The reason you lie awake worrying about your team is not that you need a more elaborate task-tracking system. Lia introduces the Snippets Template, a lightweight weekly update tool that gives leaders a bird’s-eye view of priorities, wins, and blockers without micromanaging. This episode is especially useful for remote team leaders, small business owners, and anyone who feels perpetually out of the loop on what their team is actually doing.
This episode is part of the Team Operations, Systems & SOPs series. Browse all episodes →
Mic drop moments
“…operations aren’t boring. They’re legitimately the key to higher profitability.”
“…when those things aren’t clear, that’s when everything breaks down. That’s when you, as that leader or business owner, are in the weeds.”
“We want to instill the expectation to our team members that you’re expected to really think beyond the task.”
“…making sure your team members understand that their performance is tied to the success of the business. And when we do that, your team members think beyond the task.”
“…it’s not just about pushing things through the system faster. It’s about simplifying.”
Episode highlights
Operations have a reputation problem
When people hear “operations,” they picture bureaucracy and slow processes. Lia reframes it completely. Operations is simply how work gets done on your team: how decisions are made, how tasks are tracked, how work moves from one person to the next, and how things get approved. When those things are unclear, everything breaks down. You end up in the weeds, checking status at 3am, unsure who owns what.
The key is knowing your success metric first
Before fixing anything, you have to know what your team is actually optimizing for. Lia introduces this as the anchor for every operations decision. The goal is not to push work through faster for its own sake. It is to remove whatever is blocking you from reaching your core metric, whether that is speed, quality, or client outcomes.
Example 1: Personal injury law firm
Lia’s client runs a personal injury law firm where the critical metric is shortening “time on desk,” meaning the time a case moves through the firm. Faster case closure means the client gets paid sooner and the firm gets paid sooner. The fix: map the end-to-end workflow, standardize how tasks are labeled so anyone can pick up a case at a glance, automate where possible, collect client information upfront so nothing has to be chased down, and cut steps that are not adding value.
Example 2: Tech company
In tech, the success metric is shipping a product on time at quality. The operational challenge is alignment across cross-functional teams: design, product, engineering, and marketing all need to know what handoffs happen when, what “done” looks like, and when reviews must occur. Lia spent years in big tech clarifying exactly this. When people know what they are handing off and when, nobody is left out and nothing stalls.
Example 3: Marketing agency
In a marketing agency, the goal is engagement and conversion for clients. Here the operational lever is not just workflow, it is expectation-setting. You cannot itemize creative thinking in a task tool. What you can do is make sure every team member understands that their performance is tied to the success of the business, not just completing a checklist. When that expectation is set clearly, people stop waiting to be assigned the next task and start bringing solutions.
The six areas the Ops Playbook covers
Lia outlines the six key areas she addresses in the Ops Playbook, which is the foundation of The Unstoppable Team:
1. Priorities. Does everyone understand the priorities and how their role connects to them? 2. Onboarding. Can a new team member hit the ground running from day one? 3. Expectations and team norms. Is it clear what great looks like on your team? 4. Work tracking. Does everyone know the status and capacity of the team at any given moment? 5. Delegating decisions. Are decisions being pushed as far down the chain as possible with clear approval paths? 6. Performance. Does everyone understand how they are evaluated and how it connects back to priorities?
What better operations actually buys you
When these six areas are locked in, you stop being the bottleneck. You can take a vacation without being glued to your phone. You can hire managers to own what you used to worry about. You can focus on growing the business instead of surviving it. Higher profitability is not just a financial outcome. It means you delivered better results for your clients, and that is why everyone showed up in the first place.
Related episodes in this cluster
- Ep 230: Why your team problems are actually systems problems (and what to fix first). When your team feels chaotic, unclear, or constantly dependent on you, the culprit is almost never the people. It is the absence of simple, repeatable systems that tell everyone how to operate. Lia walks through the real cost of missing systems, two client stories with immediate results, and how to roll out new processes so your team gets bought in from day one. This episode is essential for any owner who says they hate process but secretly hates the chaos more.
