let's talk about business operations
Following up my personal perspective I've shared on business operations manager role you can find here let’s deep dive into business / sales operations /process / operations manager role. For sure we can see that naming conventions span across the business from very descriptive to very generic. For this note I would like to use a name that is very comprehensive which is business operations manager. One could ask if the name of a business manager role is sufficient, but I believe the expectation for business managers exceeds those of business operations managers. Business managers seats in a row closer to the director of operations with broader scope at their hands. Business operations managers are the enablers for organizations that they support.
I took time to review job postings for business operations managers to validate what type of resource companies, regardless of their scale, are looking for. This helped to generate the following word cloud. Some buzz words are clear, but one could assume that more searched will be those with analytical skills not communication. Here is one of key elements of this role. It’s all about communication.
All other elements focus on the measurement, analysis, tracking. Nevertheless, all those activities require effective communication with a supported organization. This circles around sellers and delivery managers who are the source of key information required for successful business operations.
The objective for business operations managers is to build trusted and open communication channels allowing each team member to share latest views on opportunities, planned activities. This open dialog allows us to prepare for internal reviews, discussions with leadership. Therefore, what is needed is the ability to ask the right question. Assessment of current state of the opportunity is a play between current seller situation and client perspective. Business operations manager needs to find a balance and be able to extract the essence. Validate and list potential obstacles as well as view on what may be needed to close the opportunity. Experience coming from a sales team is always helpful. Understanding of the sales team's situation shows empathy as well as commitment to enable the team members for success. On the other hand, you need to be the voice of the sellers when discussing with LT.
There is a different expectation coming from leadership. The role needs to provide visibility to current business situations regardless if we are talking only about sales or delivery performance or both. Metrics that we need to present should be clear and allow decision making. This means collecting most accurate and actual data coming from contributors, sales team but not limited to that. Digest and prepare reports that LT can take and use to validate current strategy, discuss with their respective managers.
Business operations managers regardless of how they are positioned in the organization. They can be seated closer to the sales team, delivery, being part of the broader business operations organization or running the team themselves are required to master communication with high emotional intelligence. This puts both them and the organization they support for success. Trust your operations team, their objective is to help you shine.