To diversify or not to diversify, that is the question

To diversify or not to diversify, that is the question

To diversify or not to diversify, that has been the question here at Melber Flinn for a while now. 

As a team we have quarterly reviews and this question has come up in each of the last three – where we have debated the pros and cons. 

When I set up Melber Flinn in 2015 we wanted to focus on providing interim managers into the NHS. It was a fairly simple business model: we would be sitting in one niche and one niche only, and that was a simple message to convey to our target market. 

And it made sense as this was the market I knew and because demand certainly at that time for interim resource in the NHS was strong. And it continued to be strong right up to and through the Covid years. 

But as everyone is too well aware the interim NHS market has been in the doldrums for a good 18 months now, with financial restrictions stifling demand. In that time Melber Flinn has reduced in size as we have seen less requirements, fewer placements and sadly that has meant redundancy for two team members. 

We seem to have at least hit a new baseline over the summer months of 2024, with our numbers stabilising. Encouragingly, a greater proportion of our recent business has also been at VSM level. Clearly appointments in and around exec level are more visible and this sends a message to the market that appointments of interims into key posts are still happening, albeit usually after lengthy approval processes. 

We have also been pleased to see associate requirements coming through from management consulting firms. The interim management and consulting markets tend to work in tandem, as we both broadly fall under the umbrella of external support. Could an uptick in business for the consulting firms indicate a more supportive view on the importance of organisations using interim support too? We certainly hope so. 

Whilst there are some encouraging signs in the market, our main problem is that the business volumes we are seeing are far less than we have become accustomed to, and it also comes through with a fair bit of extra bureaucracy attached – permissions need to be granted from up on high, business cases need to be approved and the actual recruitment processes seem to be more protracted, with more stakeholders. 

As readers of this blog will know, I have become wary of predicting when the market might turn and what will cause it to do so. As we stand here in early September my instincts tell me that the autumn will see some improvement, as organisations hit the mid-year point and panic about progress against targets. But at the same time, I know the financial restrictions remain strong, which in effect means that demand levels don’t matter too much, because if the financial door is closed not much will get through. 

All of this leaves us a little in limbo, which means we have now decided to diversify. Melber Flinn will soon launch a new service offering permanent recruitment into private healthcare. We will be in effect running two desks – the first is business as normal, placing interim managers and contractors into the NHS, but the second, new desk will focus on placing permanent management staff into private health. 

Why this market? A few reasons: firstly, we have had strong success already with a private healthcare provider, placing permanent Operations Directors for new clinic launches. 

Secondly, it’s an adjacent space. In more radical moments of reflection I did consider whether we should look at zookeepers, or architects in Japan, but we need to stick to the market we know, where we already understand the sector and talk the language. 

Thirdly, because it’s a sector which should be set for growth over the next 5 years, as the new government is very much on record to say they want the private sector to collaborate with the NHS to bring down national waiting lists. A core business principle is diversifying into different sectors, so risk is spread and when one market is weak, another is strong and can compensate. Hopefully we have picked the right complementary market for NHS interim. 

This is new territory for me and Melber Flinn and it is daunting but exciting. I feel like we have crash-landed in the desert and have waited around for a while for rescue, but it’s probably time to pack up some supplies and start marching towards the horizon. 

For all of our NHS clients and candidates, nothing changes – NHS interim management will always be our core market. We are committed to delivering an excellent service to clients and candidates, and always operating in an honest, transparent and straightforward way to ensure we stand out from our competition. 

But to ensure we have the right platform for a new phase of growth we will enter new markets and explore new opportunities. If you work in the private health care sector and would like to find out more please do not hesitate to drop me a line.