He said all companies should hire more independently minded people like him as the new ideas and drive that such mavericks bring to the business far outweigh the fact they may be difficult to work with. The phrase now being coined for these types of people is “disruptive talent”. Jason Atkinson, managing director at Russam GMS says “Interim managers are the ultimate disruptive talent brought in at key times to manage specific projects where a maverick, independent and highly skilled resource is needed.
“Interims by their very nature are often parachuted into an organisation at short notice to provide specialist skills that don’t already exist in the organisation. They offer different experiences and fresh perspectives to help move a company forward, in time of crisis or when going through some kind of transformation. This means they can ruffle feathers as they are not there to make friends and can remain aloof to office politics.
Typically they are recruited for a short period of time to work on a specific project and have the expertise, knowledge and experience to hit the ground running to get results fast. This means they also have the potential to disrupt permanent employees who may not be used to their way to working or get time to get to know them.
However the benefit for the organisation is interims can get the job done quickly and efficiently, bring fresh ideas and new ways of doing things. They are a flexible resource that can have a big impact on the business bringing essential skills to help move a business forward.”
