Sara Morrison
This interview was recorded on September 19, 2019.
The following are some of the most notable excerpts from the interview:
Q: “Go ahead and introduce yourself.”
Sara: “My name is Sara Morrison. I am the Director of Operations at Praxis.”
Q: “What does your role normally look like? Like a day in the life of Sara as Director of Operations.”
Sara: “So, I always describe my role as having both a customer facing aspect, and also a behind the scenes aspect. So, in terms of customer facing, I am managing their application process. So, I talk to a lot of people who are either interested in applying to the program, or in the current process of applying. Including: interviewing those people, telling them about what it means to join the program, if they’ve been accepted. Then I also work with our participants on interview prep, as well, once they’re in the program. Then the behind the scenes stuff that I do is a lot of building processes. So, we have an application process full of forms and interviews and emails and text messages. So, when you get a text from Praxis saying: “Congrats, we’ve offered you a spot in the program!” The spoiler alert is that no one is there sitting on the phone and writing that text message out. That’s part of an automated system that we’ve built. I like to also say that: The way that you figure out pain points, and how to build processes that save your co-worker’s time, is you kind of have to stick your nose into everything that they’re doing. So, a lot of what I do is being a fly on the wall in meetings or just checking in with people and seeing what’s taking up the most of their time… Finally, I do a lot of tracking our success metrics.” Notes: Sara uses Excel to look at company data, and that a main part of her job is finding ways to resolve her co-worker’s pain points.
Q: “How does operations fit into a company? What would it look like without operations?”
Sara: “The definition that I like of operations is that it’s managing and supporting the innerworkings of the business to help it run efficiently.” Notes: A lot of companies will combine operations with customer service. The background processes of being in operations are similar to those of a stage hand in a play. Without this background work, the play would be in shambles. But to the first-time observer, the work is hard to pick out.
Q: “To you, what does it mean to be successful in an operations role?”
Sara: “I think the best way to be successful in operations is to be an optimizer.” Notes: It’s about more than just tools and customers, that you have to have a mentality of knowing what’s happening in the company and how to solve problems.
Q: “Are there any skills or personality traits that are well-suited to a role in operations?”
Sara: “I am biased and think that being a planner and a highly organized individual I think that makes you good at operations. Then, to really get that optimizer side, you really need to be insatiable when it comes to improving things.” Notes: There is no solving the problem and then relaxing. You must be hungry for finding ways to change things and make them function at higher rate.
Q: “I’ve read that operations can look completely different just depending on the company you’re at. Why is that?”
Sara: “Part of it depends on the scale of the company… A lot of it will absolutely depend on what the company is and what the company does.” Notes: Smaller companies often distribute operations tasks between employees, where larger companies likely have an entire department dedicated to operations. The purpose or function of the company will impact what exactly operations is trying to optimize.
Q: “For anybody that is looking to go into operations, do you have any advice for them?”
Sara: “I would say, learn tools that interest you, especially if they relate to the job you have now. Type stuff into Google. Type in the problems that you want to fix. See if there is a solution, see if there is a software tool that already exists. Practice building those tools yourself. It will prepare you well for doing it in a job.”
More about Sara…
If you want to hear more about Sara’s personal experiences in operations go ahead and listen to the recording of the interview!