Remote Jobs – Interview with Our Operations Manager

A little bit over a month ago, Martin joined the IMWT crew as the Company’s Operations Manager and, starting his onboarding somewhere during the Holiday festivities, just added a bit more to the celebration.

Based in Sydney and having more than 6 years of experience in the field, Martin has slowly adapted to the intricacies of the day-to-day operations and is already getting to know the entire team.

Beyond our enthusiasm of having him provide us with more guidance, facilitating and validating numerous internal processes and procedures; we thought it would be useful to cast an honest view on how to proceed when starting a new (remote) role – case in point managing Operations. Since Martin has already started masterfully shaping an improved way of dealing with Operations, a huge shout-out is due as well!

It’s commonly known that the beginning is the hardest. What was the hardest thing for you to overcome when starting at IMWT?

Coming from outside of the marketing industry it has taken me some time to get up to speed with understanding what everything means.

To expand on this I struggled to understand the different streams within the company because I did not know how they each contributed to the business or at what stage in the process they were involved. Similar to this, I struggled with the terminology being used whether it was phrases or Acronyms for areas of the business, different tasks etc.

What motivated you into pursuing a remote job?

I enjoy the flexibility that comes with a remote role. You can largely dictate what your hours are and it allows me to live the lifestyle I enjoy.

What are your best tips on working remotely?

Designate a space for work and set yourself clear timings. It is very easy to get distracted and lose focus when working remotely but things such as a properly set up working space and designated start and finish times help you to be as productive and focused as possible when in working hours.

Set the hours that you receive notifications on your personal devices, so you do not get notified outside of your working hours, people need to have time to relax and unwind in order to be focused when they are working.

What is the most challenging part of your role?

Currently, it is gaining buy-in from the teams and getting them to dedicate their time to the task of process development.

There are processes that already exist within the business that are not always followed and a number of team members have questioned why spend the time documenting all the processes if the current ones are not being followed. I have devised a plan to overcome this and will be collecting personal accounts of how a lack of processes impacts daily life and when the processes have been developed gaining more insight of how the team then feel about processes.

What is the most rewarding part of your role?

Working with lots of different people from different areas of the world. I love working with people so it might seem strange pursuing a career in a remote environment but the people I enjoy working most with are ones who thrive in this situation, they share the same values and beliefs that I do.

Receiving feedback from the team when initiatives, ideas or processes have impacted and improved the way they are working and given them more time to complete their role.

Your best tips for someone looking to start out in the Project Management/Ops world?

Structure your week in advance by blocking time in your calendar and stick to what you have detailed. Allow some spare contingency time within that because things always change and rather than becoming stressed that you will not be able to deliver you will have some room to allow for the changes.

Get to know the team, everyone at IMWT is very friendly and happy to help, and during your role you will need their support to deliver on tasks and projects you are working on so developing those relationships early will help with that delivery.