As Operations Manager at Your Money Matters Inc., I continually work toward ensuring that our daily ‘operations’ are streamlined; reduced to essentials so as to effectively and positively contribute to our corporate culture, the business model and most importantly – business partners and client relationships.
It has been said that I wear many hats! As such, I must work within several short and long-term time, budget, and scope constraints. A little context: a typical day involves general administrative brokerage management, hands on creative and technical aspects of advertising & marketing initiatives, spearheading social media ventures, employee & agent engagement and training, community involvement and client relationship management. Each of these tasks has milestones that must be achieved; and each have associated deadlines. Each ‘project’ has various team members working toward a common goal; and each project also has a financial budget that should be adhered to. ‘Scope creep’ (uncontrolled changes or continuous growth on a project) must be managed and risk factors must be assessed and mitigated throughout the project life-cycle. In order to meet our respective objectives so that we are a collective success I must employ steadfast determination and practical management application at all times. Last, but not least, it needs to be rewarding, productive and fun for all parties!
Organizational prowess, effectual time management skills, communication expertise, soft skill utilization proficiency, leadership and influencing ability, problem solving aptitude, presentation skill competency in addition to technical experience and its application are just a few attributes that one must possess to be a management superstar! We all like to think of ourselves as well-rounded, effective managers, don’t we? But, are we? How is this best measured? The answer is that there are numerous ways to identify our effectiveness – our strengths and our weaknesses. There are endless online resources and ‘Lunch ‘n’ Learns’, plenty of management courses that one can complete, and there is on the job experience one gains on their career path. Be a sponge. Watch, listen, and learn.
Perhaps a ‘360 Evaluation’ is the answer. This involves being evaluated by colleagues – including direct reports, those that you report to and other team members in other departments that you work with; and it does in fact give a 360 degree look at your performance. Yes, there will be bias and elements of subjectivity which unfortunately cannot be completely eliminated. But, if reasoning and rationale are employed when reviewing or delivering a 360 Evaluation, it should then clearly identify areas of strengths and weaknesses. Then, building upon strengths and increasing the weaker skill-set should be the primary objective.
But, I’ve digressed. A weakness identified! I do have the ‘gift of gab’. I am not naturally succinct! I’m wordy. Great for blogging! 🙂 Continuing on …
The purpose of this blog entry was not to deviate into personal performance, per se. The purpose is to assist those of you who may be in a general management or operations management role (in any industry) with staying organized, on task and within budget when delivering YOUR high quality product or service.
As such, I’d like to focus on two extremely important things that all managers should keep ‘top of mind’ as they go about their daily routine – Responsibility and Accountability. These are two critical soft skills that managers’ must possess to effectively perform in their role. Soft skills, we know, are very difficult to teach. I’ve heard people say “you either have soft skills or you don’t”. What a shot in the foot! I believe that an employee, manager or otherwise, can adopt any skill-set if they are properly engaged, encouraged, and trained. But, that too, is another blog! We have a responsibility to ourselves as management professionals to edify and disseminate that which we have learned. We have a responsibility to our clients in that we must ensure that the product or service that we recommend is the product or service that is right for them. We have a responsibility to place clients on the right financial path. We are responsible for the interpersonal and professional progression of relationships; and we are responsible for properly representing our brand and that of the Mortgage Centre Canada. We are accountable for the acknowledgement and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies. This includes the administration, governance and implementation within the scope of the role or position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain, and be answerable for resulting consequences.
If you’re fortunate enough to work with management that is both soft-skilled and technically-abled (did I just make up a work there?!), then you already have the foundations with which to build strong interpersonal and professional team infrastructures. However, if your team (management included) appears to be suffering from a silo-effect (a lack of communication and common goals with everyone basically doing their own thing), then read on, dear reader!
I recommend the utilization of a simple project management visual aid called the ‘Triple Constraint’.
A little research could go a very long way. Understanding and utilizing this model of project management (where three attributes – Budget/ Scope/Timeline or Costs/Scope/Time – show on the corners of a triangle to show opposition) helps with intentionally choosing project biases and/or analyzing goals of a project. It will definitely be an asset to you if you are in any form of management role and responsible for the completion of numerous projects that must be delivered on time, within a budget, and within a particular scope (which all projects should be if one is to successfully deliver). If your goal is to exceed the expectations of your colleagues or clients, then adopting an organized approach toward project completion is absolutely necessary.
The Triple Constraint model is often used to illustrate that project management success is measured by a team’s ability to manage a project, so that the expected results are produced while managing time and cost. Our team finds this tremendously helpful in our day to day front and back end operation! In my previous life as a project manager I would diligently prioritize tasks and outline dependencies between tasks on a project schedule using Microsoft Project. Simply stated, I like the software. It’s relatively easy to use for all levels of project management as, when used properly, it clearly outlines all phases of a project. It’s especially helpful for those that are working on multiple projects as this means multiple deadlines, multiple budgets, a lot of dependencies between tasks, and often times the involvement of numerous people with various tasks assigned to them. Keeping all tasks and all people efficient is the goal.
I deem the team at Your Money Matters Inc. to be a team that is highly effective and high producing, extremely hard-working, ethically and morally sound, and a collective of over-achieving industry experts with long-standing & steadily growing financial industry networks that ensures that we will arrange the product that is right for you. Sometimes we’re just a bunch of goofballs (okay, it’s just me!). But, we absolutely take your mortgage arrangements, your personal and financial goals and your future financial well-being very seriously; and that is why we are successful at what we do. We love what we do and we have fun doing it! However, none of this would be possible if we didn’t apply superior time management skills, a keen budget-eye, the strongest soft skills and consistent practical application of knowledge and experience since the day the office doors opened. We wouldn’t be able to exceed YOUR expectations – and that is paramount at Your Money Matters Inc. We want to help you get or keep the home that you have worked hard for and that you deserve; and we want to put you on a path toward financial success and freedom. We work for you – you deserve the best!
If you have comments or questions about how to be an effective management professional, please feel free to contact me. We encourage information sharing and invite you to guest blog.
Roy
Roy, our Operations Manager spearheaded the creation and launch of our website and social media initiatives as well as the design and roll out of our new company logo and rebranding while leading our strategic marketing, advertising and analytics endeavors. In his personal time, he enjoys photography, recording music, concerts, and traveling. Sometimes he sleeps.
