Operations managers need to have a range of skills in order to perform their role successfully. If you are considering getting into this field or transitioning into an operational management role in your workplace, the skills that you apply when doing your job can help you be more effective and successful as a manager. From organizing project details to managing budgets, leading, and collaborating with teams and more, operations managers need to develop a set of both hard and soft skills in order to take on the responsibilities of this role successfully.
What Are Operational Management Skills?
Operational management skills refer to traits that operations managers need to develop in order to be effective when it comes to supporting business practices that achieve success and maximum efficiency. Operations managers rely on a combination of both their hard and soft skills in order to successfully organize and direct the processes within the organization. This includes skills such as planning, technical aptitude, and coordination, as well as understanding security principles such as managing active directory.
Why Operations Management Skills Are Important
Operations management professionals tend to take on a lot of responsibilities that are essential to the success of the company that they work for. Because of this, they need to develop skills such as flexibility, delegation, project management, and business finance knowledge to help them make the right decisions about risk management, product development, cost reduction and more. Operations managers with a strong knowledge of business management and processes tend to be more successful at collaborating with teams, initiating projects, and meeting the crucial deadlines.
The Most Important Operational Management Skills
If you are considering a role in operations management, a masters in operations management online from Kettering University will help you prepare for working in this role. Some of the most important skills that you can develop in order to be successful in an operations management role include:
Adaptability
Adaptability and flexibility are both very important traits when it comes to operational management skills. In a fast-paced work environment, the operations manager should be able to both think and act quickly in order to ensure that they are able to keep up with changing needs and demands. The ability to stay adaptable and be open-minded about various situations that might occur in the workplace is crucial to success.
Leadership Skills
For operations managers, strong leadership skills are crucial for motivating others, creating teams that are diverse and supportive, and inspiring good ideas. An effective operations manager is able to combine both management strategies with their ability to motivate and influence others to direct processes, share, and collaborate in a way that is necessary for achieving the company objectives.
Interpersonal Skills
Collaborating and working alongside others is a major part of the role of an operations manager. Interpersonal skills provide compassion, empathy, and an ability to connect with other people in the workplace. Strong interpersonal skills allow the operations manager to develop a strong level of trust with both customers and employees and build more supportive relationships in the workplace. Good interpersonal skills allow operations managers to be able to lead and manage their teams with empathy, and compassion, while encouraging diverse ideas and creativity.
Time Management
Monitoring the most important milestones in the production process, scheduling deadlines, and making sure that teams are able to finish the projects that they work on within specific deadlines are just some of the most important responsibilities of the operations manager that will rely on your time management skills. As an operations manager, you may also find yourself responsible for organizing team schedules, which requires you to have an awareness of the time that it takes to complete different tasks, and employees’ working hours.
Organizational Skills
As an operations manager, organization and attention to detail are some skills that can have a positive influence on your success. In this role, operations managers may be required to track employee paperwork, project files, project schedules and more important information regarding the processes in place at the company. For operations managers, an ability to notice significant details and other changes can make it easier for them to identify the factors that affect production, making it easier to put strategies for keeping operations and teams on track in place.
Communication Skills
An operations manager needs to have great communication skills in order to get the most from interacting with colleagues, employees, and others every day. Written communication skills are important and may need to be used frequently to create reports, transcribe technical data, and communicate information to others throughout the organization. It’s also important to develop other key communication skills that will be necessary in this role such as presentation skills, listening skills, and negotiation skills. Engaging in in-depth presentation skills training is essential to master communication skills. When working as an operations manager, you will use these skills for leading meetings, encouraging feedback from teams, and discussing important business contracts.
Problem-Solving Skills
When working in operations management, you may find that conflicts can sometimes arise, such as challenges that stand in the way of getting a project finished on time, conflict between employees, and any other issues that might have an impact on the overall success of the project or company. As an operations manager, good problem-solving skills will make it easier for you to weigh up the options and put solutions in place that will quickly and effectively overcome these issues in the workplace. Good conflict resolution skills are an important part of the operations manager’s skill set and are necessary for adapting to changing situations.
Decision Making Skills
Good decision-making skills are important for any operations manager. To be successful in this role, it’s crucial that you can discern important information and analyze the different factors and how they may contribute to the success of your business’s operations. A good operations manager has the ability to consider a variety of different perspectives, varying strategies, and alternative outcomes to make better decisions on the job.
Employee Management
An operations manager works in a management role and will typically be responsible for the oversight and direction of multiple employee teams, sometimes across various departments. In this role, it is important to have strong employee management skills and become efficient when it comes to organizing and maintaining employee schedules, delegating tasks, and carrying out employee assessments and evaluations.
Budget Management
It is often the role of the operations manager to maintain and manage company production budgets, which means that math and business finance skills will often be needed for them to make the best decisions regarding the company’s cash flow. Budget management is a task that requires operations managers to be able to track incoming revenue and outgoings, predict future production costs and profits, and work together with financial professionals in the business to prepare and file crucial financial reports.
