A Q&A session Dafydd Wright was involved with for the IMA
Dafydd Wright is a highly regarded Interim Management specialist in the pharmaceuticals and life science sectors. His approach is to constantly challenge both himself and the industry as a whole, favouring a people-orientated, consultative approach which focuses on interim management as a solution rather than a fill-in. For Dafydd, interim management provides the opportunity to add an additional layer of expertise that will enable a company move faster and more readily achieve its goals.
Q: When did you join the IMA?
A: RSA Interims was founded in 2002 and immediately sought membership through the then managing director, Keith Hobson, who incidentally served as deputy chairman of the IMA for three years.
Q: What value do you believe it brings?
A: The IMA provides for a collective voice, showcasing the very best that interim management can bring to UK plc, and through the quality-driven member service providers we champion the interim community at large.
Q: What excites you about working in this sector?
A: I personally take huge satisfaction through working with incredible people who represent the very best of the available expertise that can be brought together to deliver on meaningful change, and to leverage opportunities within the global life sciences industry.
Q: What issues do you believe the sector is facing? How are you working around these?
A: A ‘no frills’ approach being adopted by emerging generalist recruiting companies and individuals who have no interest in working with a quality-driven approach to address change. Such business models tend to focus on short termism, and transaction driven motives – rather than working in partnership with clients to understand, translate and seek to introduce the right expert for the right reasons.
Linked to this growing concern are the ever increasing number of individuals who have no dedicated interest or passion to setting up their own unique service offerings, but rather will use the market as a simple, reactive means to an end whilst job hunting. Often, such contract arrangements end prematurely meaning client deliverables are unmet, and customers are left feeling dissatisfied with the interim management solution, without realising they had not actually been working with an interim management solution!
Relationship-driven partnerships should be at the forefront of any interim management business seeking to counter these, and is an integral part of RSA Interims.
Q: Where next for interim management?
A: Same problems, different markets. The UK interim management community and especially those members within the IMA can leverage their considerable experience and know how to support commercial growth into new and emerging geographies, whilst creating a platform to support those career interims who wish to also take their service offerings to new places.
We have so much to offer, and IMA providers should be at the forefront of this.