Konstantin Zois +49 1728 267267 | +30 6943 267267 zois@zoismc.com
about
Interim Management - Providing "Management-as-a-Service"

About INTERIM MANAGEMENT

Interim Management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim Management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight executive to manage a period of transition, crisis or change within an organization. In these situations, a permanent role may be unnecessary or impossible to find on short notice and, additionally, there may be no internal executive who is suitable for, or available to take up the position in question.

Advantages of an interim manager:

  • Availability at short notice
  • Flexibility and speed
  • Additional resources
  • Leadership experience
  • External expertise
  • Independence and objectivity
  • Result orientation

My WHAT

I am a passionate executive interim manager who supports as CEO, COO, transformation manager, program manager or sales director industrial mid-sized companies with international setup in their business transformation. A reinvention of the business model starts ideally from a position of strength however starts more often from a position of declining competitiveness.

With more than 25 years experience within companies of different types and sizes, I have deep knowledge in change management, repositioning, sales excellence, Industry 4.0, post-merger-integration, crisis management and have proven executiοn skills gained in leading projects and organizations.

I am known as an authentic communicator with track record in effectively handling of complex and dynamic situations with many stakeholders. As an impactful changemaker I inspire people and unleash their potential.

I am interested in mandates such as:

  • General management
  • Project management of transformation projects
  • Program management for a post-merger integration
  • Restructuring and repositioning
  • Crisis management
  • Sales and business development management
  • Design and implementation of sales growth programs
  • Establishment of a sales excellence program incl. strategic account management
  • Building, developing and optimization of a sales organization
  • Establishment and development of international business activities
  • Assessment and optimization of the CRM process
  • Introduction of CRM tools like Salesforce or Siebel/Oracle on Demand

My HOW

Regardless of whether it is the transformation of the entire company, a business unit, a function e.g. sales or the integration of an acquired company, the basis is always a clear, transparent and systematic process where all employees at all levels are involved. You must be able to focus on both the performance and the transformation of the company.

I have been using the "Strategy Map" as a tool for program management for many years. It presents the most important work packages of the 4 perspectives employees, processes, customers, financials and their cause-and-effect relationships.

It is crucial to communicate & cooperate efficiently and effectively with employees and relevant stakeholders in order to understand the situation, but also the deeper causes, and then to have a common understanding of the project progress. Resistance is normal and obstacles could be enablers of change. An additional task is to transfer knowledge in order to contribute to the sustainable development of individuals and teams.

  1. Process for the effective and sustainable implementation of a transformation
    1. Establish a sense of urgency
    2. Form a powerful guiding coalition
    3. Create a vision and a strategy
    4. Communicate the vision and the strategy
    5. Inspire and empower employees to execute efficient and effectively 
    6. Create short-term wins
    7. Consolidate improvements and produce more change
    8. Institutionalize new approaches in the organization
    9. Closing the project, because transformation is not an end in itself
  2. The „Strategy Map“ as an overview of all work packages concerning the 4 perspectives 
    1. We will enable our people (EMPLOYEES)
    2. To deliver the strategic processes (PROCESSES)
    3. That provide a satisfying customer experience (CUSTOMERS)
    4. That meet the expectations of our stakeholders (FINANCIALS)
  3. Communication, cooperation and knowledge transfer
    1. Creating trustworthy relations through open and transparent communication & cooperation with all stakeholders
    2. Individual discussions and team workshops
    3. Regularly reviews of scorecards (One-Pager of a work package, incl. target, metrics, milestones, monthly activities) as progress control
    4. Regularly jour fixe, steering committee and town hall meeting 
    5. Coaching & Mentoring: Identify the great individuals who are willing to be part of a team and who are coachable to unleash their potential
    6. Experienced managers who hardly want to be developed are better "interlocked" with other colleagues based on their skills and capabilities

Overall, my goal is to offer companies a flexible and fast way to recruit a problem solver with leadership experience and strong implementation skills.

Selected PROJECTS

Project: Restructuring and reorganization in Greece

Company

  • Regional organization of a multi-national company (Industrial products incl. software, systems, services and solutions)
  • Approx. 25 mio EUR and >70 employees (permanent & temporary)

Situation / Tasks

  • Greece in a political and economic crisis and nearly Grexit in 2015
  • Implementation of restructuring and reorganization plan
  • Integration of different business divisions within one organization
  • Substitution of executives: One general manager instead of 3 executives covering 5 roles

Role / Duration

  • General Manager
  • 36 months

Actions

  • Development of a detailed business plan based on individual country concepts for all business units
  • Integration the impact of several HQ driven programs within one local program
  • Development, execution and monitoring of a local reorganization program:
    Strategy map with 22 sub-modules and interdisciplinary teams regarding people, process, customers/ market perspective
  • Cultural transformation activities regarding growth mindset, agility, empowerment, resilience etc.
  • Clarifying roles and responsibilities regarding sales and product marketing positions
  • Investing in internal employee relationships and communication by regular Town Hall Meetings, management meetings, jour fixes etc.

