Impact

The first in a series of short articles on the reality of being an Operations Manager*. In my first article I have broken down some key aspects of being an effective Operations Manager in response to questions I have been asked by future leaders and managers.

Over the last few years I've often being asked what my job actually is. What do I do? What does a day in the life of an Operations Manager look like? What skills are needed to be an Operations Manager?

These are not easy questions to answer, the job is complex and the tasks and demands do vary or change from day to day. But I've been doing it for a while now and I like to think I'm pretty good at it so I owe people a better answer than "well it's complex and changes daily". There is a core purpose running through every day, every meeting and every task and demand.

Impact

Most days I jump from meeting to meeting, mostly planned, lots ad-hoc and in the few minutes or seconds between meetings I speed through emails and messages. I rarely get enough time to read and digest every email or report fully and I definitely can't fully understand everything that gets said and done in every meeting. An operational area by it's nature is complex, made up of numerous people, teams, processes, systems, initiatives, changes, service targets (the list can and does go on but hopefully you get the idea), so the role of an Operations Manger can not be to control and know every aspect of the business.

There is no off switch or pause button, the business keeps on moving forward, so we need to keep moving at an equal or faster pace. And time is finite, so we can't find time to 'just do everything'. So how do I choose where to give my focus, how do I know what meetings are important, which ones I can miss, which ones I need to be fully engaged with. How do I choose which projects and initiatives to get behind and push, which emails I can skim read and when I need to step in and take action.

Great People

The first obvious answer is by surrounding yourself with great people. Great people is THE key to making your life easier as a manager or leader. Once you have the right people in the right roles you can breath easy. You don't need to know, understand and control every aspect of the business, you can trust that your people do. For the sake of this article, let's assume this is already in place (I'll write a short piece on how to recruit and develop future leaders into a team another time).

Prioritise

A key skill for any manager is to be able to prioritise. Prioritisation is a simple sounding task that is almost impossible to execute. Nobody has the monopoly on how to do this, I'm constantly learning how to be better at prioritising, having gone to numerous workshops, training days, reading books, TED Talks or LinkedIn Articles. No matter how good you think you are at prioritising you can not claim to be a Zen Master, everybody struggles with fitting everything in.

Whichever school of thought you come from, whether you believe in writing lists, using planners, numbering actions, scheduling everything into your calendar, or just 'getting it done', the problem remains the same. But here is my first top tip that most of the articles on prioritisation don't focus on... it does not matter how you prioritise... it is all about WHY you prioritise.

Purpose

Ok this may be getting a bit Simon Sineky for you, but that's the truth and the simplest way to explain it. You have to explore and really understand the purpose behind your role. You have to really know what you are there for, what your purpose is in the business. This is a purpose that you have to own, it isn't what it said on the job application when you applied, or what is written on your contract or the job spec. The company's literature will give a lot of direction in terms of what you have to do, but often this is open to interpretation and as a leader you have the power to determine how you do it. The 'how' is built up of all your experiences, knowledge and skill, but is also intrinsically linked to your purpose, your 'why'.

Talking about a purpose that is unique to you can be daunting. You just log in to do your job every day. Your job is to hit service or sales targets, why do you need a purpose? Where do you start when trying to know our purpose in life!?

Here's the next top tip... people make having a 'why' or a 'purpose' sound so grand... but your purpose doesn't have to be about solving world hunger or saving the planet... it is a simple case of knowing WHERE you want to go.

It's really not about you

Once you have a view on your end goals you can remain focused on these every day - it can really be that simple. I refer to them as 'your goals' but being a leader isn't about you, it's about your people. So quite often your goals won't be anything to do with you personally. Your purpose as a leader is not one of being a selfish thinker or having selfish agendas.

Knowing why you log in (or go into the office if you're lucky) isn't enough, at least it's not enough to answer the question I get asked by future managers about 'what I do and how I do it'. So here comes my last top tip into being an effective manager... you don't have to go to every meeting or be fully involved in every project... you just have to make sure you have an impact.

Impact

Your role is to make things happen, keep things moving, manage change, be innovative, support people, have drive and gusto to get things done. You can not do this in every part of the business, so you have to choose where to turn up and where you can have an impact. Turn up to meetings with purpose, ensure there are outcomes and actions. You don't need to lead every meeting or do all the speaking - in fact if you can do it without saying much that's great - YOU don't have to do it all, just be there to ensure things keep moving in the right direction.

Choose where you can have the most impact to achieve your goals (your why/purpose). And if you feel you are not having impact in any meetings, projects or initiatives ask yourself why; are you lacking the knowledge, experience, drive or is this not helping you achieve any of your goals (which would explain the lack of drive). If you are not having an impact and/or you are spending time doing things that aren't working towards your goals you may be doing the wrong things. Reassess and adapt.

You must have impact, you don't have a choice on this one. As a leader the business needs you, your customers need you and importantly your people need you to be effecting positive change and direction.

So that's my answer to all those future leaders and managers, being effective can be broken down into just 3 key areas:

• Surround yourself with Great People - your team (and wider team, colleagues and peers)
• Know your Purpose - and where you are going (will assume you know how and what you do)
• Have Impact - prioritise to effect change to support the business and you to reach your goals

*I am yet to work out the exact content for my next article so any ideas let me know :)