By Chris Wilson 
Many agency-land job titles are pretty self-explanatory. An account manager looks after client accounts. A designer designs. We may not understand everything the jobs entail, but we get the general idea.
And then you have ‘operations’. A slippery catch-all term that could – and often does – mean anything.
Over the last seven years I’ve worked as an Operations Manager and later as Head of Operations. I’ve also got to know many other managers, directors and heads of operations. Without fail, I’ve been surprised by the variations in roles and responsibilities.
Operations people wear many hats, and their roles are fluid, too, with responsibilities that change and adapt depending on client needs and business priorities. They can be in charge of anything from managing office supplies to hitting agency profitability targets. I’ve personally known operations managers be simultaneously responsible for preparing board reports and checking the office PlayStation has updated in time for the lunchtime FIFA tournament.
As for a job specification? There isn’t one; there’s many. And they’re as individual as the people and businesses themselves.
For this reason, it’s important that anyone working with operations teams – something we do regularly at Agency Works – leaves their expectations at the door. We need to understand what each person does day to day before making generalisations or assumptions about their role.
So, what makes a good operations person?
Fair question! Firstly, it depends on your agency: where you are now, how you’re hoping to grow, and how much you’ll need to rely on process, efficiency and data to achieve that growth.
While there’s no definitive list of skills and traits for the ideal agency operations manager, we can help you narrow it down a little. Experience has taught us that good operations people tend to have four things in common:
1. They get agency culture
Operations people sit at an (often-awkward) crossroads between agency management and delivery teams. They need to understand the dynamic between the managers and the doers, and be able to advocate for everyone in the agency.
In practice, this can mean anything from representing the agency’s challenges at a board level to managing process changes with delivery teams. You need someone who can communicate with both sides of the business, bring them closer together, and reinforce your agency’s culture.
2. They’re proactive
No agency leader wants to micromanage their ops manager. A good operations person is proactive. They won’t wait to be briefed on making an improvement to a process or efficiency, they’ll be constantly looking for opportunities to do so.
3. They see the bigger picture
Operations people often come from a project management or account management background. As they make the transition from a delivery role to an operations one, they need to shift their perspective too. They’ll need to be able to step back from individual challenges, such as project or delivery issues, and assess the bigger picture.
You’re not looking for an operations person who only wants to solve the board’s current challenge. Nor do you want someone who can’t think beyond that day’s delivery issue.
The ideal person needs to see the business objectives, see the delivery challenges, and propose solutions for both. They’ll be analytical enough to identify risk, spot patterns and develop solutions that benefit the agency at scale.
4. They tick the work-alone-and-as-part-of-a-team box
It’s a requirement that’s been slapped on every job advert since the dawn of time, but it’s especially relevant here.
In a world that’s incredibly aggressive on price and margin, every hour that can’t be charged out to a client is an extra overhead. For this reason, most agencies look to keep non-chargeable roles to a minimum. Which means that many operations teams operate as teams of one.
Then there’s the nature of the role itself. One week an operations manager will be working on big, exciting change-management programmes with large groups of stakeholders. The next, it’s back to solo data analysis and process assessment. So you’ll need someone who really can work well in either scenario, and is comfortable with frequent gear changes.
While the role of the operations manager will vary from agency to agency, we believe all good operations people share those four qualities. Your next step is to consider the specific roles and responsibilities you need your ops person to take on, and work out the right time to bring them on board (with a thorough onboarding process to boot!)