- Ep 215: Why your team seems entitled (and what is really causing it). When your team feels entitled, the root cause is almost never attitude. It is a clarity gap, and the fix starts with you asking what role you played in creating the dynamic. Lia walks through two questions every owner and leader should ask before writing off a team member, and explains how operational clarity through an Ops Playbook prevents these friction points from forming in the first place. This episode is most useful for founders, small business owners, and managers who feel like they are constantly negotiating with their teams.
- Ep 198: Why your team asked for training but still won’t show up (and how to fix it). When team members ask for development but skip the training you built, it usually comes down to three fixable problems: they feel too stretched to step away, leaders are not modeling that the training matters, and the content itself has not earned their trust yet. Lia walks through each obstacle and gives you concrete language and moves to address all three before your next training. This episode is especially useful for business owners, HR leaders, and team leads who have already invested in development and watched the room stay empty.
- Ep 177: How to stop waking up at 3am worried about your team (and what to do instead). The reason you lie awake worrying about your team is not that you need a more elaborate task-tracking system. Lia introduces the Snippets Template, a lightweight weekly update tool that gives leaders a bird’s-eye view of priorities, wins, and blockers without micromanaging. This episode is especially useful for remote team leaders, small business owners, and anyone who feels perpetually out of the loop on what their team is actually doing.
Want to go deeper?
The Ops Playbook. Systems and SOPs for teams that need to scale without breaking.
Full transcript (click to expand)
We can’t have everything figured out and itemized in whatever tool we’re using. We want to instill the expectation to our team members that you’re expected to really think beyond the task. Think on what’s going to really solve this client’s problem. How are we going to really reach the audience better? And so that’s done through expectation, having really clear priorities in your company that are spelled out, making sure your team members understand that their performance is tied to the success of the business.
And when we do that, your team members think beyond the task. Welcome to the Managing Made Simple Podcast. I’m Leah Garvin, your host and team operations consultant. Through this show and my signature Ops Playbook, I condense a decade of experience driving team operations in some of the most influential companies in tech to save you time, money, and stress. It doesn’t matter if you’re a business owner who realized that running a team isn’t as easy as you thought it would be, or a new manager looking to learn the ropes, or a seasoned manager ready to up their game.
Everyone is welcome to hang out with Managing Made Simple. From conflicts to feedback to delegating and more, we leave no stone unturned when it comes to what makes us love managing, kind of hate it, and everything in between. Let’s go. Entrepreneurs and business owners listening right now, we all started with big dreams, right? Freedom, impact, bringing our visions to life. But there’s a twist many of us didn’t see coming, that managing a team is the hardest thing about running a business.
And the words, because I said so, doesn’t work with children or our employees. Drawing on my team operations experience in big tech and with business owners, I realized we often complicate how work gets done more than we need to. That’s why I wrote The Unstoppable Team. It’s a playbook for easing the complexities of team management, showing you the how behind the what and why of your vision. This book’s about finding relief amid the chaos, injecting simplicity into tackling hard problems, and turning your team members into profit-generating machines, all without burning you or them out.
Kind of nice, right? So if you are ready to make this whole managing thing easier while scaling your business, head to leahgarvin.com slash the book or amazon.com and get your copy of The Unstoppable Team today. Welcome back to the show. Today, I am talking about something near and dear to my heart as a team operations consultant, and that is the fact that operations aren’t boring. They’re legitimately the key to higher profitability. And I’m going to go out and say that this is your key.
If you are finding, hey, I’ve hit a plateau with my business or I’m in a larger company and deliverables are getting missed and our work’s really not at the high quality it used to be, all of the problems in your business are related to gaps and opportunities. It’s always opportunities in streamlining and really fixing your team operation. Now, you may have a person in the role of operations manager or program manager or sort of overseeing a lot of this, which is awesome.
And if that’s the case, please forward this episode to them because they will find a lot of value in it. And if you don’t have a person like that, then I’m going to share some examples of how anyone in your team can really help streamline team operations. And of course, if you need support, and that is what I do, just give me a call, send me an email at hello at leahgarvin.com and we will get you figured out.
