Christopher Global

Every couple of months I revisit the topic of operational strategy, mainly because leaders still struggle with their Ops portfolio and strategies.  

The first question is, what's your Ops portfolio like? Is it structured around your company's future operational demands, or reflective of your role and responsibilities as an Ops leader?

The second question is, where is your company's operational strategy heading? Is it connected to or dependent on technology and infrastructure? Or is the Ops roadmap dictated by business and product demands?

Leaders understand there are ebbs and flows in operations sometimes out of your control, but you still need a strategy that works. Whatever structure you implemented for your portfolio; why do these strategies fail?

Ops strategies often fail because capacity and resource planning don't play a big enough role. Leaner you get, the more important these practices are. Have you aligned a capacity and resource plan cross-functionally to support the fiscal year roadmap?

Here's a simple suggestion - two Ops SMEs and supporting project managers should work together on presenting operational excellence and strategy plans to leadership.

Team meetings could start bi-weekly to define and align Ops goals and prioritize resource capacity between departments. You'd report risks, barriers, schedules, and resources to leadership on a bi-monthly or monthly basis.