Steal This Playbook: Must-Do Activities to Crush It in Your Next (Ops) Leadership role

Having started several new operations leadership roles, I've learned that the first 90 days in a new leadership role are critical for setting the tone, building relationships, and laying the groundwork for long-term success.

I rely heavily on The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins and "The New Leader's 100 Day Action Plan " by George Bradt, along with my many mistakes to inform this playbook, which has served me well.

Let's begin

Assess the Situation

Your first task is to understand the context you're stepping into. Are you joining a start-up, leading a turnaround, realigning an existing operation, or sustaining current success? Each scenario requires a different approach.

Ideally, your interview process (if there was one) should have given you some indications about the situation you are going to encounter.

Begin by reviewing the company's strategic plan and objectives. This will serve as your north star, guiding your decisions and priorities.

Next, dive into customer surveys and feedback. Understanding your customers' pain points and what they value about your company is crucial for aligning operations with market needs.

Identify any major ongoing projects or initiatives. You'll need to decide whether to continue, modify, or potentially halt these based on your assessment of their alignment with strategic goals.

Understand the Work

This is perhaps the most critical step, yet it's often overlooked by new executives eager to make their mark. To lead effectively, you must understand the work your team performs. This concept, known as "Gemba" in Lean methodology, involves going to the actual place where work happens.

Spend time shadowing front-line employees. Observe call center interactions, participate in screen shares, and if possible, engage in hands-on work yourself. This firsthand experience is invaluable for several reasons:

• It provides insight into the day-to-day challenges your team faces
• It helps you identify inefficiencies and improvement opportunities that may not be visible from reports alone
• It builds credibility with your team, showing that you value and understand their work
• It allows you to spot disconnects between strategy and execution

You can't improve what you don't understand. This deep dive into the work itself will inform every other aspect of your leadership.

Build Relationships and Gather Intel

Your effectiveness as a leader depends largely on the relationships you build. Start by meeting key team members, including front-line supervisors. Listen to their challenges, ideas, and perspectives. This not only helps you understand the operational landscape but also begins to build trust and rapport.

Extend your networking to peers and their direct reports. Understanding their goals and needs will help you align your operations with broader organizational objectives.

Don't forget external stakeholders. Meet with several customers to understand their needs and expectations firsthand. Engage with sales and customer success teams to get their views on market trends and customer feedback.

Deep Dive With Sales & Customer Success

Operations can often be seen as a cost center to be managed and streamlined. Operations can also be an engine for growth. Talk to Sales and Customer success early on. Do they trust operations? Are they concerned that the ops team wont come through if the revenue team brings in a big deal?

Believe it or not, reps may hesitate to close deals because operations can't deliver.

When reps trust the post-sale experience, they sell with confidence. Question: Is your ops team ready to scale up and come through on the next deal? If the answer isn't a solid yes, you have work to do, and fast.

Analyze Operations

With a solid understanding of the work and stakeholder expectations, it's time to dive into the metrics. Review current KPIs and reporting mechanisms. Are they measuring the right things? Do they align with strategic objectives?

It's vital to understand how your teams are measuring and managing the work, especially if they are using their own reports and dashboards.

Create your own dashboard to monitor team performance. This should include key metrics that directly tie to strategic goals and customer satisfaction.

Assess the operational rhythm. How do teams communicate? How are decisions made? How is work prioritized? Look for opportunities to streamline and improve these processes.

Review Finances

Obviously, the key numbers for executives to watch are often financial. Review the budget and current run rate. If it's a smaller company or start-up, it's critical to understand where the company is cash-wise.

One big learning for me moving from a big company to a small company is this: In big companies, earnings are key. In smaller ones, cash is king.

Identify areas where you might optimize spending or invest for growth. This financial context will be essential as you begin to formulate plans for improvement or expansion.

Talent Management

Your team is your most valuable asset. Conduct a thorough organizational review. Identify high-potential employees who could be groomed for leadership roles. Be aware of flight risks – key employees who might be considering leaving. Also, note any low performers who might need additional support or reassignment.

Review succession plans. Do you have a pipeline of talent ready to step into key roles if needed? If not, start developing one.

Align with Leadership

Understanding your boss's working style and expectations is crucial for your success. You need to understand early on what their style and needs are. Do they prefer a phone call to convey real-time information? Text? Email?

How much detail do they require? What risks and issues do they want to know about?

I've had bosses in both categories. From the "I need to know about every issue, even if you have it handled" to "just give me the data and I'll ping with questions" and somewhere in between. When in doubt, just ask them straight out. Saves a lot of time.

You may even wish to create your own user guide for them to manage these preferences.

See my article on my own user guide: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/everyone-should-have-user-guide-james-considine

Establish a weekly report-out structure that keeps them informed without overwhelming them with details. Align on key metrics and ensure you're clear on how your performance will be measured.

Strategic Planning

By now, you should have a clear picture of whether your situation requires a turnaround, scale-up, realignment, or continuation of current strategies. Develop an action plan based on your findings. This should include short-term wins to build momentum as well as longer-term strategic initiatives.

Cross-functional Collaboration

Operations doesn't exist in a vacuum. Identify needs and opportunities for improvement across departments. Establish strong communication channels with other teams, especially those that directly impact or are impacted by operations, such as product development, sales, and customer service.

Continuous Improvement

The work doesn't stop at 90 days. Set up mechanisms to gather ongoing feedback from your team, customers, and other stakeholders. Plan for regular reassessment of strategies and goals. The business environment is constantly changing, and your operations need to evolve with it.

Your team must understand that they won't be in trouble for raising a problem. Rather, they will be in trouble for not raising the problem

Conclusion

The first 90 days in a new operations leadership role are both challenging and exciting. By following this playbook – especially the crucial step of understanding the work through firsthand observation – you'll be well-positioned to make a significant positive impact.

Remember, the goal isn't just to learn about your new role and organization. It's to begin adding value from day one, setting the stage for long-term success. By demonstrating your commitment to understanding the work, building relationships, and aligning operations with strategic goals, you'll earn the trust and respect of your team and position yourself as a key driver of organizational success.

Your first 90 days are just the beginning. Keep learning, stay curious, and never stop seeking ways to improve. Your team and your organization are counting on you.

What would you add? Drop your thoughts in the comments.

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