When people hear the word operations, they might think mostly about schedules, supervisors, inspections, and making sure work gets done. Those things are definitely part of my job, but over the years I have learned that there is another side of operations that you cannot ignore. That is the numbers.
As Regional Director of Operations at CLR Builders, I have responsibilities that go well beyond making sure a project is moving along. I have to understand what is happening financially, too. Profit and loss is part of my job, and I have learned that you can have a project that looks good on the surface while the numbers are telling you something completely different.
That is why I pay close attention to the numbers behind every project I oversee.
The Numbers Tell You What You Might Not See
When you are dealing with government contracts, there are a lot of moving parts. About 90 percent of our work involves government contracts, including work connected to the VA. There are different companies competing for these contracts, and the expectations are high.
You cannot just look at whether the work is getting completed. I want to know what it is costing us, whether we are staying where we need to be financially, and whether the project is performing the way it should.
Sometimes the numbers confirm what I am seeing in the field. Other times, they make me stop and ask questions.
Why did this project cost more than expected? Did something change during the work? Was there an issue with materials, labor, scheduling, or something else? Are we spending money in an area where we should be more careful?
Those are not always easy questions to answer, but I would rather ask them early than find out later that something got away from us.
My Job Is Not Just About Getting the Work Done
I have always believed that being responsible for operations means being responsible for the whole picture.
I oversee more than seven supervisors working in different areas, and there are inspections, day-to-day operations, training, follow-up, and a lot of communication involved. It would be easy to become so focused on getting through the daily responsibilities that you lose sight of the financial side.
I have had to learn not to do that.
There is a tradeoff in operations because you cannot make every decision based strictly on saving money. Sometimes spending more in one area can prevent a much bigger problem later. A cheaper option is not automatically the better option.
That is something I think about often.
If a decision saves money today but creates problems six months from now, did we really save anything? Probably not.
At the same time, you cannot simply spend whatever you want because you think it might make things easier. There has to be a balance between doing quality work, taking care of the people involved, meeting the requirements of the contract, and keeping the business financially healthy.
That balance takes experience.
What the Numbers Taught Me About Growth
I have seen firsthand what paying attention to performance can do for a company.
Before I became Regional Director of Operations, our company was ranked number seven out of 15 builders that were registered and approved to take government contracts. After I came into the position, we moved to number two in the first year and saw a 32 percent sales increase compared with the previous year.
The following year, we reached number one and continued showing approximately 42 percent sales growth year over year.
I do not look at those numbers and think they happened because of one thing. There were a lot of people involved and a lot of work behind those results. But the numbers gave us a way to measure whether what we were doing was actually working.
That is important to me.
It is easy to say that things are going well. It is different when you can look at the numbers and see the results.
Numbers Are About People Too
One thing I have learned is that numbers are not just numbers. There are people behind them.
When a project is running efficiently, that usually means supervisors are communicating, employees understand what is expected, problems are being addressed, and people are following through. When the numbers start moving in the wrong direction, there is usually a reason.
That is where training and developing people becomes important.
I spend a lot of time following up with supervisors and making sure they have what they need to do their jobs. Sometimes the answer to a financial problem is not cutting something out. Sometimes the answer is improving the process or helping someone understand their responsibility better.
That is why I do not separate leadership from financial performance. They are connected.
I Still Ask Questions About the Numbers
Even after years in operations, I do not assume I know everything. Every project has its own circumstances, and government work can bring its own challenges.
I still look at the numbers and ask questions.
Could we have handled this better? Did we make the right decision? Is there something we need to change before the next project? Are we getting the results we expected?
I think staying educated and continuing to read and learn is important for exactly that reason. Operations is not something where you reach a point and suddenly know everything.
For me, paying attention to the numbers is really about accountability. I want to know that the work is being done properly, that the people I oversee are supported, and that the business is performing the way it should.
After all these years, I have learned that you cannot manage what you are not willing to measure. The numbers do not tell you everything, but they tell you enough to make you stop, look closer, and ask the right questions. For me, that has become one of the most important parts of doing my job well.