So why and how are they the key to higher profits? Well, first of all, why do I say that it’s boring? Okay, like I shouldn’t just say that out of the gate. But I think when we hear the word operations, we think process, we think bureaucracy, we think I don’t want to bog my team down and all this stuff and slow things down. And I think that the word has a bad reputation. A lot of the words that I share, like accountability, have a bad reputation.
But really, when I say operations, I’m talking about how work gets done on your team. So I’m working on thinking of a rebrand for that word. And I will share that as I think about it. But you know, this is the word we have right now, because this is what represents the day to day, you know, how the team operates, how folks get things done. So that’s what I mean by operations. I don’t mean kind of supply chain logistics.
In this example, I mean the team stuff, right? How we make decisions, how we track our work, how we hand work off from one person to the next, how we approve things, right? All of that is the operations that help your business run smoothly. And when those things aren’t clear, that’s when everything breaks down. That’s when you, as that leader or business owner, are in the weeds. That’s when you’re up at night thinking, gosh, I wish I knew the status of this project, but I don’t feel like I can ask that person again.
Or I need to know the status of this project right now. I’m traveling. It’s three in the morning, back where my team members are, and I can’t get ahold of somebody. Okay, that’s how you make sure everyone in your team really steps up to embody that ownership mindset. They’re thinking beyond the task. They are helping you grow the business. All of that comes when you have this operational stuff figured out. And I know it’s hard to figure that out when you’re in it.
When you’re in the business, it feels like, well, I thought I had all that. Why aren’t things going well? And so what I want to talk about today is actually how to recognize what to focus on here and how to get your team rallied around the right things so that you can reach higher profitability. So I want to share three examples of different kinds of businesses and maybe what they’re working towards so they know what to stream.
And a lot of this comes down to aligning around and how to figure that out. Well, I like to think about what is that key success metric that that team is working towards? So take, for example, I have a client that runs a personal injury law firm and in her business, the real success metric is shortening the time that a case is moving through her firm, because that means the faster that goes, the faster that client gets paid, the faster that client can get on with their lives and the faster the firm gets paid.
And so we want to shorten the time that case is on desk, as we call it. Now, how do we figure that out? Well, we have to look at the whole process end to end, because every single step that that case is going through, every phone call that’s made, every document that’s shared, every task that’s reassigned, all of that has the opportunity to make that timeline faster or slow it way down. So what I’ve been working with with this client is looking at the end to end system, hey, where are there opportunities to automate, to reduce the number of handoffs, to collect information up front from the client so that we know, hey, we don’t have to go back and chase things down.
All of that is creating operational efficiency that allows us to shorten that time on desk, again, meaning that client can get paid faster and that business can get paid faster. So that’s how you tackle a streamlining operations around workflow, right? We make sure all the tasks are labeled in the same way. So at a glance, we know the status of something. Anybody in the firm can pick up that ball and run with it. And we’re shortening the time at every step in the process, even removing steps if some aren’t necessary.
And at the end of that, we will find we are able to close out cases faster and get paid faster. OK, so that is an example of how that streamlining operations on the task workflow reaches higher profitability faster. Let’s look at a tech company. So I worked in tech for many, many years. And really what we were striving towards from the success metric was shipping a product on time at quality, really being able to reach users with this awesome feature, whatever we’re launching.
And when we’re trying to ship a product at quality and on time, a lot of that comes to really aligning the different cross-functional partners and folks that have to work with this product. So that means getting design and product and engineering and marketing on the same page, talking about what handoffs need to be made when, making sure everyone’s clear on what done looks like, what reviews have to happen when. So working in tech, that was a lot of the stuff that I focused on as driving operations was, hey, do we know what meetings we have to have to approve this thing?
Is everybody clear on the status of the work? Do we know what has to happen, what reviews are before we have to finalize this? All of that is the streamlining of the operations is of clarifying and simplifying so that people aren’t waiting around, not sure what happens next. And as a result, we’re able to ship higher quality products because people are all have the ability to weigh in at the right times. No one is being left out of the process and things are on time because we know, oh, I got to be ready.