Strategic Planning
Critical thinking and strategic planning are two key skills that you will need when working in an operations manager role. Operations managers need to develop the ability to anticipate issues that may have an impact on successful outcomes and be able to take a creative approach to challenges to come up with solutions that can effectively help teams meet their objectives. Along with this, strategic planning skills also allow the operations manager to better interpret any information and input that is necessary for making key decisions regarding the business processes.
Risk Analysis
Mitigation and risk analysis are important skills for operations managers to develop since they are essential components in the process of product development and initiating new projects. Operations managers are often tasked with analyzing various aspects of the company’s processes to clearly identify any potential challenges that may arise and create solutions that can be put in place should any negative effects appear. As an operations manager, the skills that you have when it comes to carefully analyzing all the factors that have an effect on the operations of the organization, along with the ability to come up with risk-reducing strategies for these important processes, are essential to performing this role successfully.
Product Development
Most operations managers will also play a key part in the product development phase of various projects that they work on. They may assist in development and design of new products, oversee quality control of finished projects, or monitor the project budget. To do this successfully, the operations manager needs to have a clear understanding of the product development processes that are necessary for the organization to generate revenue. Those interested in working in this role should have the necessary skills to support teams that work on product development and the ability to lead projects to success.
Data Processing
Operations managers are often responsible for working with data within the company’s computer system, including collecting, inputting, and analyzing this data. Data processing and organization is a crucial skill for the operations manager to have when it comes to tracking a range of important business functions such as incoming and outgoing cash flow, sales transactions, vendor shipments, customer accounts, product design, and supply chain management processes.
Technical Proficiency
Today, working successfully as an operations manager requires you to be proficient with technical applications such as data entry, production automation, and software for accessing project data, designing processes and tracking budgets. Most organizations today will integrate a range of technical applications to track and automate business processes, maintain customer relationships, and monitor expenses and revenue. Technical proficiency is becoming an increasingly important skill necessary to the role of an operations manager due to the ever-increasing range of technological functions that businesses today rely on.
How to Improve Your Operations Management Skills
Aside from earning a relevant qualification designed to help you transition into an operations management role, there are several things that you can do at work to improve these skills, help you become more efficient on the job, and improve your ability to achieve a successful outcome.
Monitor Important HR Processes
The role of an operations manager often means being engaged in the processes of hiring employees, attracting quality talent, and training and development of new hires. As an operations manager, you can achieve better results by ensuring that you are regularly monitoring any HR activities instead of gaining insight periodically.
Create Accurate Forecasts and Budgets
Become more successful as an operations manager by developing your ability to analyze financial information to create forecasts and predictions that more accurately detail cost, predicted revenue, and strategies for ensuring the project stays within the budget.
Improve Your Product Design Knowledge
Spend time improving your brainstorming abilities, collaboration skills, and your ability to both design new concepts and expand on ideas that already exist. Improving your product design skills can help you be more successful in production processes, enabling you to become an operations manager that helps to ensure the organization offers products that meet market demands.
Improve Your Supply Chain Management Skills
Supply chain management is a crucial part of overseeing company operations. It’s important that you take the time to understand these processes, how they work, and how they have an impact on outcomes for the business. Spend more time getting a better understanding of product design, production, shipping, cross dock warehouse operations, distribution, market sales, and other supply chain processes.
Improve Customer Service Skills
The role of an operations manager will often mean interacting with a wide range of different individuals from employees to potential new hires, clients and customers to vendors, suppliers, and outside professionals. Good customer service skills can help to boost your success when negotiating with vendors, making sales, and overseeing different business teams.
Highlighting Your Operations Management Skills
If you are considering moving into an operations management role, there are various ways that you can highlight some of the most important skills you possess in your resume, cover letter, and during interviews. Give examples of your past responsibilities whenever possible and go into more detail regarding how you were able to apply your skills and expertise to achieve the best results. If applying for operations management roles, include any operational management skills you possess that are mentioned in the job description on your resume.
To succeed as an operations manager, both hard and soft skills are essential.
Ingrid Maldine is a business writer, editor and management consultant with extensive experience writing and consulting for both start-ups and long established companies. She has ten years management and leadership experience gained at BSkyB in London and Viva Travel Guides in Quito, Ecuador, giving her a depth of insight into innovation in international business. With an MBA from the University of Hull and many years of experience running her own business consultancy, Ingrid’s background allows her to connect with a diverse range of clients, including cutting edge technology and web-based start-ups but also multinationals in need of assistance. Ingrid has played a defining role in shaping organizational strategy for a wide range of different organizations, including for-profit, NGOs and charities. Ingrid has also served on the Board of Directors for the South American Explorers Club in Quito, Ecuador.
