Why this is more important than ever!

Perhaps it’s because I’ve spent so much of my career as an operations manager. Or maybe it’s because the success or failure of businesses often pivots based on the performance of operations. In any case, I truly enjoy seeing a well-run operation.

I’ve now worked with over 400 companies and have seen very mature businesses suffer from past success. Unlike other departments, Operations does not scale linearly as the business grows. To grow a sales team, you add more salespeople. More employees require a bigger administration. Both are straight-line growth.

But a growing operation requires constant retooling. The economies of scale in operations vary from small to large companies. Allocation of labor, supply levels, training, and workflow all evolve as a business grows. To that end, the manager of a small operation may not have the talents needed to run a large one.

In our post-pandemic business models, there are fewer internal resources. To make matters worse, our supply chains are also constrained. Solving capacity problems is more difficult than ever, while at the same time, customers are bringing projects to market later and later.

Short lead times and constrained supply chains make things exponentially more difficult for your operations team.

This is not an unsolvable problem; it’s simply our new reality. Operations teams must do what they have always done — adapt.

The greatest burden is on Operations Managers and Directors. It’s time to reconsider the skills and talents necessary to successfully perform this role. The following list is the new high bar for excellence in scalable live event operations.

A successful Director of Operations (and their team) must be able to:

1. Anticipate demand
   • The sales pipeline is always a gray area. The D.O. must make judgement calls and plan for jobs that have not confirmed.
   • Great operations managers don’t rely on just the sales orders to gauge demand. They look at all the leading indicators and prepare for last-minute orders.
2. Evolve processes continually
   • Great D.O.’s know that processes will fail before people do. Good processes catch human failures before it’s too late.
   • No matter how well documented a process is, demand will induce stress fractures and eventual failure. Always be on the lookout for these developments and retool processes even when you’re busy.
3. Centralize outsourcing as a service to internal customers
   • Procurement, sub-rentals, logistics, travel, and labor sourcing are critical to a scalable operation.
   • These services require transparent purchase order systems to increase communication and monitor cash flow.
4. Consolidate purchasing on unlimited resources (products)
   • Buying supplies in bulk from single sources will reduce cost
5. Spread out purchasing from limited outside resources (services)
   • Sourcing critical resources such as labor and sub-rental equipment from multiple suppliers will deepen your resource bench.
6. Hire and retain operations personnel
   • Operations jobs are not entry-level training grounds for technicians. Show preparation, inventory management, and quality control are viable careers.
   • Don’t hire operations workers that aspire to be something else.
7. Design an operations career path
   • Create your own credentialing system. Operations Technician Level I, II, III is a start.
   • Pay for experience — it will save you money by reducing mistakes and increasing efficiency.
8. Provide operations training
   • Longevity is not the same as experience. Focus on mastery of important skills.
9. Over-deliver resources as risk increases
   • When resources are tight, the tendency is to send the minimum. Smart D.O.s send buffers whenever possible to reduce the chance of crisis moments when you can least afford them.
   • Over-delivery of resources is less expensive than crisis-management.
10. Maximize gross profit
    • Spend what it takes, but no more. Saving money isn’t as important as spending wisely.
    • Investing in training and flexible resources will pay back year after year. Costly mistakes from cutting corners never pay off.

A good Director of Operations is priceless. They are thoughtful, they plan ahead, and they readily make judgement calls. Next to strategy, operational soundness is the highest business priority in a company’s ongoing development.