Most companies have a common goal: growth. They want their organization to expand, reach new markets, and sell more products. The right operational framework can help businesses achieve this objective.

An effective framework will be designed to address the unique pressures of high growth, including meeting customer demands, managing product and market changes, and an ever-expanding staff. It should allow executives to balance speed and control with repeatable systems that become second nature. The framework should set a foundation for consistent, scalable performance.

The Core Principles of an Operational Framework That Supports Growth

The first step is to establish principles that guide your framework. These may include:

• Scalability: The framework should scale with your company with minimal rework.
• Flexible and Adaptable: It should adapt to an evolving business landscape without breaking.
• Simplicity: Ensure your framework guides a seamless process with minimal handoffs and clear task ownership.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Leading to better outcomes and less time in the decision-making process.
• Customer-Centric Operations: The framework should ultimately support customer satisfaction.

Defining Your Operations Model

Now, you must determine the structure, roles, and governance of your operating model. Here are some things to consider.

• Structure: Will your model be centralized, decentralized, or a hybrid? Will it focus on local, regional, or global operations?
• Assigning Roles: Determine who will be accountable for key workflows, including sales, products, finance, and engineering.
• Governance: Figure out how decisions get made. Will you use weekly or monthly reviews? Who can sign off on which decisions? You should also decide how emergencies will be handled.

Executing Your Framework

Once the framework is defined, you should consider how various processes will be carried out. To do this, you must:

• Identify and define critical processes, such as production and compliance, to determine where priorities lie
• Standardize processes when necessary to support efficiency and eliminate confusion
• Create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that will further standardize processes. Use playbooks, videos, and training resources when possible to reduce training needs.
• Choose the right technology to fuel your systems. Opt for devices and software that handle multiple tasks to avoid tool sprawl. Ensure new technology integrates with existing systems to prevent an organization-wide overhaul.

Define Metrics

Metrics will help you measure your system’s success over time and enforce your organizational goals. They may include:

• Core KPIs: These typically measure quality, efficiency, resilience, and experience
• Establish Reviews: Schedule daily, weekly, or monthly reviews to ensure you are reaching your operational goals
• Encourage Accountability for Metrics: Create role-based dashboards that display the metrics each team leader needs to see, to promote focus.

People Matter

The people you hire will play a huge role in your company’s ability to scale. Here are some things you should look for when hiring talent:

• Resilience ensures they will stay strong in the face of risks and disruptions
• Leadership- not everyone you hire will be a leader, but leadership qualities enable them to take ownership of what they do and think outside the box
• Adaptability: An adaptable staff will remain flexible and problem-solve as the market evolves
• Transparency: Honesty is an important trait to look for in workers, but transparency goes beyond that, offering clear communication and accountability

Risk Management is Essential

Given all that can go wrong in an operational framework, risk management should not be overlooked. The following steps will help minimize risk and avoid downtime.

• Identify Risks: Determine the most important risks in your company, considering supply and demand, technology, and compliance.
• Put Safeguards in Place: These could include secure systems, alerts, role-based access, multi-factor authentication, and vulnerability reports.
• Determine How to Deal with Emergencies: Despite your best efforts, incidents may happen, putting your company in a difficult situation. You must consider the best way to deal with emergencies, which may include alerting stakeholders and pivoting to new systems.

Action Steps

As COO, you can work your way towards a new framework with the following steps:

• Run a quick diagnostic check across your department, looking for possible improvements in structure, processes, tech, metrics, talent, and risk management
• Prioritize small yet high-impact changes that can guide growth and scalability
• Build a 90-day plan to achieve goals that guide improvement, allowing room for changes and adaptation.

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