“In organisations, the talk is no longer of roles but of skills and projects”

María Dionis, a member of the Advisory Board at EPUNTO Interim Management and a professional with extensive experience in leadership and talent strategy, shares her views and insights in this interview on interim management services and their value as a strategic tool for organisational transformation.

Madrid, 14 September 2021

Digital transformation, economic globalisation and other key factors, such as sustainability and diversity and inclusion models, are forcing companies to tackle profound changes, both at an organisational level and in their business models. What competitive advantages does interim management offer in the face of all these challenges?

In my view, interim management offers two major advantages. The first is that it provides, within a short timeframe, the expert knowledge needed to tackle these challenges – knowledge that companies have not yet developed internally. Furthermore, the strength of the model lies in the fact that this experienced executive can develop these capabilities in in-house staff through a well-planned coaching process, ensuring continuity in the work carried out.

The second major advantage is that it is a time-limited service focused on achieving results. At the start of the assignment, specific and clear objectives are defined, and the manager’s extensive experience facilitates the implementation of the plan from day one.

María, you have held management positions as Head of Human Resources at such prominent companies as Soluziona, Getronics Iberia and Ferrovial, and in all of them you have been a member of the Management Committee. How do these large organisations view the use of interim management firms to carry out projects?

Large companies have been tackling transformation, diversification and internationalisation projects by engaging interim management services, as their management resources are focused on their core business, which has been severely affected over the past year and a half by the pandemic. Bringing in experienced executives through interim management firms enables them to launch and execute expansion and growth projects without delays, without incurring additional labour costs, and without having to rush into hiring a senior executive.

Interim management is a form of executive service that has been fully established for decades in other European countries, such as the Netherlands, Germany, France and the United Kingdom – and, of course, in the US as well. However, in Spain, although it is gaining ground, it has not quite taken off. What do you think are the reasons for this?

In Spain, for the most part, companies prefer to fill management positions with internal talent and, if they do bring in an external candidate, they want to have an employment relationship with them. I would describe this as the psychological need to have ‘in-house’ managers.

In my view, these companies need to embrace current trends. Organisations no longer talk about roles but about capabilities and projects. Many organisations have already embraced this trend by implementing agile models of work organisation at middle management levels, but they need to adopt it for senior management roles as well. In this way, they would be making the most of all the managerial talent available to them, beyond their internal ranks.

Just as the concept of an open innovation ecosystem has become widespread – and it is no longer conceivable to confine innovation within the organisation’s boundaries – companies must harness the talent that exists beyond their own walls, defining their workforce ecosystem as comprising in-house staff, expert freelancers and flexible leadership.

EPUNTO Interim Management, one of the companies leading the way in this specialism in Spain, has taken a decisive step towards internationalisation by joining the largest international network in this field, the Globalise Alliance, which has a presence on all five continents and manages over 60,000 interim managers through its partner firms. From the EPUNTO I.M. Advisory Board, of which you are a member, has this move been seen as a solution to the low demand for these services amongst Spanish businesses, or is it driven by other strategic reasons with medium- and long-term objectives?

The partnership with Globalise stems from EPUNTO Interim Management’s commitment to supporting clients in the internationalisation of their businesses. The Globalise Alliance provides access to candidates in numerous countries whilst also supplying Spanish candidates to multinationals seeking to expand their operations in Spain.

Clearly, it is a strategic decision that enhances the company’s reach and, consequently, its growth. As a member of the Advisory Board, I am very proud of this decision.

Generally speaking, interim management firms also manage executive recruitment processes, as well as providing interim management services. In this field, EPUNTO I.M. is applying state-of-the-art recruitment methodologies, such as augmented intelligence, through its exclusive ‘Smart recruitment’© method, which enables any executive position to be filled in under 48 hours. Given your high level of specialisation and extensive experience in human resources and talent management, what is your view on the new technologies used in executive recruitment, and what path should be followed in the new social and economic reality that is taking shape?

We should welcome the application of new technologies, digitalisation and AI to recruitment processes. They provide invaluable information for identifying the profiles best suited to the requirements of the role and the project to be undertaken, significantly reducing the time taken to manage the process. That said, I would caution that we must be careful, as algorithms can also be biased. By working with historical data, we are replicating past models of success, which in many cases are now obsolete. It is now necessary to incorporate other criteria into the algorithm, such as diversity criteria, amongst others. These are processes that cannot be fully automated. Reason and intuition must be taken into account.