Interim Management Adapts Global Company to Turbulent Times

Global companies experience both challenges and potential in cross-cultural collaboration. This was exactly what HR Manager, Tom Schougaard from the engineering and manufacturing company Howden encountered

“Howden is a global engineering company, built through a long series of acquisitions. Therefore, Howden is a melting pot of different cultures, brands, and technologies. This leads to a high frequency of change, and therefore, the need for organizational adjustments often arises.”

That is why Tom Schougaard chose to contact Nextt & Mason when a department required the integration of employees from three different countries.

Turbulent Times Require Adjustments

With its 6,000 employees, Howden is a large global company within air and gas handling and ventilation. After a series of acquisitions, the company was to be rebranded as a trusted advisor within its industry. According to Tom Schougaard, this required both small and large organizational adjustments:

“In turbulent times with many adjustments, it is relevant to consider whether, instead of hiring new managers, you can bring in an interim manager to handle the task.”

And such an adjustment became necessary when three engineering units needed to be integrated into one department at Howden:

“In connection with an integration of three units from Denmark, Germany, and Sweden, we needed a candidate to focus on the engineering integration and the merging of processes, tools, and language,” says Tom, and continues:

“The original idea was that the engineering part should be included as part of our operations setup. But the candidate we had identified for the project did not have a strong engineering profile. So, we did not want to risk the engineering aspect being underprioritized.”

Execution Over Integration

With a clearly defined challenge and focus on the results and actions Howden wanted to achieve, Tom Schougaard reached out to Nextt & Mason:

“I have a background in recruitment, so I knew it made perfect sense to contact Nextt & Mason.”

According to Tom Schougaard, with traditional recruitment, it often takes longer before you see concrete results from the candidate. That was not his experience with an interim manager from Nextt & Mason:

“We quickly gained a higher level of insight and a new perspective on the specific task. There were things we simply hadn’t seen or considered in relation to the integration of the engineering function. We had some real ‘aha’ moments.”

The big difference between interim and traditional recruitment lies in the clearly defined goals and the limited time frame in which the interim manager is employed. Therefore, it is in both the company’s and the candidate’s interest that the project becomes a success quickly — without side projects or distractions:

“With interim, the focus is on execution, whereas a permanent hire often needs time to get comfortable with the employees, management team, and culture. You also get sharp, objective observations free from political bias, because the interim leader does not carry the same risks in the organization’s internal politics.”

Define the Task Clearly

For Tom Schougaard, it is natural to make interim management a strategic consideration when discussing structural changes at Howden. But there is a big difference between recruiting an interim manager and hiring a permanent leader:

“As the hiring party, you need to approach the recruitment process a bit differently than if it were a traditional candidate. You must look for other qualities — also to ensure that you evaluate the candidates correctly. It’s a different experience to bring a new member into the management team this way.”

Tom Schougaard believes that one must always be aware that interim is a temporary solution. You must have an exit strategy ready and a clear understanding of what success looks like — for both the candidate and the company. Therefore, it was also important that Nextt & Mason had a pragmatic approach to the interim process:

“It wasn’t a complex process, and Nextt & Mason had a pragmatic approach to bringing Howden’s needs and the prequalified candidates together as quickly as possible. There are, of course, always challenges in managing line functions with leaders who are only on loan to the organization,” says Tom Schougaard, adding:

“But the solution to the task was exceptionally good.”