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Because true transformation happens during execution – and that is where many SMEs fall by the wayside.
Portuguese companies are currently investing in digitalisation, sustainability, production capacity, internationalisation, and innovation. Most of these projects are well-structured, technically sound, and even funded. However, there is a critical point where too many SMEs stumble: the transition from decision to execution.
The risk lies not only in the technical design or funding; it lies in the gap between approving and implementing. It is precisely in this space that many organisations lose momentum, focus, and value.
In SMEs, the Board of Directors continues to manage clients, teams, cash flow, and operations. Internal staff take on multiple roles. And the project, although strategic, competes daily for attention with operational emergencies.
It is common for technically well-structured projects to face significant delays when there is no one within the company with the responsibility, authority, and availability to lead their execution. Without this dedicated capacity, the project moves forward in fits and starts, and every deviation tends to multiply.
It is precisely in this context that Interim Management can make a difference. It involves the temporary integration of an experienced manager into the company's structure, with a defined mandate, scope of action, concrete objectives, and direct responsibility for execution. The Interim Manager does not merely analyse or recommend: they take on executive roles, mobilise teams, make decisions, and drive the organisation towards the agreed results.
An Interim Manager's intervention can begin before the application or final decision. At this stage, the focus is on validating whether the organisation is prepared to absorb the change:
This assessment prevents projects that are formally solid but unviable under the company's actual conditions.
It is during implementation that the difference becomes most evident. While technical teams ensure the framework, compliance, monitoring, and relations with relevant entities, the Interim Manager takes on the day-to-day coordination of the transformation:
While specialised support ensures the technical, financial, and strategic framework of the project, the Interim Manager assumes responsibility for implementation within the company. The former reinforces the project's solidity; the latter helps transform it into results.
In an industrial SME, a technological modernisation project involving new equipment, production software, and process reorganisation had been approved and funded, but had remained practically stalled for several months. The Board was absorbed by daily operations, internal managers were juggling multiple roles, and various suppliers were working without central coordination. The plan had over 40 critical activities but no dedicated executive leadership to integrate them.
With the arrival of an Interim Manager focused exclusively on implementation, the first 15 days were dedicated to restructuring the plan, clarifying responsibilities, and aligning expectations between the internal team and the different suppliers. This was followed by the establishment of weekly monitoring routines, the resolution of technical bottlenecks, and the reorganisation of the delivery schedule.
In just a few weeks, the company regained visibility over the project, suppliers began working in a coordinated manner, and the internal team gained confidence in the process. Within 90 days, the project recovered the accumulated delay, the new equipment became operational, and the first productivity gains began to be measured. More than just managing a schedule, the Interim Manager created execution capacity where none existed, while simultaneously ensuring the team was prepared to take over the project autonomously.
The transformation does not end when the equipment starts operating or the final expense is executed and validated. It is then necessary to consolidate the change and ensure that the results achieved become part of the company's daily activities. This phase involves:
A well-designed intervention includes, from the outset, the transfer of knowledge to an internal successor, a permanent hire, or an already capable structure. The goal is not to create dependency. It is to leave the company stronger and more autonomous.
This is also where Interim Management differs from a merely ad-hoc response: the mission has a defined beginning, objectives, and exit horizon. The Interim Manager steps in to accelerate the transformation, stabilise the new reality, and prepare the organisation to proceed autonomously.
The same logic applies to other moments when there is a gap between strategy and execution capacity:
For many SMEs, access to capital is no longer the biggest challenge. The real challenge is accessing the right skills temporarily, at the right time. The essential question is no longer just “How do we fund the project?” but also “Who will lead it until it produces the expected results?”
It is in this transition from an approved project to a delivered result that Interim Management can be decisive: providing, for a set period, the executive experience needed to transform intention into execution, investment into capacity, and funding into impact.
Yunit Consulting: Together, we take the leap
Source: Yunit Partner - EasyTalent | This content is the sole responsibility of the Author
Last updated: August 2026
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