I'm in an operational role, what's my priority?

I'm in an operational role, what's my priority?

In 2018 only 32 percent of Fortune 500 companies had a COO now nearly half the fortune 500 companies in energy and finance have COOs as of 2022 according to Mckinsey

Given operations can be all encompassing, individuals on the operational career path can sometimes become distracted with many different areas to focus their attention.

Below are three priority factors for operational leads to focus on to improve the organisation.

Developing talent creatively

The ability to develop talent within your organisation has always been important however given the talent shortages, employee choice and the increasing expectation from employees for progression. We need to ensure our ability to develop talent isn’t purely linked to the traditional linear career ladder approach. Our employees need assignments outside their core function to feel challenged and learn new skills and have the mobility to change functions.?

Devise strategic processes

Ensuring the business has clear processes in place which allow scalability and flexibility should be high on the agenda of anyone in an operational function. These processes should be primarily focused around how your people operate and collaborate in order to maximise your customer experience through efficiency and quality. The customer should be your main priority which in turn will lead to questions such as how can we provide a higher quality service, how do we improve the onboarding process to add value to our customers quicker and how can we be more efficient to reduce wasted costs and reinvest in our people.

Anticipating cultural, technological and economic change?

Anybody who has the responsibility of leadership needs to spend time anticipating change and making business decisions based on external factors. One of the most difficult transitions for a leader can be the ability to work on the business as opposed to in the business. Working in the business brings shorter immediate wins, whereas working on the business can be longer term and can feel as though progress is halting. If leaders do not spend time to anticipate their market, social changes and economic impacts they run a higher risk of making poor business decisions or missing significant opportunities which in turn effects the people they lead and the customers they service.?