I didn’t start out in operations, I’m not sure many do. I was an Engineering Project Manager for 10 years before I changed careers and became Head of Resources at Iriss to use my love of organisation to help people.
Like many who work in operations in the third sector, I am the only one in my organisation in this role. It can be lonely. It isn’t that your teammates aren’t lovely and inclusive, but there is a separation between you and the project team. Maybe you don’t go to the same meetings, maybe you are the one keeping them accountable with their (boring) admin, maybe you only interact with the project team at the monthly team meeting.
It’s not that the organisation isn’t trying to include everyone, it’s just the way the role is. You focus on keeping the organisation running smoothly so the project team can do the fabulous work. This also makes it harder to see the wonderful progress and feel like you, yourself, are making an impact in the sector.
Whether you have a focus in HR, IT, finance, ops, governance, admin, systems or organisational change, these roles are specialist roles, but you often end up picking up all of them to make things work. The roles are under-supported and the isolation can be seen in learning, development and assistance through the sector.
There are plenty of great support systems for developing leaders, coaches, etc. but I have been looking through my time in Iriss and I don’t see anything aimed at operations people in this sector. So let's create it!
I’m starting a peer support group for those people in HR, IT, finance, ops, governance, admin, systems or organisational change etc roles within the third sector. We can come together and share our learning, look for advice and have a wee rant if needed. We can be each other's support.
If this is something you would be interested in, you can sign up for further updates now, or if you want to chat about it - drop me an email and we will get things moving.
- Sam
