The legal sector is facing an unprecedented talent shortage. While there are both structural and cyclical reasons why companies are finding it difficult to recruit, there are solutions available to meet these needs... It's just a matter of overcoming certain prejudices and not hesitating to turn to senior profiles for legal interim management assignments!
Prejudice has a long life. For many recruiters, hiring a senior still means hiring someone who is not very flexible, not very adaptable, not very dynamic, not very in tune with today's challenges, etc. Quite often, however, the opposite is true, especially with interim management!
Their first asset? Experience. Gérard Garcia, Managing Partner at IMfinity, explains: "The problems you're facing today have most likely already been faced, tackled and resolved at least once in their careers. Most of the time, they already have the solutions. And if they don't, they know where to find them, thanks to an address book carefully built up over the years."
Senior legal interim managers are indeed highly adaptable," agrees Arnaud Desclèves, President and founder of IMfinity. They've been through several companies, know how to reinvent themselves and have faced situations that are sometimes extraordinarily complex, such as companies closing down in a matter of days. It's wrong to think that senior managers are stuck in a straitjacket: that would be forgetting that they have previously been junior and middle managers, employees and managers, and that they have worked in several countries, for several missions and in several types of company."
On arrival, the senior manager is immediately available, with a perfect command of the legal issues he or she will have to handle during the assignment. Particularly motivated, competent and experienced, the seniors who devote themselves to interim management are not careerists. They're no longer looking for a permanent contract, because they've realized that they can have all the advantages of a corporate position without the disadvantages: internal quarrels, promotion issues, lack of challenge, lack of recognition, to name but a few," explains Gérard Garcia. Instead, they are focused on their mission and its purpose."
Senior legal interim managers also have a lot to pass on in terms of interpersonal skills. Often confronted with crisis situations in the course of their careers, they have also had to deal with hostile environments. Their sense of observation and relational intelligence enable them to blend into any environment. In the end, this gives them a real sense of leadership, impossible to acquire other than through experience.
Last but not least: an appetite for new technologies. Here again, a common misconception! You mustn' t confuse comfort with the tool and understanding of the technology," explains Arnaud Desclèves. Once again ,the experience of the senior legal interim manager makes all the difference. He or she is able to understand the implications of a particular IT process, what it contains and what it can deliver, as well as its limitations! When it comes to getting a team to acquire legal tech tools, he or she will be able to take into account what's essential: the user experience, and gauge the rate of take-up that will be achieved."
Their only flaw, concedes Arnaud Desclèves? Opinions that may sometimes be a little trenchant. "But that's the other side of the coin when you're dealing with very experienced profiles.
