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.