Most operations strategies fail. Why is that? Is it because they aren’t correctly implemented? Or is it because they are built to fail from day one?
The answer: both.
Your people have their hands full. Without a clear roadmap for decision-making and competitive priorities, each team is like a ship without a rudder. People need a human-centric approach to long-term planning to maximize the chances of success.
You must create an operations strategy that considers the customer experience, the product lifecycle, and everything you have going on in-house, from your people to your resources to your operational capabilities.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- What an operations strategy is
- How an operations strategy can bring your team together.
- What a good operations strategy includes
- How the essential elements of your strategy promote growth and evolution.
Okay, got your coffee topped up and ready? Let’s roll.
What is an operations strategy?
An operations strategy is a business plan that sets out the company’s processes, initiatives, values, and goals to provide clear guidance and direction to help the teams achieve their objectives.
With a well-defined approach to operations management, the people in your company can maximize the available resources to gain a competitive advantage. This corporate strategy is critical for supply chain management, product management, and manufacturing strategy.
Think of an operations strategy like a blueprint that outlines how your team collaborates to do their most meaningful work. It is not just about how you make new products or manage your workflow—it is an intrinsic aspect of your overall business strategy that influences your competitive position and your ability to succeed.
Danny Ocean didn’t just storm into the Bellagio Casino in Ocean’s Eleven. The master thief had an operational strategy that tapped into every resource available. He had a clever rag-tag team of people who had experience on the job. Everyone brought something to the table. From the slick-talking sidekick to the ninja acrobat, everyone had a voice, and everyone’s input mattered.
What are the benefits of an operations strategy?
A well-thought-out operations strategy can positively impact your company in many ways. Here are several benefits:
- Provides clarity and context for team members: An operations strategy gives your people clarity and context about your business processes. When you make strategy available to everyone, you improve the employee experience. Everyone feels included, and you are united to work toward a shared vision (like robbing three casinos in one night).
- Aligns teams: Operational plans improve communication between departments in a business model that focuses on its people. They understand how their roles fit together as part of the larger cause.
- Empowers employees: With clear directions and goals, all stakeholders at all company levels can connect to your overall vision and execute with confidence on the business goals.
- Improves resource efficiency: With a clear description of what, why, and how your company hopes to operate, you will be more effective at organizing teams. This method is an efficient way to make sure people prioritize high-impact activities.
- Better cooperation: Face it: Brad Pitt held the entire crew of Ocean’s Eleven together. You can go next-level when you have an operations strategy that encourages better communication and collaboration throughout your organization.
- Employee retention: As a sense of alignment brings the whole team together, everyone takes on more ownership and accountability. Everyone has a role in the company’s bigger plan, which drives motivation, engagement, and success.
- Accelerates the ability to scale and enter new markets: When Airbnb was finding its feet in the U.S., a copycat business threatened to usurp its position in Europe. Airbnb responded with a massive hiring operation and rapid but carefully orchestrated advance to claim the market.
What are the elements of a good operations strategy?
When the Avengers set out to reverse Thanos’ plan to eliminate virtually everyone in the universe, they had powerful short-term solutions (Hulk and Thor), quality management (Captain America), and arguably the most advanced real-time machine learning technology known to man (Cheers, Tony Stark). The point is, the whole team had a vital role to play.
Your operation management needs to take advantage of all the resources and tools available. As you expand access to technology across functions and embrace new value, you can drive the strategic agility you need to stay ahead of your competitors.
Let’s look at five essential elements your operational strategy must cover:
Company-wide
It’s a people-first method, where resources and systems empower your teams. If your people don’t understand the connection to the mission and vision, they could swim against the tide.
Core competencies
An operations strategy evaluates the key strengths of your business and considers the resources at hand. A strategy map will help connect your operational priorities to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and objectives. Your employees must see the cause-and-effect relationships between their actions and the big picture.
Customer-driven
Your customers expect high standards, from the product to the user experience to the support and aftercare. When you have a radically human strategy that focuses on the needs of people—your employees and customers—you can deliver a better experience for them all.
Digital tools
The days of managing people and processes via spreadsheets are gone. Digital transformation helps you reimagine the future with a strategy that is easier to access, understand, and implement. We built our strategy execution platform to make it easier for more companies to take their ideas to implementation.
Human resources
We know it’s cliché, but human resources are the most valuable resource. When you give your front-line employees a voice in your strategy, you can tap into their first-hand experience dealing with customers. This collaborative approach to operations strategy development will steer your strategic plans in the right direction and improve the ground-level execution.
Key success factors for operations strategies
There is a pattern to success in operations strategies. These four aspects help to ensure buy-in and evolution in a company.
Team alignment
When you create your operations strategy, team alignment across your overall mission and strategy map increases the chances of success. Individual goals, team goals, and project benchmarking interlink as everyone pulls in the same direction.
Employee engagement
An operational strategy that doesn’t involve its employees early on won’t last too long. A top-down approach where the C-suite dictates strategies from their high horses outside the boardroom is no way to win the hearts and minds of your organization.
An omnidirectional model is a more effective approach because you make people feel like they matter. And guess what? They do matter! You’re only as good as your team. When you work closely with employees on strategy development and consider their opinions, satisfaction, and individual ambitions, you’ll have a much better outcome.
Innovative practices
A good operations strategy fosters a culture that constantly looks for new ways to improve. When you embrace innovative new practices, you drive business evolution, as your company will remain fast and flexible, ready to adapt to changes in the market.
You can use new tools and automation practices to help improve aspects of your business, connect employees, and operate with greater efficiency in all areas. When growth and innovation underpin your operations strategy, explosive growth is sure to happen.
Data-driven evolution
Data shows you where your strategy works and where it doesn’t. You can use data to discover opportunities to add value and embrace change. You can analyze success metrics and make changes according to the feedback, making more accurate forecasting and smarter operations decisions. WIth data-driven iterative strategies, you can begin to dream bigger and execute better.
Start planning your operations strategy
High-level operations strategies are the foundation for effective business practices at the ground level. Whether you plan to rob a casino, conquer the world, or improve your product development and manufacturing functions, a well-built operations strategy is a critical tool that can drive game-changing innovation and success.
It is the one source of truth your team needs to close the gap between planning and execution.
Once set, your entire company can focus on what matters. It is the ideal way to empower your people and help them take the leap to make your vision happen.
