As COO, you know that operations are the heartbeat of your business. It is integral to customer satisfaction, supply, demand, inventory, profitability, and strategy- to name a few. It’s vital to develop the next generation of leaders so they can pick up where you left off.

But what does the training process look like? This article outlines the steps to prepare your team for success.

Why is It Important to Develop New Leaders?

Developing new leaders is essential across all departments, but it’s especially critical in operations for the following reasons:

• The Importance of Operations: Operations is a strategic differentiator that supports scaling and overall business strategy. Leaders must be well-trained to lead this department effectively.
• Hard Leadership Roles to Replace: COOs are among the hardest to replace, as they may struggle with culture, legacy processes, and cross-functional trust. On-the-job training provides a seamless transition, offering credibility on the frontline, an innate knowledge of how the job gets done, and minimal disruptions.
• Creates Stronger Teams: Developing leaders internally strengthens teams. It provides employees with leadership skills, enabling them to work independently, take on additional tasks, and assist their colleagues on-site.

Identifying Leaders in Your Organization

Leadership training starts with identifying the best leaders in your organization. While qualities like confidence and transparency are desirable, you must also focus on workers who are suited to the operations industry. Here are some skills to look for:

• Systems Thinking: A good operations leader should always consider cause and effect, considering how changes will impact results. This type of worker will map flows and identify bottlenecks to promote smoother processes.
• Operational Curiosity: The individual will seek the root cause of success and failure. They will want to investigate situations firsthand, before jumping to conclusions and relying on reports.
• Discipline & Flexibility: The best person will have the discipline to work with compliance regulations and the flexibility to adjust quickly when situations arise.
• Risk Radar: Risks can be extremely detrimental to operations. A good leader will constantly scan for risks and determine how to avoid them before damage occurs.
• Calm Under Operational Stress: Machine breakdowns, last-minute supply issues, workers calling in sick… with so many potential operational risks, leaders need to remain calm under stress and determine the best systems to address risks in real time.

Creating a Leadership Training Format

The final step is to prepare the new leader to take over the role. You may hire a third-party team or use AI and videos for some training, but the current leader should provide oversight and may also offer a shadowing system for hands-on guidance.

Here’s what your training regimen may look like:

Create Your Core Curriculum

Consider creating a core curriculum of 6-8 modules, each covering a topic essential to the role. Subjects may include:

• Systematic thinking, including mapping and cross-functional flow
• Identifying and analyzing bottlenecks
• Metrics- what to focus on, how to measure them, and how they contribute to KPIs
• Root cause problem-solving to address operational risks
• Process design and standardization in operations for optimal efficiency
• Risk identification and management to ensure smooth operations

Real Projects

Once your new leader knows the basics, ask them to take on a project that could have a measurable impact. The goal is to help them develop new skills and assess their readiness for expanded responsibility.

Coaching Sessions

A coach can provide practical problem-solving advice and guide project progress and career trajectory. Bi-weekly 30-45 minute sessions are recommended.

Coaching is also a great way to develop strong-hard skills such as:

• Effectively running daily or weekly meetings
• Communicating during incidents
• Writing up reports and updates
• Using metrics to express progress and goals

Cross-Function Exposure

The new leader should rotate into adjacent functions, such as logistics and customer service, to gain a well-rounded view of how the company runs.

Feedback

Feedback is an essential part of the training process, helping leaders understand how the training is going and allowing them to discover insights through new perspectives. Sessions may occur regularly during initial training and the new leader’s early days with the company, and may become more sporadic over time, but they should never be neglected. Feedback should be a valuable part of operations, guiding improvements throughout the executive’s tenure in the organization.

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