January Blog Post

Hey everyone. Ever since the great EQ change, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on what defines an effective operations manager; the term “operations” is used implicitly in reference to the title — an operations manager manages all residing operations in a warehouse (try saying that twice). These “operations” are what keeps the company, in this case, Unical Aviation, alive (in part). To paint a picture, operations are blood vessels, employees the blood coursing through, and the organization is the heart, the core. Like the nervous system is to the body, leadership is quintessential to a company/organization. But without an effective leader, how is an employee going to work at their most efficient level? A leader should be defined first, before the employee is developed.

My mentor suggested this article to me: Top 12 Development Goals for Leaders

The article in its most general sense is list of developmental goals that leaders should use for their leadership development plan; the author, Dan McCarthy, Director of Executive Development Programs at UNH, suggests that the goals should not practiced all together, but rather one goal exercised explicitly. I decided to choose five of these goals as the most important. They aren’t in sequential order but by the number of which they’re listed on the article.

Strategic Thinking 

This goal is centric on the big picture. The big picture requires that the manager look at the business from afar with a broader, business perspective. Rather than expel energy on the minute details of a business, look at why things happen over the what and how. How I interpreted this was through the following questions:

“Why didn’t that plan work?”

“Why did that work out better than last time?”

“Why would an employee be confused about this?”

3. Coaching

Many other articles I’ve read ever accredit successful businesses to dictatorship leadership. Management is principally providing guidance for employees working beside you. This goal is about guiding and developing your direct reports, subordinates in the corporate hierarchy. In regard to my EQ, this is especially important because as an operations manager, you want to guide your employees towards the company’s goal and lead them the right way. Without that guidance, the employee won’t be motivated to do their best.

7. Leadership Presence

Having a voice in a business never hurt anyone, as far as I’m concerned. Commanding a room and communicating effectively, that is, delivering clear ideas and direction, inspires others. Employees feel motivated to do better when their managers see value in their work and want to see the company progress.

10. Collaboration

 Collaboration is defined as a successful partnership in which both parties understand their goals and needs and help one another achieve their goals. Teamwork is heavily emphasized in regard to employee motivation. By placing employees into teams, however small, strengths can be revealed and thus efficiency can be achieved.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

• Of all management strategies/techniques, what would you say is the most important in improving employee motivation?
• At a facility such as Unical, what would you say is most important in motivating employees?
• What is the responsibility associated with writing up reviews?
• How does having a “big picture” improve employee motivation?
• What kind of environment does Unical provide for its employees?
• Let’s say there is a problematic employee who simply doesn’t feel motivated for anything. How do you go about motivating them to work efficiently?
• What types of incentives does Unical offer its employees? What makes these efficient?
• How can you, as a manager, motivate the employees in your department?
• In your opinion, what are qualities of effective managers motivating employees?
• Would you say that managers are implicitly accountable for employees and their efficiency?
• How does composing evaluations benefit an employee? Improve them?
• What types of things does an operations manager look for in evaluations? 
• What is the difference between a KPI (key performance indicator) and an evaluation?
• As a manager, what do you do to motivate your employees in the workplace?
• How can you best ensure that an employee is working efficiently? Can this be gauged through evaluations alone?
• What are powerful motivators that you have used or have seen used to motivate employees?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hours

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?

I am continuing my mentorship at Unical Aviation.

2. Who is your contact?

My contact is Brice Cocjin, Warehouse Operations Manager at Unical.

3. How many total hours have you done?

Total hours that I have done, excluding the other 11 from over the summer, are 14 hours and 15 minutes. I plan to go in on Saturdays every other week per month. 

4. Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

Of the 14 hours I’ve done, I was able to grasp the importance of leadership and how a good leader is able to motivate employees. I’ve read a fair number of articles, some provided by my mentor, on developments in employee motivation and leadership. Also, I’ve looked into UltiPro, the software Unical uses to evaluate employees, write reviews, and verify time cards.

5. Email house teacher.

It can be done.

Blog 10: Senior Project - The Holiday

1. Prior to the break, I had to change my essential question. My new EQ asks how an operations manager can best motivate their employees to achieve success in evaluations. The majority of my research is grounded in what qualities make for a good leader and I’ve had to transition to research aimed towards improving the work environment, thus motivating employees to work efficiently. What I have physically done over break is find new research on how a manager can effectively make successful employees.

2. The most important thing I’ve done, per say, is to reevaluate and find new research. Since I had to revise my essential so that it was less career oriented, I was glad to find that some of my older research does support my new essential question. What I found is that a business is only as good as the relationship with the employee. “...Executives who treat businesses as a series of relationships (not just alliances) tend to focus on managing the complexity of … different organizations and people all trying to accomplish different things.” This excerpt in particular corresponds to my EQ as it states that effective business is a result of taking ‘different organizations and people’ and directing them towards a common goal. All employees are different, therefore motivation is different from person to person. From what I understood of this article, Five Management Concepts That Really Work, was that a common goal serves as a point where the employee wants and needs to be; if success wants to be achieved in the workplace, the individual must be motivated to do so.

3. My father, Brice Cocjin, would be a candidate I would interview; I have already interviewed him on the success of an operations manager. As an operations manager, you are also in charge of hiring, firing, and employee evaluations. My mentor is one of the few managers who reviews employees and writes up evaluations. These evaluations cover how the employee works with others, their conduct, work ethic, and other areas. As such, I would definitely ask my mentor what to look for in these evaluations and what should the manager do in order to motivate them. 

All of the employees are interconnected somehow — 

which supports the concept of sharing a common goal.