Not everyone loves operations, but I see it as foundational to hospitality and mission. Details matter. Structure matters because it provides the scaffolding needed to create culture. If everything is working right, then organizations are able to fulfill their mission better and care for more people.
My gift is project and time management. I am naturally efficient, with a strong ability to see the relation between ideas. As a result, I am able to anticipate needs. I am also highly organized – the kind of person with an inbox that contains only the items requiring action of some kind, and a desk that is clean at the beginning and end of each day. Technology has allowed me to stay on top of projects and direct reports with clarity and attentiveness. I have strong sense of my own rhythms for productivity, have no use for procrastination, and am able to adapt them to those around me.
Though I have the ability to lead and be the person in the limelight, I am much happier being the one behind the scenes making everything happen. At a party, I am most comfortable in the kitchen making sure that everyone else is able to enjoy the celebration.
For much of my career, operations has been a focus but rarely a title – often it wasn’t even in my job description. Yet, I could not fulfill my mandates without some heavy lifting on the operations side of the house.
The lift always begins with personnel and the policies and procedures that support them. My experience is often that employees do not have mutually understood KPI’s or a sense of their own professional growth. I am not sure I have ever met a personnel file I love, so that is where I usually begin.
Because much of my experience is in the non-profit sector, the second area I often address is the facility itself. How facilities are supporting the kind of programming the organization wants to offer? As a result of the answers I have received, I have developed skills in construction management that I never thought I would have.
Three of the organizations for which I have worked required extensive capital improvements. The most notable of these was St. Basil’s Parish at the University of Toronto. Alternating between invisible and visible projects to the congregation, we steadily renovated the entire building over the course of four years. When we were done, every system from lighting to heating and cooling to IT and security was overhauled. Structurally, the main church was fully restored on the inside and out, and the lower level was completely gutted and redesigned. I project managed every aspect of the work while ensuring that all regular programming would continue with few interruptions.
I have led projects through each phase: initial to detailed planning, execution, monitoring, controlling, and closing. Some projects involve only a few members and stakeholders, while others have been very public with thousands of interested participants.
Essential to this kind of work is a constant understanding of cash flows, short and long-term financial forecasting. Equally important is the ability to translate the financial outlook to boards and donors. This communication is a particular strength I have developed as I have often also been responsible for the fundraising needed to complete projects or expand the mission.
In addition to this kind of project management, I have led and been a key contributor to a several strategic plans. Much of this has been connected to my board involvement, which has been extensive throughout the last 15 years of my career. For quality planning to occur, I believe in quantitative and qualitative data analysis, especially concerning programming metrics and cost-benefit ratios. Hard questions are often required concerning mission-focus and those projects and programs which may be a drain or distraction. In addition, history, data, analysis, social trends, and research have always been a bedrock of my decision making.
As a result of my experience, I spend a great deal of time reflection on restoration. Great care is needed when thinking about mission and culture as they were first imagined and as they are going to be imagined 10 years from now. The blessing of a founder/builder is that they are not responsible for a history or tradition. While their challenge is the great lift, the challenge of those that follow is determining what must be protected and what must be allowed to transform or be discarded? A question I like to ask is if we really need more new things, or just reimagine what we have differently? Most of the time, I find an organization is much capable than it first believed.
That said, I am a proponent of a portion of work and resources being allocated to R&D or creative experimentation. Effective operations work allows for this work as it gives energy to the future of the organization and personnel. Too often, I find non-profits do not allow much room for experimentation as a strategy, but I have found making R&D work a priority to be a secret to my success.
Covid has made operations more complicated; in part, because we do not know what we will keep and what we will return to when we all emerge from our quarantines. I have been required to help an organization shift from the office to remote work and am very interested in the trends and lessons learned in this moment. Actually, I think I am excited more than anything, because I see this moment as a chance to live more integrated, holistic lives with the kind of segregation we previously allowed.