01 / Organization & operations
Opening a site is only the beginning.
A new classroom needs someone to prepare it. An operating classroom needs someone to keep it running. As our network grew, I worked to make those responsibilities distinct.
The operating problem
In the earlier model, people who opened new locations also kept managing those locations. Each new opening added an ongoing responsibility. The work of finding another site competed with the work of supporting the sites already open.
I came to see three different jobs: developing a location, running its day-to-day operations, and deciding how the network should change. Combining them made responsibilities harder to sustain as the number of sites increased.
My role and the team’s work
I pushed for the separation of these responsibilities and worked with the management team to put it into practice. The business development team handled instructor recruitment, venue preparation and coordination with the web and marketing teams. Once a site was ready, channel management took responsibility for its ongoing schedule and instructor and venue coordination.
The teams carried out the daily work. My contribution was to the organizational design, the implementation effort and the operating decisions across those teams.
How the handoff works
The handoff connects a prepared location to a team responsible for its continuing operation. Web and enrollment arrangements have to be in place, and the people taking over need the information required to schedule classes and coordinate with the instructor and venue.
Management then reviews site performance across the network, including whether class frequency should change. This creates room to assess the wider operation rather than making every decision through the person who opened the location.
What is in place—and what I am improving
Site development, channel management and management-level operating review now have distinct responsibilities. The division does not remove the need for coordination: a handoff is useful only when the receiving team can act on it.
My continuing focus is the connection between launch readiness and ongoing support: clearer instructions, usable reference material and feedback from the teams running the classes.
A first-person account of my work with the ALLCPR team. The diagram is illustrative. Network figures and source types are listed separately.