What is a Chief of Staff?

The corporate Chief of Staff is the private sector’s innovative response to rapidly increasing complexity and competition in business. The CoS impacts organizations by creating structure from chaos, serving as an impartial strategic advisor, and acting as chief-get-it-done-officer. Ultimately, the CoS handles all kinds of tasks not covered by an existing member of the executive team and advances initiatives without pulling team members far outside of their daily responsibilities. Each organization will utilize the CoS in a slightly different way, but the core function remains the same.

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What does a Chief of Staff actually do?

The Chief of Staff may look slightly different in each organization, especially when considering headcount, revenue, and industry differences. However, at its core the Chief of Staff does this.

The Chief of Staff does the following:

• Manages a portfolio of projects for the CEO
• Helps teams understand and execute on the CEO’s vision
• Helps prioritize projects to maximize impact
• Keeps CEOs in tune with what’s actually going on in the organization, and vice versa
• Manages business rhythms and cadence, such as leadership meetings and routine processes
• Provides analysis, recommendations, and options to the CEO and executive team when making decisions and solving problems
• Facilitates cross-departmental communication and execution
• Acts as a funnel and facilitator for the CEO, dealing with issues before they reach the CEO and making decisions, as needed, in the CEO’s absence
• Serves as a thought partner to the CEO and the team
• Offers strategic advice without an underlying agenda
• Turns CEO ideas into actionable plans and integrates them into the business

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What makes a great Chief of Staff?

The Chief of Staff should be a highly motivated self starter with deep communication skills, business acumen, analytical thinking, and the ability to “read a room,” so to speak. The Chief of Staff should be a critical thinker, problem solver, and thrive in uncertain conditions.

Core Competencies of The Chief of Staff:

(per Tyler Parris’ book, Chief of Staff)

• Results orientation
• Systems and process thinking
• Leadership
• Anticipation
• Political savvy
• Coaching
• Managed ego or servant leadership
• Adaptability and flexibility
• Interpretation or translation

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Benefits of The Chief of Staff

Common Benefits The Chief of Staff:

• Focus on the highest and best use of time
• Execute on projects that have no natural departmental owner
• Uncover hidden undertones, motivations, and happenings in your organization
• Make great, fully-informed decisions and execute on them
• Shorten your learning curve in a new company, industry, or product offering
• Ensure that the business continues to function while you are away
• Hire, develop, and retain good people

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How much does a Chief of Staff cost?

(per The Chief of Staff Association’s 2022 Compensation Report)

Let’s assume you’d pay a compensation package of about $155,000 for your full-time Chief of Staff.

That’s approximately $186,000 cost to your company.

Consider a Fractional Chief of Staff to reduce cost as much as 80%.

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Why should you add a Chief of Staff now?

Adding a Chief of Staff:

• Signals the importance of a project to your team
• Displays care for the overall health and growth of your business
• Keeps existing team focused on their day to day tasks
• Gets a start on the list of projects you haven’t gotten to
• Improves company culture
• Unlocks higher performance in your organization
• Alleviates additional executive burden
• and much, much more.

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