Transition manager: a job in the in the "era of time"

Who are transitional managers? What assignments are they given? How do they carry them out? What role will they play in the business world in the future? Discover the mysteries of a profession that is in tune with the times, guided by a concern for performance within ever shorter deadlines!

A profession in the "era of the times"

France Transition has just published its annual barometer. The cumulative turnover of its members in 2021 - significant, since it represents about 30% of the overall market - amounts to nearly 130 million euros, up by nearly 8% compared to 2020. A trend that seems to be confirmed for the beginning of 2022. "The profession has been on a roll for a few years now," says Gilles Marque (MBA FT 87), partner at Actiss France and Africa, "a pure player in interim management", which he co-founded in 2004 with Jean-Louis Fidric (MHRM 01). "Many companies, both private and public, of all sizes and sectors of activity, now use the services of interim managers.

A way of managing company transformations
Industry remains the sector's main client, with 44% of assignments, ahead of services, at 28%. The share of bridging management has risen sharply over the past year, followed by project management. In times of health crisis, turnaround or crisis management assignments have also increased, but to a lesser extent. "The companies that call on us are still often in an emergency situation," recalls Gilles Marque. "At the very beginning of the year, the CFO of a LVMH subsidiary fell ill. We had to find a replacement very quickly, so that the 2021 annual reporting could be sent to the holding company in time. But more and more, interim management is becoming a way of managing company transformations: digitalisation, setting up in a new market, moving from operating in silos to a matrix organisation... or the opposite. Éric Lecoquierre (PGE 81) illustrates this shift. "After a career as a sales manager in the new technologies sector, working for large groups such as Thalès, but also within SMEs and then a consultancy firm, I wanted to fly solo." Since 2010, he has been working as an interim manager in business development based on the technologies in question. Pierre Crochet (MBA FT 86), also an engineer from Arts et Métiers, has successively held various permanent positions as "operations manager/industrial director in large groups, notably at Arcelor Mittal, but always in project mode". He then had no trouble adapting to the missions of interim manager, a path he chose in 2017.

by Patrice Theillout

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