 2023
1. Digital transformation
Digital transformation has become an integral part of modern business strategies, in Norway too. Interim managers and project managers with digital expertise who have carried out such changes before play a central role in helping Norwegian companies through this transition. They contribute their expertise to implementing new technologies and digitalisation strategies that keep businesses competitive. Many of the requests we receive from clients for leaders or project managers involve either companies that are implementing new tools and lack the necessary expertise or capacity in-house, or companies with an ongoing project that has stalled or gone off the rails and needs help quickly to get it completed.
2. Crisis management
Given the recent economic challenges and post-pandemic conditions, crisis management has become a key skill for interim managers in Norway. These leaders' ability to steer companies through uncertain times with strategic solutions adapted to local conditions has become indispensable. We have many interim managers with considerable experience of various forms of crisis management – anything from reorganisations, mergers and downsizing to raising capital, to name a few.
3. Which interim roles are most in demand?
“Which types of interim roles can you provide?” is a question we are often asked. We provide all leadership roles to all industries, and there is a growing trend in demand for interim managers across a wider range of leadership roles, extending beyond the traditional CFO and senior business controller roles. Yes, by far the greatest demand is for CFOs, and we have many CFOs out on interim assignments, but over the course of the year we have filled most C-level roles: sales directors, logistics managers, procurement managers, HR directors and IT managers, to name a few. So we can see that interim management is growing fast and evolving in Norway too, and it now covers a wide range of leadership roles, which shows the growing reach of interim management.
4. Leadership positions as temporary roles
Like it or not, many companies now see leadership roles as more temporary than before. This is partly due to more frequent leadership transitions, which is leading more companies to choose interim managers as a solution, even outside traditional periods of crisis or transition. This suits our interim managers well, as they prefer to come in with their expertise, fix or implement something and move on to the next challenge. Many of those who choose interim management as a profession have found that in their previous “permanent” careers they could quickly become bored and start looking for new challenges as soon as the challenges had been solved and only “ordinary” operations remained.
Interim management – central to today's and tomorrow's strategy
With these trends in 2023, interim management is central to the business strategies of today and the future in Norway. It is essential for companies to understand and make use of the opportunities interim management offers in order to stay relevant and competitive in an ever-changing and challenging business landscape.
Would you like to hear more, or is your company ready to navigate tomorrow's challenges with an interim manager? Get in touch with us for a no-obligation conversation about how we can help you find the right leader for your needs.
