Operational functional staff personnel become strategic advisors

Operational functional staff personnel become strategic advisors to the leadership of the company or division. A good leader in Operations wouldn’t dream of making a decision without consulting his or her operational functional staff. Titles are illustrative here. For example, a VP of Human Resources compared to a Benefits Administrator. Over in Finance, we see the CFO as opposed to the controller.

Let me be clear that we need both types of functional staff for a business to be truly successful. The absence of operational staff doesn’t doom a business to failure, but it is almost a guarantee that it will not achieve all it is capable of. Those in Operations need the advice and counsel of operational staff so they can make better decisions, but they don’t always ask for it. Sometimes, they just need to be reminded to reach out to the very capable staff already on their team. But often, a functional staff member is able to offer only administrative support--not operational. This can lead operators to virtually ignore their staff. This creates a downward spiral of lower expectations of staff--which they will then live down to, thereby creating still lower expectations.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Employees at all levels and in all areas of the business benefit from continued development. Operators need to lead not only Operations, but functional staff as well. Often, staff stays in the administrative role because their superiors haven’t informed them of the opportunities they were missing. Additionally, there are conventions and meetings of associations that focus precisely on the professional career development of functional staff. (The Society of Human Resource Managers [SHRM] is one of the best professional associations. If your HR person hasn’t been there in a while, or does not attend at the local chapter level, why not make that happen? It can prove advantageous for both of you.)