Despite it being a vitally important aspect of a company, Business Operations is often surrounded by many misconceptions. Here's a breakdown of what this highly critical business unit actually does.
A somewhat vague term that often has lay people thinking that you handle routers and phone calls. Important functions of any company to be sure, but over time, I have learned just how many misconceptions there are around what this highly critical business unit actually does. Since I am a big fan of explaining the why and how of things for the purpose of creating common understanding, allow me to impart a little of what I have learned about what is arguably the very heart of business success.
You can’t define Business Operations without defining process. It is the most essential component of the job. The single greatest strength and also the greatest potential weakness. You are literally telling people how they need to do things. And you need to be good at determining the way those things should be done. In my mind, effective process creation has a few key components.
Discovery
Good listening skills and attention to detail go a long way. Business Operations does not require you to be an expert at everything. But you need to know enough about all areas of the business. That often necessitates absorbing as much information as possible from other departments. Why? Because their pain points are a good indication of what you need to solve.
Workflow
Good workflow is efficient, standardized and as universally applicable as possible. It’s how you take the pieces you received during discovery and place them together in a new way that improves the pathways across business units. Perhaps most important is a zoomed out perspective that takes all departments into account at once, so effective planning can be made at the highest level.
Structure
Process is never a finalized product. It is something that evolves over time and should be incrementally improved upon in an effort to refine the approach of how anything is done. However, in each iteration, it needs to be specific enough to solve the challenges that each department faces at the time while allowing flexibility to incorporate those same departments’ individual needs, differences and growth plans.
In my experience, process is ultimately the foundation of Business Operations. A building block that lets the people you work with do their jobs as effectively as they can. You are there to facilitate their success and as the single point that spearheads and unifies the approach to process, this unit reveals its most important function, forming an objective through line across the entire company, that can look upon very different departments through one set of eyes and unify them in a synergistic fashion.
If process is the what, then what is the “how”? I play checkers with my 93-year-old grandfather. I am based in Los Angeles, he lives in rural Connecticut. What makes that possible? Technology. It is indeed your friend and a powerful ally that can unleash a world of new possibilities. It also has the power to bring about another favorite buzz word. Innovation. A sexy word that denotes positive progress. But as exciting and useful as it sounds, it requires a great deal of planning to ensure long term viability and success. In my humble opinion, there appears to be, again, common components that allow technology and innovation to truly shine, while avoiding costly mistakes like redundancies, minimal functionality, use case misalignment and poor scalability.
Integration
Tools that complement one another are invaluable. Good Business Ops considers how multiple tools can come together to create a localized-system that is more than the sum of its parts, while keeping operating costs and training requirements at a minimum.
Efficiency
With integrated technology underpinning your process, the flow of information drives quantifiable efficiency. With automated execution of tasks, programmable notifications, easily accessible information and complex reporting, time and cost savings increase while permitting access to a wealth of data that can inform better business decisions at a faster pace.
Scalability
Business Operations needs to be effective at reducing bloat that can bog down the productivity of all departments. If effective, a company can run leaner in pursuing its own growth, both financially and operationally. Innovative bundling of process, executed through the use of a well designed and thoughtful tech stack, encourages both at a high level.
Lateral moves do not move the needle. In a day and age where things advance ever more quickly, new thinking towards problems is essential to leading in the Business Operations space. Properly-implemented technology can create net new functionality that gives considerably deeper insight into the business as a whole, while eliminating common pitfalls of a growing or larger enterprise like siloing of departments and approaches. It also fosters the growth of the company by blending tedious work into the background so that departments can be inherently more profitable while affording them more time to focus on their higher priority tasks. Forward and proactive progress in these ways are core to Business Operations’ mission in building out the backbone of any company.
I have alluded to the notion that as a department, Business Ops is core to all teams and has its part to play in driving everyone’s success. A person I consider to be a good leader instilled a piece of wisdom to me that is perhaps the wrapper or final layer of an otherwise comprehensive approach to Business Operations. People. More specifically, people management. Regardless of its size, stage, product or service, the balancing of people in a company is a unique quality that I consider less of a skill to hone and more of a personality trait that can be sharpened. How do you bring all the talents, capabilities, expertise and behaviors of different people together and harmonize the outcome?
I believe there to be less distinct components to this category, which is where the magic of good Business Operations really shows itself. It requires thoughtful discussion with all leadership and business stakeholders. It demands the ability to remain neutral and impart the best of all respective departments. To plan and pivot and revise and adapt. It is an attitude and a feeling and a thought process. A balancing act. Weighing data against passion. Remaining neutral and objective in decisions. Juggling the goals of different teams and mixing them together so they can achieve what is necessary. Ultimately, the wrapper that drives Business Operations forward is the ability to emphasize the best in all people.
So, if you’re still with me, I hope this serves as an insightful explanation of what is often a misunderstood aspect of a company, but a most valuable one as I have learned. I wish you success in your endeavors and that this article offers value to you on your journey. Never be discouraged by wearing many hats. I have found it to be exceptionally rewarding.
This Thought Leadership piece was written by Chris Mudry, Director, Business Operations at Little Dot Studios.