Interim leadership
Some situations do not call for an adviser but for someone who takes the function on: decides, leads, carries responsibility and hands over at the end. I have held that role twice in corporate groups and for twenty years in my own company.
Typical triggers
- A leadership position is vacant and recruitment is taking time
- A central travel or expense function has been agreed but never staffed
- A carve-out, acquisition or restructuring calls for leadership capacity at short notice
- An undertaking has failed twice because nobody was responsible across departmental boundaries
What I take on
- Leading a central travel and expense function or competence centre
- Building the function including roles, responsibilities, procedures and service commitments
- Functional steering of the owners in the country organisations
- Representing the topic towards management, finance, HR, IT, procurement and the works council
- Taking the decisions that arise day to day — not only recommending them
Terms of engagement
Three to twelve months, largely full time. Based in Berlin, working remotely and on site, nationally and internationally. Working languages German and English. Engaged as an independent contractor, including through providers and framework agreements.
What is left behind
An interim mandate is only successful once it runs without me. Handover is therefore part of the brief from day one: documented processes, named owners, a successor brought up to speed. No dependency that forces an extension.
Background
At Vitesco Technologies, built and led the global mobility function after the spin-off from Continental, around 35,000 employees in 15 countries. Then at Schaeffler, consolidated both landscapes after the acquisition, around 100,000 employees in more than 50 countries. Before that, twenty years as managing partner of a business travel company with 85 staff across nine locations.