Key takeaways
- Interim management bridges the gap when the successor is not ready, a sale is being prepared or the owner steps back earlier.
- It stabilises operations, makes the company less dependent on the owner, documents knowledge and prepares the sale or handover.
- Typical mistakes are starting too late, an owner who cannot let go, unclear roles and communicating with stakeholders too late.
- A written handover plan leads from the stocktake through clear roles and securing knowledge to an orderly handover and withdrawal.
Contents
In a mid-sized company, succession is often the most important business decision – and one of the hardest. The timing does not always fit: the successor still needs experience, a sale drags on or the owner wants to step back earlier than planned. Interim management can close this gap and make the company ready for handover.
01When succession is not seamless
Succession is rarely a single cut-off date. Often several factors come together. Typical situations in which a transitional solution is needed:
- The daughter or son is to take over but still needs time and experience.
- An external successor has not yet been found or can only start later.
- A sale is being prepared, and until then the company should run stably and independently of the owner.
- The owner wants or has to step back earlier than planned.
02What an interim managing director contributes to succession
Day-to-day business continues, decisions are made, and customers, banks and the team have a clear point of contact.
Decisions, contacts and customer relationships often depend on one person. The interim managing director spreads responsibility across a leadership team and creates clear roles.
What used to exist only in the owner’s head is written down: processes, terms, agreements and the particularities of key customers and suppliers.
Clean figures, a credible plan and an organisation that works without the owner make the company more attractive to successors and buyers.
In a family succession, the interim managing director gradually introduces the successor to responsibility – and steps back as planned.
03Family, management or sale
The role interim management takes on depends on the succession route. In a family succession, it bridges the time until the successor is ready and accompanies them. In an external succession, it keeps the company able to act until the permanent management starts. In a sale, it ensures that operations do not suffer during the process and that the owner can concentrate on the transaction. In all three cases, interim management is temporary by design, and its end should be clear from the start – as a date or as a clearly defined event.
Note
Tax, inheritance and corporate law questions around succession belong in the hands of tax advisers and lawyers. This guide is no substitute for such advice.
04Typical mistakes in succession
Succession needs lead time. Anyone who only acts when the owner drops out or a buyer is pushing has hardly any room left to shape the outcome.
Officially, the business has been handed over; in fact, the senior still decides. This unsettles the team and the successor alike.
Who decides what – owner, interim managing director, successor, advisory board? Without clarification in writing, conflicts arise.
Contacts, terms and experience that are not documented anywhere leave with the owner.
The team, customers and banks hear about the succession second-hand – and trust is lost.
Practical tip
Put in writing who decides what and from when – owner, interim managing director and successor. This prevents the senior from carrying on in charge in practice.
05The handover plan in five steps
A clear process, set down in writing and supported jointly by the owner, the successor and the interim managing director, has proved its worth:
- StocktakeStocktake: figures, organisation, dependencies on the owner and open issues.
- Define rolesDefine roles and decision-making channels – with clear dates for who decides what from when.
- Stabilise & secureStabilise and secure knowledge: strengthen the leadership team, document processes and contacts.
- Onboard or sellOnboard the successor or prepare the sale, and transfer responsibility step by step.
- Handover & withdrawalHandover and withdrawal: an orderly handover with a documented status and an agreed end to the interim mandate.
06In practice
As managing director of erlebe-fernreisen, one of three managing directors, Jens Schneiders led the company for two years, finally during the Covid crisis, and handed it over in an orderly way despite the external shock. At Klugo, the legal tech company of the DEVK Group, the new structures were handed over at the end of his interim mandate so that management and the team can continue them independently. That is exactly what matters in succession too: a company that works without the person handing it over.
Jens Schneiders
Interim CEO for mid-sized companies, scale-ups and corporate ventures. Transformation. Restructuring. Stabilization. Handover.