Operations Management is a custom programme for organisations that want to build a consistent standard of operational management across their teams. Many managers are promoted because they know the work well and are then left to learn management by trial and error. This programme gives them a shared method and a shared language.
We design the programme with you, using your own demand data, measures and processes. The six modules run roughly every two weeks, and between modules each manager applies what they have learned in their own team, with support from a Halveron coach.
Managers who complete the programme and a workplace assignment can be assessed for certification at foundation level by the Service Operations Institute.
Newly appointed and developing operations managers and senior team leaders, in groups of eight to sixteen from the same organisation. It works well when their own managers attend a short briefing at the start and the final review at the end.
Operations Management is delivered through these modules:
Choosing a small set of measures that show how the service is performing for customers, reading them properly and avoiding the targets that distort behaviour. We use your own reports as the starting point and test them against what customers say. Managers leave with a draft dashboard for their own team.
Running a short daily review, allocating work against agreed priorities and responding to the unexpected without abandoning the plan. We use your own volumes, staffing and service levels as the case material, so managers practise on the situations they will face the following morning, not on a textbook example.
Forecasting demand by type and time of day, comparing it with the hours available and spotting a shortfall early enough to act on it. Together we build a simple planning tool from your own data, which your managers keep and update after the programme ends.
Short, frequent coaching conversations that improve how team members handle their work, including those working from home. Managers practise listening to contacts or reviewing cases with a team member, asking before telling, and agreeing one specific thing to try differently. Each manager then coaches in their own team before the next module.
A simple, structured way for teams to find the root cause of a recurring problem, test a fix on a small scale and check that it worked. Each manager leads one problem-solving session with their own team between modules and brings the results back to the group.
Shorter meetings with a clear purpose, a decision and an owner for each action. We also look at how managers spend their own week, and help each one protect time for coaching and improvement so it is not squeezed out by reporting and email. The module ends with a review of each manager's progress.
Case study
A regional bank's back office was carrying an eleven-day backlog and heavy overtime. Better planning, standard work and daily team routines cleared it within four months.
Find out how we did it: Driving back-office productivity at a regional bank
In brief
Most operations plan for the staff they have. Plan instead for the demand that arrives, and you will often find you need less capacity than you thought.
Read full article: Start with demand, not capacity
In brief
When half the team works from home, team leaders lose the quick desk-side conversations that did most of their coaching. Here is how to put them back.
Read full article: Coaching hybrid operations teams