This is the handoff that’s needed. This is what I have to prepare for that. This is what I’m going to get reviewed. And then things move through the system faster. Did you know that you can hire me to get you out of the weeds and save thousands of dollars a month in your business? Oh yeah. If you’re a longtime listener of the show, then you’ve probably heard about the Ops Playbook by now. But did you know that this is a tool that makes it easier to run your company and gets your team members to take an active role in growing your business in just 90 days?
By establishing clear systems and lightweight processes for how work gets done in your team, you can join the countless other businesses I’ve worked with to save 30 plus hours a month every single month and finally go from working in the business to on the business. DM me playbook on Instagram or email me at hello at leahgarver.com. And let’s get started. Let’s take for example, a marketing company. Okay. In this case, you’re maybe working towards, let’s look at a third example.
Let’s say you’re working in a marketing agency. Maybe you’re running that business or you’re a senior leader within that business. And your real goal is engagement in the content, right? More eyeballs on the content, higher conversion for your clients. And so the streamlining operations in this case will come down to making sure that the team members that you have are looking beyond the task. Okay. Because we can’t have everything figured out and itemized in whatever tool we’re using.
We want to instill the expectation to our team members that you’re expected to really think beyond the task. Think on what’s going to really solve this client’s problem. How are we going to really reach the audience better? And so that’s done through expectation, having really clear priorities in your company that are spelled out, making sure your team members understand that their performance is tied to the success of the business. And when we do that, your team members think beyond the task.
As I said, they don’t just look at their checklist and think, okay, that’s done, that’s done, that’s done. They say, well, you know, my success in this team has to do with this business growing and thriving. And so how can I solve this problem? How can I do this task in such a way that it’s going to result in a better outcome for the client? And so now you have team members coming to you with solutions, not just problems.
They’re not waiting for someone to assign the next thing because they’re thinking, hey, I’m looking at this client thing like a whole campaign. I want to better their entire sort of portfolio of work. And I’m going to be thinking bigger and bigger and bigger. And as a result, your clients have better results and your business does better. So you see, with each of these examples, by deeply understanding, you know, what is our goal? What are we striving towards internally and for our clients?
And then what are the little operational efficiencies, or to use another word, the little efficiencies around how we’re getting work done, how we’re moving work through our team that can help us get to that result faster or get that result in a better way for our clients and then as a result for our business. So when we think about streamlining work, it’s not just about pushing things through the system faster. It’s about simplifying. In these examples I talked about, it’s removing steps.
It’s saying, hey, what’s blocking us from getting to this result faster? Do we have too many approvals? Do we have too many little checks that we have to go through? Are we all naming our tasks in different ways where someone can’t just take a look at it and know the status of something? Have we not made clear the incentives in our company where people think, well, if I just go down this list and get it done, then that is enough.
So this is all what I mean when I talk about the need to look across all of the different areas to figure out, really, where can we optimize? How can we get the best? And that’s why the system in the Ops Playbook that I talk about in my book, The Unstoppable Team, that’s how I help folks with the Ops Playbook program and what the special Ops Accelerator for Ops Manager is about, is sharing the system with you so that you look across six key areas.
You look across priorities. Does everyone understand what those priorities are and how their job links to those priorities so that they can have a part in achieving them? Is everybody clear on how we onboard so that from day one, your new team members can hit the ground running? Are all your expectations set around what it means to be a great employee in this team? And those team norms, are those all mapped out? We talk about work tracking, right?
What’s the status and capacity that’s on the team at any given moment? That includes level of detail of tasks. What task program to use? When things should be updated so that we always are on the same page. We talk about delegating decisions, right? Passing decisions as far down the chain as you can, but making sure you have clear paths for delegating, clear approval processes, everything like that. And last, we talk about performance, bringing all of this together to make sure that everyone understands how they’re being evaluated and sees how everything we talk about around achieving these priorities around expectations has to do with how they’re evaluated.