Results

  • Execution of a turnaround program taking business from -17% to +6% EBIT margin in the second year
  • Restructuring of headcount by 39% (from 69 to 42 permanent employees) and reduction of SG&A costs by 22% 
  • Avoidance of 2nd wave of restructuring of headcount
  • Successful integration of different business divisions and locations (Athens & Thessaloniki)
  • Establishing of an “one team mentality” with employees developed their agile and resilient attitude 

Project: Establish a sales excellence program incl. account management

Company

  • Regional organization of a multi-national company (Industrial products incl. software, systems, services and solutions)
  • Approx. 25 mio EUR and >70 employees (permanent & temporary)

Situation / Tasks

  • Most employees from “product marketing and sales teams” had a mixed role They act as a dedicated sales force. Customers had no “single point of contact”. No account management was existing.
  • Clarification and implementation of a sales excellence methodology with tools and procedures for a common understanding and effective collaboration

Role / Duration

  • General Manager / Sales director
  • 24 months

Actions

  • Clarifying roles and responsibilities regarding sales and product marketing positions
  • Driving customer focus and sales excellence activities
  • Establishment of account management, incl. account business plans, vertical market concepts
  • Enhancing sales competence management e.g. sales training regarding Opportunity Assessment, Selling to Senior Executives
  • Introduction and use of Oracle based CRM tool. Then migration to new CRM tool Salesforce
  • Dealing directly with the C-Level and owners of most of the 50 biggest industrial companies in Greece and Cyprus

Results

  • Double digit growth, covering loss of carved-out business and shrinking market due to economic crisis in the country 
  • Improved “customer journey”: Improvement in KPIs like increased conversion rate of leads and increase of Net Promoter Score
  • Development of 50 detailed account business plans and 6 vertical market concepts
  • Trustworthy relationships with many C-Level executives and owners of companies

Project: Post-merger-integration in the USA

Company

  • Mid-sized company in the US (process control products and systems, services and solutions) 
  • >50 mio USD and >350 employees

Situation / Tasks

  • First try of integration failed (5 years earlier). Need for better communication, stronger collaboration and better understanding of intercultural aspects
  • Program and Project Management and scheduling of reviews
  • Monitoring of reporting progress and provide reporting assistance for the initiatives or modules inc. report generation

Role / Duration

  • Program Manager
  • 21 months

Actions

  • Development of a detailed business plan
  • Develop, maintain, conduct periodic reviews and provide coaching & team facilitating for 47 program sub-modules (incl. R&D and product management)
  • Participate and contribute to sales related sub-modules 
  • Prepare management presentations regarding program status periodically

Results

  • Execution of a turnaround program taking business from -3% to +12% EBITDA margin. Profitable business already in the second year
  • Grew new product line 60% p.a. while maintaining legacy base. Expanding market share
  • Realigned organization to support growth and operational initiatives with >80% of employees extremely or very satisfied

Project: Driving the industrial service business

Company

  • Regional organization of a multi-national company (Industrial products incl. software, systems, services and solutions)
  • Approx. 5 mio EUR service business

Situation / Tasks

  • Service business with losses and delivery team to be restructured 
  • Strengthen service sales and service delivery
  • Harvest installed base
  • Focus on high-end portfolio (retrofits, upgrades/updates, service contracts
  • Establish technical support / hotline data transparency

Role / Duration

  • Head of the service division
  • 24 months

Actions

  • Customers Visits for installed base evaluation and push pro-active selling of complete portfolio
  • Leverage synergies with product-oriented Business Units
  • Penetrate sectors with big potential like Oil & Gas, Fiber, Pharma and Water & Wastewater
  • Take advantage of cross selling with industrial product portfolio
  • Workshops and trainings with sales & product promoters
  • Sales and marketing activities like newsletters, publications
  • Get best practice from other regional organizations
  • Monthly jour fixe with the head of technical support. Analyzing of KPIs and definition/review of follow up measures

Results

  • Execution of a turnaround program taking business from -4% to +8% EBIT margin
  • Increased competences via trainings and knowledge sharing
  • Improved service culture and collaboration in the entire Industry team incl. sales team and product-oriented units
  • Generation of sales leads as output from technical support / hotline transparency

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