How to compensate for the prolonged absence of a manager thanks to relay management?

Sick leave, transfer, maternity or paternity leave, sabbatical leave… When a high-ranking manager leaves for an extended period of time, it can quickly undermine the organization’s good balance. To compensate for the absence of this key employee, the company can then choose to turn to relay management, an infallible solution to ensure the continuity of the position in the best possible conditions.

 

Challenges and issues related to the absence of a manager

When a manager is forced to be absent for a long period of time, it is often difficult to entrust his or her tasks to another employee internally.

Indeed, the local manager occupies a key position within the company. He leads the teams, ensures operational efficiency, and acts as a link between the management and the employees. He therefore possesses a high degree of responsibility and targeted skills, specific to the department he manages (marketing, sales, financial, legal, etc.).

The manager of managers occupies a strategic function and has a decision-making role that makes the transfer of his or her functions all the more complex.

It is then possible to recruit a new manager on a fixed-term contract during the period of absence, but this process is often time-consuming and tedious. It also involves a transition period, the time it takes for the new employee to get his bearings.

In such a context, using relay management to compensate for the absence of a manager or a leader can therefore be very relevant.

 

What is relay management?

Relay management consists of calling on an interim executive manager, to fill, on an ad hoc basis, a key position that has remained vacant. The position can be held until the return of the absent manager or manager, or until the next recruitment.

This expert may thus be required to replace a manager in an operational and/or strategic position: operational manager, manager of managers, HR director, sales director, CFO, general manager, etc.

 

The advantages of relay management

Using relay management to replace an absent manager is beneficial on many levels.

First of all, the interim manager is able to intervene in an emergency and to take up his duties in the company at short notice. And above all, it is operational upon arrival in the company. He thus ensures perfect continuity in the position.

This high-flying manager is also highly qualified, and he has solid sector expertise, the result of a long prestigious career.

An interim manager is therefore able to ensure, with operational excellence, the responsibilities of the absent employee and to achieve the objectives set within the given deadlines.

Thanks to his fresh eye, his expert eye, his know-how and his interpersonal skills, he will also identify malfunctions, optimize processes, boost productivity, and federate, lead and motivate teams with unparalleled efficiency…

He also delivers sound advice, is responsible for transmitting skills necessary for the teams and facilitates the transition before departure. His intervention is therefore truly permanent.

 

Relay management with WAYDEN

At WAYDEN, an interim management company, we provide companies with a rich pool of nearly 2,000 highly qualified managers and executives, selected on the basis of criteria of excellence.

True natural leaders, these men and women of action are able to meet all the managerial challenges that come their way. Strong of 15 to 25 years of experience in demanding positions in various environments in France and abroad, they know how to adapt to all managerial contexts.

They also have all the essential qualities to replace a key player in a position of high responsibility at short notice: leadership, audacity, pragmatism, great interpersonal skills, dynamism, charisma, rigor, etc.

We therefore mobilize, as a matter of urgency if necessary, a manager or an interim director, specialized in the company’s sector of activity (financial, industrial, banking and insurance, etc.), and in the targeted function to successfully carry out the duties of the absent employee.