A Layman’s Explanation of Operations
OPERATIONS
I don’t want to offend whoever came up with that job title, but common. Could they have been any vaguer? Operations. Do you mean a surgeon? A technician? While many other roles in business have self-explanatory names, such as Customer Success, or Sales, Operations seems to be named as confusingly as humanly possible. Thus I have made it my Mission, my Quest, and my Odessey to define this word in a way that makes sense. And not only that! I will endeavor to show you FIVE distinct things you are probably doing in your day-to-day life that model different aspects of Operations.
So what is Operations anyways?
Boiled down to its most basic form, Operations is getting things done, and learning how to get those things done better. Whether that translates to scheduling the company-wide lunch, or researching the best new software to streamline what your startup does, Operations is there to help. People under the title of Operations can tend to be a jack-of-all-trades, especially in the startup world.
What trades are these jacks involved in? Many of the same things you do week-to-week, without even a second thought!
Grocery Shopping
Well, people in Operations don’t literally go out and buy food for their company. Usually. But, if you’re a conscientious shopper who looks ahead for deals and specials, you’re using an Operations mindset. See, a good chunk of Operations is simply looking ahead towards the future and trying to find the best solution to problems that might come up, similar to scrolling through the King Soopers app to find the best deals of the day. You need to get the most value out of your money, so you need to take the extra time to make sure you can save as much money as possible. Your startup needs to make sure it makes use of its time as efficiently as possible, so Operations puts in the time finding new and creative ways to make the most out of the workday.
Budgeting
We all love budgeting and the finances that come with it. That’s just a given. Now imagine if you got paid to do it! Amazing to dream about, right? Sadly, Operations is only partly financial work.
In all seriousness, sometimes in the startup world, a lot of accounting work gets thrown at Operations. The good news is that if you are older than seventeen and don’t live in your parent’s basement, then you’ve had to budget and deal with taxes and all other fun activities related to money. Now just put that on steroids and you’ve got yourself some semblance of what doing finances for a business is like. While not all Operations roles come with this responsibility, many do and, with all the life-training you’ve had, it should be a sinch.
Planning Get-togethers
Before the main character of 2020 strolled into our lives, causing a nationwide shutdown, planning parties and get-togethers was something most of us did. I can say from personal experience, after trying to find a time myself and a group of friends could hangout every week was harder than wrangling feral cats. As soon as I thought I had it figured out, BAM! Soccer season began, chess club started up, and someone’s significant other had a schedule change and was only available the day we had set.
I’m sure many of you can relate. Trying to find a time that works for more than one person is a long and difficult task. Thus, in the business world, the solution is to pay someone to do it! Operations is here to help! Need the head of Sales to enjoy a lovely lunch meeting with the Lead Marketer? Operations’ got your back. This is truly one of the things that makes Operations such a valuable position. Other areas of the company can get busy, and they don’t always have time to schedule every little thing out. But with the help of the middle man, everything runs smoothly and efficiently.
Conflict Resolution
Ever been caught between two feuding friends? Friend A wants you on their side, and Friend B obviously does as well? How do you deal with this? How do you repair the relationship between the two without losing one of them? The fine art of peacemaking is not something anyone can pull off. It takes a lot of empathy, wisdom, and even courage to solve conflicts. No matter how comfortable you may be in these scenarios, if you want to work in Operations, you need to get used to them. Because not all startups have HR, and YOU have to fill the role. But before you start panicking about how you don’t have any experience and you don’t know what to do, remember this.
Every time that you’ve had to break up an argument or repair relationships with others, you’ve been doing HR without all the rules. When you finally go get coffee with that one person you’ve been feuding with to figure things out, you showcase amazing HR skills. So when your boss asks you to try and help solve the in-fighting in Customer Service, just know that you’re not going in blind.
Parenting
What’s the hardest job you can think of off the top of your head? I’ll give you five seconds.
What did you think of? Management, Rocket Science, Coal Mining? Personally, my mind always turns to good parenting. I’ve been fortunate enough to have an amazing set of parents, and the amount of respect I have for the time they devote to all of us kids. And wouldn’t you know it, much of parenting is a combination of all four other previously discussed activities. Thus I think it’s safe to say that parenting is a perfect example of Operations in daily life. Planning out playdates with friends, buying food for the family, and helping little kids make up is, in some sense, Operations on hard mode. I think it is safe to say that Operations can be the parent of the company. They help keep everything organized and on time, and just like in real life with parenting, any business without Operations is lost in the water.
I have done it! I have completed my quest. I’ve journeyed through the dark and mysterious lands of Operations, and have come out knowing more than ever before! I genuinely hope that my breakdown of Operations, and where you can find it in real life has helped all of you begin to comprehend this integral role in business. If this interested you, I would highly recommend looking into some Operations roles in startups! And if you ever feel overwhelmed, don’t worry, you’ve done this before, and you can do this again.