So all of that is about clarifying and simplifying and streamlining your team operations. And as a result, again, we achieve higher profitability because people aren’t waiting unsure. And for you, that leader, oh my gosh, you can sleep through the night. Again, I said, you can take that vacation without being glued to your phone or your computer. You can be focusing on building and growing the business and being strategic and thinking about new areas to even explore without feeling like, God, I got to be in every single meeting.
Otherwise things are going to move forward without me. You can hire managers to take on a lot of the stuff that you had been worrying about because you can take a breath of fresh air that, hey, this system stuff, this is figured out. Like the way that I want this business to be run, we’ve spelled that out. So now I can take a step back. So I hope you come away from this conversation seeing operations, they’re not boring.
It is the key to higher profitability. And if you need any support, this is my jam and I cannot wait to help you map all of this out to start simplifying your life and your business. If you need support, reach out at helloatleagarver.com. As I mentioned, I have a lot of different ways to support business owners in this space and team leaders, larger teams. I do workshops around all this stuff for small businesses. My ops playbook is a done for you system where I map all of this out for you.
If you have an ops manager, the special ops accelerator teaches your ops manager, my system for streamline operations. So they build out your ops playbook, but whatever it looks like, we will get you sorted out. So I am committed to helping you reach higher profitability no matter what kind of organization you’re in, because that’s when everyone feels like, yeah, all of the work we put in, we’re actually, it’s resulting in something. Because higher profitability, it means we have delivered better results for our clients.
We’ve delivered a better service, right? That’s what it means. And that’s why all of us are here, right? We want to do great work, but it also has to mean something at the end of the day. So I am here to help you get there. See you next time. That’s all I have for today. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Managing Made Simple podcast, where my goal is to demystify the job of people management so that together we can make the workplace somewhere everyone can thrive.
With that said, let’s spread the word. If you love this episode, please pass it along to someone who might benefit from it. See you next time.
Questions this episode answers
How do team operations actually increase business profits?
When the way work gets done on your team is clear, people stop waiting around unsure of what happens next, decisions move faster, and nothing falls through the cracks. For a law firm, that means closing cases faster and getting paid sooner. For a tech team, it means shipping products on time. For a marketing agency, it means better client results. The profit gains come from removing unnecessary steps, reducing confusion, and making sure everyone on the team understands how their work ties directly to the success of the business.
What does 'team operations' actually mean for a small business owner?
Team operations is simply how work gets done on your team. It covers how decisions are made, how work is tracked and handed off, how things get approved, and how expectations are set. It is not supply chain logistics or corporate bureaucracy. When these things are unclear, you end up in the weeds, checking in constantly, and unable to step away. When they are clear, your team can run without you micromanaging every detail, and you can focus on growing the business instead of surviving it.
How do I get my team members to think beyond just checking off their task list?
You have to set the expectation explicitly and tie it to how people are evaluated. When team members understand that their performance is connected to the success of the business, not just task completion, they start thinking about outcomes instead of checkboxes. Spelling out your company priorities clearly, and making sure everyone sees how their role links to those priorities, is what shifts people from waiting for the next assignment to coming to you with solutions and thinking bigger about client results.
What are the key areas a business owner should look at to streamline how their team operates?
There are six areas worth examining. First, priorities: does everyone know them and see how their role connects? Second, onboarding: can new team members hit the ground running from day one? Third, expectations and team norms: is it clear what great work looks like here? Fourth, work tracking: do you always know the status and capacity of the team? Fifth, decision delegation: are decisions being passed as far down the chain as possible with clear approval paths? Sixth, performance: does everyone understand how they are evaluated and how it all ties together?
How do I know if operational gaps are what's causing problems in my business?
If you are hitting a growth plateau, missing deliverables, or seeing quality slip, that is almost always a sign of gaps in how work flows through your team. If you find yourself unable to get a project status update without chasing someone down, or you feel like you have to be in every meeting or things will fall apart, those are clear signals. The problem is rarely the people. It is the missing system around how work gets handed off, tracked, approved, and connected to the bigger goals of the business.