Companies have always sought to optimize operations so that they could maximize revenue. As the size of organizations grew, companies needed big-picture professionals.
Executives and department heads oversee organizations. However, they don’t implement and enforce company-wide strategies. Instead, they hire operations managers to collaborate with executives and department heads.
The big-picture professionals formulate actionable steps toward improving and maintaining efficient company operations. Therefore, operations managers carry heavy responsibilities on their shoulders.
Operations managers earn an average of $77,000 annually. The career path has education requirements and upward mobility opportunities. After earning a bachelor’s degree, individuals can enter the field at most companies.
A Brief Overview of Operations Management
Each candidate should possess:
- Stellar listening skills
- Leadership characteristics
- Time management abilities
- Problem-solving acumen
- Confidence to delegate
A formal education fills in the gaps. Higher education is the best environment for learning procedural norms and technical jargon.
As managers gain experience and succeed at the operations management level, they can become general managers and senior vice presidents a few years later.
Successful managers learn to balance the demands of their jobs by developing their communications skills and incorporating software tailored to their needs.
The following is the ultimate guide to operations management.
What Is Operations Management?
Professionals who move into operations management collaborate with several stakeholders and see the big picture. After considering several factors, operations managers develop processes and protocols that help the organization achieve milestones, goals, and revenue parameters.
Operations managers establish a plan of action. Then, they follow its progress by meeting with stakeholders.
In addition, they offer solutions if department heads find that a strategy has become difficult to roll out.
For example, sometimes extended stay accommodations make more sense than hotels. Thus, managers will task corporate travel managers with finding the best option.
For more information about extended stay options, check out this article.
Skills Required
The profession requires a balanced set of skills consisting of hard and soft ones. It helps to have natural negotiating, charisma, and leadership qualities. However, professionals can learn them.
In addition, professionals should learn hard skills, such as:
- Data analytics
- Information processing
- Strategic planning
- Risk management
- Conflict resolution
Most professionals learn these and other hard skills in higher education environments. The preparation allows them to hit the ground running on their first day.
Gain Experience
Since operations managers can parlay this position into executive roles, use the time to gain experience.
As technology continues disrupting the business world, it will continue evolving business. Therefore, managers must keep up with the trends.
Business professionals quickly realize that all trends don’t fit their organizations. Nonetheless, gaining experience and applying what works best in some environments is beneficial.
Measure Results with Metrics
One way to determine what trends work at different companies is to measure results with metrics.
Operations managers have become reliant on data and statistics. After all, these professionals must work within facts instead of conjecture. Otherwise, managers will take companies on unproductive paths.
Common metrics include:
- Net profit
- Call times
- Employee turnover rates
- Web traffic conversion rates
- Customer acquisition costs
Improve Communications Skills
Collaborating with department heads and executives requires above-average communication skills. Therefore, successful operations managers will continually improve their abilities to obtain feedback, translate information, and distribute tasks to stakeholders.
Sometimes operations managers ask departments to cut their budgets, and they can expect pushback.
Therefore, managers must have the ability to communicate why they need department heads to head in one direction or another.
Incorporate Software
Entering 2023, there is no reason to reject technology or software. Companies don’t need to adopt every new technology that finds the market.
However, it makes sense to use specialized software for accounting, marketing, and sales purposes.
In addition, operations managers will find specialized software tailored to their needs.
Establish Priorities
Even at small companies, operations managers will have their hands full. Therefore, successful managers learn to establish priorities.
Companies may ask operations managers to:
- Improve product safety
- Include customer service quality
- Decrease overhead costs
Each task has several categories and subcategories within potential workflows. Thus, managers must determine the starting point and the next steps.
Placing tasks in the proper order prevents redundancies and keeps staff morale high.
Conclusion
Operations managers oversee the big picture for their organizations and receive comparable compensation for their efforts. Each professional can tailor their methods to the organization and its goals. To assess the success of progress, use metrics and software to make changes as needed to improve the big picture.
