Was It Worth It?

My colleagues and I at JEM Retail Consultants recently took an Exhibitor stand at the Retail Week Technology Summit. Was it worth it, what did we learn, and would we do it again?

The Interim Survey Report 2013 published by Executives Online reports that 62% of interim managers generate new opportunities themselves, with the remaining 38% relying on interim or recruitment providers. "The provider share of assignments has remained virtually constant in all Executive Online's surveys conducted over the past six years".

When it comes to finding the right interim manager the survey goes on to report that clients and interims connecting directly is the most prevalent method of engagement but the use of agencies has grown: "However, many more clients in 2013 - 47%, almost half - reported they'd prefer to use a recruitment or provider company of some sort, up from just 25% in 2011.

In my own experience, referral has been a far more important source of new assignments. I have successfully completed 5 contracts since I became an interim in 2006. Only one of these has been as the result of going through an agency, the rest have been the result of be referred by people I have worked with in the past. Most of my contact with agencies has, in fact, been as a recruiter rather than candidate.

One of the reasons that Jane, Erica and I established JEM earlier this year is that we have worked together in various combinations on 3 of these contracts, most recently the replacement of all the key operating systems at The Jacques-Vert Group, so we know there is a demand for our combined services. The reason we attended the Retail Week Technology Summit was to meet more retailers directly and make our name better known. We want to reach the 47%.

So how did it go for us and what did we learn? Well, there were one or two issues from the outset. Our stand was positioned next to a coffee area, which we thought was a good idea. Unfortunately the venue also served coffee immediately outside the main meeting area with the result that delegates obtained refreshment and then resumed their seats without venturing as far as us. The same happened at lunch time leaving us rather lonely.

A quiet word with Andrew Walker from the EMAP team sorted this out with the added benefit that the drinks reception that evening was restricted to the area of our stand. Andrew and the rest of the team from EMAP were, in fact, very helpful throughout the two days. Very useful for event novices such as ourselves.

So what did we gain from the summit? Well, we made some great new contacts meeting people from retailers such as Mammut, GOoutdoors, and Gap. We had the chance to discuss some interesting partnership opportunities with leading hardware and software suppliers as well as Syntel, a US based multi-national provider of integrated technology and business services.

Would we do it again? This particular event, probably not, but we did talk to the EMAP team about some other opportunities and I think we'll be taking advantage of those in the near future. We are also looking forward to the forthcoming Retail Business Technology Expo (RBTE) next March, where we have already booked a stand.

If nothing else it was a great opportunity to compare promotional freebies with the other Exhibitors!

Written by Mike Gamble: Director JEM Retail Consultants.

Difficult Decisions when Building a Team to Support Change Management

If your existing management team are fully occupied running the business then how can you second them into programme or project management positions?

I recently had a very interesting conversation with a senior Head of Business Transformation for a well known retailer. They are about to embark on a major change programme and his issue is that the existing management team are fully occupied with business as usual and consequently there is no possibility of them having the bandwidth to participate in the projects that will be required, even assuming that they have the requisite skills and experience.

His question: does he second people from the BAU team and back-fill them in the short term; or should he deliver the change programme using contractors or interim managers?

This is an incredibly difficult question to answer. It is also one that many organisations in the same circumstances will face and getting it right will be critical not only to the success of the change programme but also to benefits realisation and, I would suggest, retention of key employees.

There is no doubt that involving people from BAU will increase their commitment to the success of the change programme. It is also a unique opportunity to learn about new systems and processes before they become business critical. So involving the existing team is a priority.

On the other hand, they are the only people who understand how the current processes work and are therefore essential to business continuity. Bringing people in to temporarily replace them will involve a time consuming and ultimately throw away level of resource training people to use systems that now have a finite lifespan.

There is also the issue that BAU people are not used to project type work and gaining and being confident of those skills may add to the project critical path.

The answer may be to combine the two approaches. This would involve bringing external people into key programme and project roles to benefit from their expertise, but it would also necessitate being prepared to restructure some of the BAU roles and bringing in additional resource to allow BAU managers to be released to the programme, potentially on a part-time basis to act as subject matter experts for example.

There is no one right answer to this dilemma, but it is a fact that there is a natural resistance to change in most organisations. Involving your BAU team is a key way to break this down and ensure their motivation.

Written by Mike Gamble: JEM Retail Consultants