Why Operations is Strategic

One of the many great lessons I’ve learned as I moved along my professional journey is that you have to rise up to see the forest for the trees. What do I mean by that? Slow down and step away from the details for a moment to observe how everything is part of a larger fabric or organism. This is so often easier said than done, especially for those of us who are Type A do-ers, whose motto might be ‘Get $#!* Done’. We are hardwired to deliver results now, now, now! That’s a recipe for burnout, which could be a whole other blog post.  

We so often refer to operations or operators in the business world that I believe the concept of being an operator, much less a good one, is obscured by the day to day distractions we all face. The most helpful definition of operations I’ve come across is actually defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI): ‘The ongoing, routine activities that are involved in the organization’s primary business’. Think of the more mundane ‘keep the lights on’ work that we all take for granted. But wait - didn’t I just warn you all to see the forest for the trees? I did, and here’s how the two concepts come together.

A business is only as good as its systems: defined as its people and its processes. I’m definitely not talking about the latest SaaS tool when I say systems. I’m focused on the people and their roles in the business processes that a piece of software may or may not support. Defining where to play, how to win, and creating the organizational structure to support that strategy is just as important for operations as it is for how a company goes to market. A phrase I love to say to my stakeholders is ‘how we do business internally’. Done right and done well, operations functions are the glue that literally holds together a company in both the short and long terms. 

Where do you even begin to think about operational strategy when it feels like the forest is on fire? Chances are, we’re creating the sense of impending doom because we’re hardwired as humans to always think the worst. That’s a handy survival mechanism that has allowed the human race to survive, but it tends to weigh us down in the modern world if we don’t remember to balance it with the positive. Take a look at the processes around you, note the areas with the greatest needs that can be addressed, and prioritize the business needs vs the level of effort for a ‘good enough’ solution. Why good enough? Because perfect is the enemy of good, and no one has time to wait around for a perfect solution. Life, and business, moves too quickly for that nonsense. You’ve often heard leaders refer to this as identifying the low hanging fruit. 

To wrap this all up, operations is often the ‘how’ we do things on an ongoing basis. How we do things is so critical to the success of a business and an organization. Think of things like the forecasting cadence across all of the go to market teams, how we plan for and manage product roadmaps, to driving cross functional alignment to submit annual operating plans that make sense. Imagine a successful company that you admire - chances are they’ve figured a lot of this out and are always striving to do better. Like a duck on water, good operators make it look so easy.

#operations #strategy #leadership #lessonslearned #leadershipdevelopment #ops