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Operations

Carefully crafted operations will enable your business to flow via the following continuous cycle:

  1. Efficient, well defined processes

  2. Provide consistent quality services for your clients 

  3. Increase profit margin

  4. Foster a happy workplace

  5. Cycle back to Step 1

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Our process is to examine each function of the business to:

  1. Gain an understanding of what’s happening right now

  2. Repair or streamline immediate issues discovered in Step 1

  3. Document the processes

  4. Communicate the defined process to relevant teams and store in a central repository

  5. Continuously review, update, and document

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Operations Case Studies

ANZ Learning & Breakout Centre [Consultant Example]

Situation

The ANZ Bank (ANZ) built a state-of-the-art training centre on Collins St, Melbourne having adopted design and architectural inspiration from centres around the world. The build was almost complete, and the centre was due to open in 7 weeks. However, Centre Operations had not been planned.

 

Issue

I was employed by a consulting company to create a project plan to have the centre staffed and operational by the opening date within a specific budget. The plan needed to be robust, cover all operating aspects, and be presented to the client in one week. I presented the plan to the client with two options:

 

  1. The budget is maintained but the 5 & ½ week deadline is not met

  2. The budget is increase to a specific threshold and we meet the deadline

 

Resolution

The client appreciated the honesty and diligence that was provided to them. The meeting lasted 45 minutes and the consulting company was granted the contract based on the revised budget. 

 

I delivered the objective of successfully opening on the Centre on the scheduled opening day within the revised budget. I was thanked with a handshake by the CEO Michael Smith, was appointed Centre Manager and ran the Centre for the first 12 months. ANZ stated this was the best engagement they had had with my consulting company.

 

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AMP Properties [Temp to Contract Example]

Situation

In 1992 AMP Properties owned and managed large-scale sites such as the Centrepoint Tower, shopping centres, etc. It took two administration team members one week to generate the monthly reports. I was employed as a temp to assist in this report creation.

 

Issue

The person I assisted resigned and there was no internal knowledge or process for generating the monthly reports. 

 

Resolution

Month 1: I assisted in the creation of the monthly properties report. It took a week to produce the report.

 

Month 2: The person I assisted in month one had resigned. I was re-engaged and produced the report in one week on my own. I noticed areas to streamline the process. 

 

Month 3: I was engaged again by AMP to produce the monthly report. This time I streamlined the process, completed the report in 3 days and documented the process over the next two days. At the end of the week, I delivered a manual for producing the monthly report so that they would never be caught short again.   

 

AMP was impressed by my services and ability to streamline and document the processes. They hired me to conduct the migration of data from the legacy systems to their new software. I was provided a corner office overlooking Circular Quey and the administration team that I reported to now reported to me. This could have caused animosity, but instead they came to me for advice. 

 

It’s all about the win / win.

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The Alley [General Manager Example]

Situation

In 2006 The Alley, a bar / music venue, was being built at the bottom of the prestigious ACDC Lane in Melbourne. The build was almost complete when the owner offered me the role of General Manager. 

 

The sum total of my experience in hospitality comprised 4 shifts behind a bar and 9 months waitering at a theatre restaurant. I accepted the challenge as I wanted to create something fresh in Melbourne: A hidden secret - a dimly lit red door at the end of the lane that led upstairs to clandestine, friendly, old-school funk, live music venue.

 

Issue

The clear issue was my lack of experience in an industry where bankruptcy was common. I was handed the keys when the bar was still being built, with the directive to ‘make it work’. I had no construction experience but managed the tradespeople. My hospitality experience was so limited that I had never even seen beer lines. I learned all aspects of running a venue but was still so green that I forgot to organise a till float on opening day.

 

I expected that people would just walk in off the street and did not realise the bar was in a precinct of ‘destination bars’ (bars where people knew exactly where they were going). 

 

Additionally, the owner had installed cameras over each till as staff theft was normal. I assured him there would be no theft while I was in charge,

 

Resolution

The bar was essentially empty for 3 months. I had no marketing budget, so turned to organic marketing. I employed street-cred DJs to play during the week and renowned underground street artists to extend the graffiti from ACDC Lane, into our stairwell. We hosted the International Comedy Festival, and I negotiated that The Alley become the official post performance city bar. We had a full page spread in the glossy Sunday Age magazine and were listed in the top 52 bars in Melbourne. 

 

I worked 60 to 70 hours a week and was able to have The Alley consistently net profitable within 8 months. There was zero staff theft during this time as my team were managed with respect and honour. I wrote a manual on managing every aspect of the venue, including recruitment and leadership, and handed the venue back to the owner. I then developed and sold an app that would enable venue managers to easily calculate net profit without the need to install and configure PoS systems.      

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