Operational Fundamentals: Common Principles Threaded Through Operations

Developing a Performance Operations Culture Through People Alignment, Development & Commitment

Each leader in operations may have a different application of operations fundamentals across industry, product, service, application, areas of focus, level of technical aptitude, etc. But the core of operations principles still hold true, supporting the science of delivering a product or service to an internal or external customer.

Below are a few rudimentary fundamentals that transcend any differences in operations. Yes, some may very, but this is the start of a list of the basics. Learn to master these areas, start learning to be an operations leader, or step-up as an operations executive.

Fundamentals for a Successful Operations Leader

• View the business from high level and low level at fundamental level until ELT (or next level down), is built out to own itself

• Break down the business in People • Process • Technology

• Hire great people

• Promote high performers and leaders

• Pay your people what they worth, and even better if you can, pay them a bit more to show your deep level of appreciation, and to take challenges with retention for compensation off the table

• Develop your people

• Let your team run and execute on what you hired them to do (don’t get in the way)

• Lead and manage your people with respect

• Mediocrity is the opposite of growth

• Clear expectations, accountability, & ownership

• Control what you can control

• Hit production numbers

• Trust but verify (inspect what you expect)

• Align key metrics to key outcomes and business process - measure what matters

• Hit financial numbers, not for revenue sake, but in order to create opportunities for your people - this concept alone will drive growth beyond your imagination if you can cultivate this Performance Operations Culture with genuine development of your people and their careers

• Add technology to build efficiency, save money, or make your associates’ job better, and not for the sake of tech

• Keep it simple. Complexity should be kept to technical aspects of product or service, not to impress, be fancy, or make you feel like you accomplished something of significance

• Progression over perfect, process over persnickety

• Competition is only competitive if you let it exploit your weaknesses- the market is big enough for both, if it was big enough to launch both companies in the first place - find and cultivate your differentiator, don't dwell on what others are doing, but be aware of it

• Build your teams, process, scalability, profitability, efficiency, culture, customer connectivity, and technology

• Keep the main thing, the main thing

RESOURCES

Inspiration for date included with monogram "GP", 1914 - A small link to the building blocks and culture that helped shape my life.

OpCo: The People Ops Blueprint — Operations | People | Culture | Opportunity

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