As some of you know, I spent two years covering KBIS (The Kitchen & Bath Industry Show), first in Las Vegas and then Chicago. 400 interviews, at least 250 draft scripts and 85 packaged episodes later, I think it’s safe to say I know how to tell a story about a faucet.

My Operations Hat

More importantly though, I also know a thing or two about operations because if you know anything about production, you’ll know I didn’t pull all of that off alone. Technically, it was my 3rd official job in Los Angeles and although I’d originally been hired as a Field Producer and wasn’t supposed to join the team until the day before the show, I was asked to take over two weeks before take off when the original Supervising Producer experienced complications with her pregnancy.

That meant I had to hit the ground running, scheduling the plan of attack for 4 crews to handle 250 interviews over 3 days. It also meant dealing with the 20 personalities in Los Angeles and Vegas that I hadn’t hired, a few of whom had worked together a lot; trouble shooting in the field; and then convincing the Executive Producer to hire a pick-up crew on the fly because I knew we needed more staff. The good news is that I pulled it off and got hired back the next year to do it all over again but this time, my way.

We Are Wired To Expand

It’s not the first shoot where I handled teams this size (a couple have been larger) but I wanted to give you a sense of all of the moving parts of a production. So needless to say when I work with interior designers on the logistics and infrastructure required to strategically expand their firms, I’ve got my operations hat on.

Is the overall vision for your business tied into your staffing? Is it firmly planted in your mind’s eye as you’re conducting interviews? Is your interviewee more qualified than you in the role you’re hiring them for? (*Hint: they should be!) Are you hiring someone because you like them and have bought into why they need this job, or because they’re really going to support you in doing business at the level your firm stands for? Yes, they’ve definitely got to be a fit, but all the personality in the world isn’t going to be relevant when you can’t get things done, let alone take your business to the next level.

What are your biggest problems navigating operations?