It’s common for you as a COO or 2nd In Command for your day-to-day operations to not go according to plan. Often, disruptions and unforeseen challenges cause overwhelm and can bring chaos to your operations. By taking the time to assess your operations and implement realignment strategies you will discover how vitally important this practice is to the success of the company and your people. Here are five realignment strategies to guide you and your team when things do not go according to plan:
1. Compare your operations to the vision and mission of the company
First, ask yourself: are you and your team aligned with your company’s vision? Are your operations aligned with the company’s vision? If you take a step back and compare what is occurring in your operations and compare it to the vision and mission of the company what do you notice? Are they aligned? What is not aligning? What can you do immediately in the short term to bring them closer together?
If you find yourself not knowing or having access to the company’s vision and mission, now would be a good time to obtain it. Request it from your CEO or business owner and take the time to go through every aspect of it.
Get familiar with the long-term and short-term vision of the company. Be clear about the purpose and the people the company is meant to serve. Ask yourself if your operations, and the people running them, are the right fit for what the company’s vision and mission are striving to achieve and the impact the company and its people are meant to have as a whole.
2. Assess the people in your operations
People are at the centre of all of your operations, as you very well know. With more than 22 years in business I have had the wrong people in my businesses and my operations, and because of it, alignment was not possible. Smooth operations were not possible either.
When you find yourself looking for solutions to improve your operations and bring everyone back into alignment, start looking at who in your operations are your stars and who is potentially no longer the right fit for the team.
The stars are the ones who are showing up, they’re the ones who are really bringing their A game and creating meaningful and impactful work. In contrast, who is not showing up? Who is no longer the right fit? Maybe circumstances have changed and it’s time for them to move on or perhaps they have outgrown their position and it’s time for them to change roles.
Assess your team and explore who is aligned in your operations and who perhaps needs to change roles or move on to another company.
3. Review the financial impact of your operations
You have no doubt heard the expression that “cash flow is king,” but realigning your operations with the financial health of the company extends far more than just cash flow. It’s the entire financial picture that matters.
Are you on budget? Are expenses being managed daily? Are you tracking revenue and the sources that eat away at your profits? How involved are you with knowing the numbers and the impact the day-to-day operations have on the financial health of the company?
Financial transparency with your team and the impact they have on the financial health of the company will certainly keep everyone in alignment. Ensuring that your team is on the same page with financial goals and forecasts is vitally important. Managing expectations, their roles and the outcome they produce will help you in your day-to-day operations.
Realign the team and your operations to the financial goals that have been set.
4. Take stock of your own wellbeing
The fourth strategy is about you and your wellbeing. You’re at the center of the operations. You work extremely hard to ensure the company and all of its moving parts are working in harmony with each other. It takes a lot of focus, energy and commitment to make it all work. But what are you doing to take care of you? What are you doing for your own growth, for supporting you and for your own self-care? You have to look at yourself and make sure that you’re being supported too.
It may seem that everything else is more important and requires more of your attention, but if you do not have a daily practice to take care of you, to find moments to take a break, rest and replenish, the energy you are spending on everyone else, your company and your team will be left without the guidance and support that you bring to the success of the company. You must include yourself in the realignment strategy to eliminate overwhelm and chaos. Take care of you as much as you take care of everyone and everything else.
5. Evaluate your team culture
And finally, the last realignment strategy centers around your company’s culture. Do you have a team culture? Can you define it? Can your team define it?
Culture is such an important part of running successful operations. If people are at the center of what makes a business thrive, then culture defines how your people work together, perform as a team, and engage as a whole.
If you find that your team culture needs some help, turn to your people and ask them to define the team culture they would like. What do they find is missing? What would they like to experience? Take inventory of what they want and feel is missing and create a plan to start breathing life into revitalizing your company’s culture.
Build a culture of gratitude and appreciation. Let people know that they matter! That is the number one way for you to start realigning the culture in your operations and in your business.
To recap, here are five ways you can realign your operations and get back on track immediately.
- Align your operations with the company’s vision and mission.
- Assess the people in your operations to ensure everyone is the right fit.
- Compare the company’s financial health with that of your operations to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Include caring for yourself as you care for everyone and everything else in the company.
- Explore, with the help of your team, ways to improve your company and team’s culture.
The above practice of taking the time to evaluate and then realign the core parts of your operations and the business will no doubt contribute to the success of your people, the work that you are all doing and the impact you are making individually and as a whole. Take the time to use these five realignment strategies to keep your operations moving forward smoothly and successfully.
If you are interested in meeting with other COOs and 2nd In Commands regularly to mastermind, network and implement new and innovative ideas to improve your operations and the success of your company, join us as a member of the COO Mastermind communities that are available to you. For more information, visit www.PierretteRaymond.com/coo-groups and request information to join.
