Operations

Imagine what it was like to be an explorer and discover the Grand Canyon for the first time.

What a view!

After you took in the scenery from the rim, what would you do? You’d most likely want to hike to the bottom to see what else you can find. That’s your next destination.

How would you get to the bottom of the Grand Canyon? As a first explorer, you’d have three basic options:

Not all project managers are the same. And depending on your business model, products/services, culture, and niche, the criteria for choosing the right project manager varies greatly.

So how do you know you’re hiring the right type of project manager for your company?

We see this most clearly when it goes wrong. You hire someone with proven PM experience only to realize they don’t understand anything about how you do project management in your organization.

Are you following your passion at work? Or did you have to give that up when you decided to run your own AV business?

Guess what? You can do both.

Every good owner and manager knows that top performance comes from more than simply achieving goals — it’s about setting the right goals. Otherwise, we sacrifice effectiveness for efficiency.

This is one thing that sets Operations apart from other departments.

For example, the goal of Sales is to sell, regardless of the industry (which is one reason salespeople have such highly transferable skill sets). But in Operations, the goals you set (and which goals should be a top priority) are completely determined by the industry and specific type of business you’re in.

You’re already a functioning business. You have a good understanding of strategy, you’ve hired your essential staff, and know how to meet your customers’ needs. You’re getting orders out the door and operating with a system, but…

Maybe you could do it better.

Hiring an operations manager who focuses on the right tasks might be the key to moving your organization to the next level.

In show business, the job we are setting up today is more important that any work we can put off until tomorrow. Or so we think. It doesn’t take long until tomorrow’s work becomes next week’s, then next month’s.

Knowing how little time we have to train new employees, how infrequently we get to do it, and the fact that we aren’t sure what to teach them – what’s the right interview question?

There are two things that really irk me: Being tricked and making mistakes. My penchant for purchase orders started when I was tricked because I made a mistake.

Early in my career, our company PO system was six digits (the date) and buyer initials (TS). An industrial supply company had the ac extension cables we wanted to use and the sales rep pried an order out of me on the phone.