Short Term Interim Project
The Client
A magazine and newsletter publisher.
The Aims
To manage a Sales and Marketing Department during maternity leave.
Issues
This was a newly created department brought about by the merger of the advertising sales and marketing departments. After the announcement of the merger the newly appointed Director left to take 7 months maternity leave. The key short term challenges were to integrate operations, adapt and create new job roles where necessary, meet financial targets, manage budgets and maintain motivation and focus during a period of change.
The Solution
After agreeing the critical business issues with senior managers the next step involved one to one meetings with each team member. As a result of the meetings we developed an outline plan that was presented to the team. The plan laid out overall goals, the nature of the interim role and our immediate expectations. Individual team members then developed personal action plans and we set up procedures for feedback.
At the same time we worked closely with the operations group to develop a shared understanding of processes and roles. This resulted in a series of changes in procedures and roles.
Team members were encouraged to attend one to one meetings to discuss progress and personal development; air issues that concerned them and propose new ideas. As a result, our client successfully achieved its goals. The project:
• met annual budgets
• resulted in no staff turnover
• reorganised and streamlined administration
• created a new revenue stream
• put in place reporting systems that could be carried forward by the new Sales and Marketing Director
