Chief of Staff framework: how to get next-level business results
In a role without a standard job description, how does a Chief of Staff jump in and add value quickly?
Like any good former consultant, with a framework, of course.
CoS Framework Overview
Each organizational ecosystem is a complex grouping of people, communications, systems, and processes. You need a tool that evaluates both visible and intrinsic factors.
My framework assesses the ecosystem holistically and pinpoints bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and opportunities.
To operate as a next-level business, three things must be true.
Work and humans are aligned to outcomes.
People are marching in the same direction. Toward goals and priorities. The leadership team collaborates to achieve shared outcomes. There are consistent communications that reinforce priorities. All associates know what the goals are and how much progress is being made. People challenge work that isn’t aligned with a stated goal.
Systems are effective (and support the work of the organization).
There is a well-designed operating rhythm. Meetings and ceremonies happen in the right order. People show up prepared and discussions move work forward. Impediments are surfaced and dealt with swiftly. Finally, leaders know what is going on in the organization because data is flowing.
There is a Growth Culture.
Team structure, recognition, culture, and talent strategy are intentional. Team members offer constructive feedback to each other and the organization. Associate input is used in decision-making. People are encouraged to learn things outside their core roles. Failures are shared for the sake of learning. All associates are empowered to invest in their own growth and development.
All three work together to form the foundation of a next-level organization.
Get these right and you see step-changes in results, efficiency, and engagement. You have a team that is running toward the same goals, working together and growing along with the company.
When there is too much focus on one or two factors you see an imbalance.
Example 1: Highly aligned to outcomes without systems or growth means you get results but are inefficient and burn people out.
Example 2: Focus on people without outcomes and good systems means you have a lot of people who like working there (the snacks! the hoodies!) without business results.
What do these three things look like in practice? Let's dig into each category with a deeper explanation and case study.
Aligned to Outcomes
As a baseline for success, you want to know what you’re aiming for.
First, get clear on what you’re trying to accomplish.
In a thriving organization, people and work support the top priorities. This means you must first HAVE goals and priorities. One set of most important things for the entire organization.
Next tell people about the goals and priorities, over and over.
Then you need to tell people about the goals. Consistently, over and over, in different formats and channels. Every associate should know what the priorities are and how their work supports important outcomes (or challenge the work if it doesn’t!).
Finally, ensure leaders across the organization partner in service of priorities.
Lastly, no leader can reach their goals alone. The entire leadership team must actually work together to move initiatives forward. This is especially in today’s matrixed and networked organizations. When leaders partner, it sets the tone and the rest of the organization will follow suit.
Case Study LT Collaboration: When 15 leaders came together in one team, we needed to build trust as a foundation, then create a collaborative culture. I tested several tactics and narrowed in on a set of things that worked for that particular group.
Effective Systems
As a leader, once you set goals and priorities, you need to make sure your team is able to get the work done. You want to know what’s getting in the way of progress and how you can help.
There are three main components to an effective system.
First, you need an operating rhythm.
Operating rhythm is the set of meetings a team uses to select, schedule, and communicate about work. I’m not a proponent of one specific system — different strokes for different kinds of work.
What’s important here is to 1) have a system 2) make it consistent and 3) make it make sense. By ‘make sense’ I mean things happen in a logical order.
Example: local teams have their standups before the leadership team. And teams don’t schedule work before the LT communicates priorities, etc.
Up next is impediment busting.
Stopped work is frustrating and costly whether you are on a factory floor or building software.
In an efficient system, teams flag impediments as they arise and issues escalate until they find the person who can resolve them. There is a process for impediment ownership and stoppages are brief.
Finally, the most effective systems are eyes-on hands-off.
Leaders (or anyone in the organization) know what is going on and how a project or product is performing without stopping the work to ASK. Good data flows throughout the organization. Escalation thresholds trigger alerts early when things are a little bit off (so action can happen before they are really broken).
TL;DR: You need a set of meetings that support the type and style of work. A way to flag when things are stuck and get issues resolved. And a way to know what is happening without humans doing a lot of asking and telling.
Case study A New Way of Working: an organization was faced with the challenge of how to roll out both a mindset shift and a new operating rhythm simultaneously.
Growth Culture
All the vision and systems in the world won’t get you very far if the people can’t keep up. This is where growth culture kicks in.
What does a growth culture look like?
First priority: you have a people strategy.
Each moment of the associate lifecycle is intentional. None are left to chance. How people are recruited and onboarded, how teams are formed, how people are recognized and rewarded, how performance issues are dealt with. It’s a big bucket.
The gist here is 1) there is an intentional strategy 2) it flexes and evolves over time.
Next, associates give input and the organization listens.
Communication is not a one-way street. The org asks for input on strategy, customer pain points, and leadership. Associates are encouraged to challenge leaders for the sake of making the company and the products better. Their feedback is used.
Finally, radical learning is required.
People are curious. Cross-team learning and sharing is the norm. Failures are documented so others can learn. Every associate owns their development and growth plan. People are encouraged to look outside their core role and learn tangential skills. Anyone can access trainings that broaden their knowledge base.
An org with a growth culture evolves over time to meet the changing needs of the company. People are excited to grow with the company and don’t stand in the way of progress.
Case study People Leadership. Many orgs face the same problem. People are promoted into leadership because they are great at their individual contributor role. They are given little to no training and expected to just figure out people leadership. This causes associate engagement to falter and great talent to get frustrated.
Read how we turned that ship around by making a public $1M commitment to people leadership.
Assess your organization
Want to know how your organization is doing? Start with these questions.
It’s important to hear from both leaders and teams actually doing the work, they will have different versions of the same experience.
Example: A leader might think they nailed it on comms, but when seven teams tell you seven versions of goals you know something got lost in translation.
You aren’t looking for perfection in any category — this tool helps you identify the areas of highest leverage (aka the things that are most in need of attention).
Once you identify a category that needs attention, it’s time to experiment. As a Chief of Staff, it’s important to bring an open mindset and be willing to try things, keep what works, and quickly discard what doesn’t. Iterate until you find a set of solutions that works for the people and the organization.
Aligned to Outcomes
Goals & priorities
Does the org have clear goals and priorities?
Does everyone in the organization know what they are?
Do all initiatives ladder up to these goals (i.e. no zombie projects)?
Consistent communications
How often do you share goals and priorities with associates & stakeholders?
Are you using a variety of channels and media to reach the team (i.e. newsletter, blog post, video clip, slack message)?
Are you transparent about good and bad news?
Leadership team collaboration
What level of trust does the leadership team have with each other?
Do they partner independently of CEO engagement?
What are the biggest points of friction? Are they intentional or not? Example: friction between risk and product creates constructive challenge; friction between tech and product is less productive.
Effective Systems
Operating rhythm
How many hours are dedicated to ‘run the business’ meetings?
Does the system ladder up intentionally (i.e. do local teams meet before leadership team meets)?
When did you last start from zero baseline (and add back only essential meetings)?
Impediment busting
How does the organization flag impediments, are there cultural norms that prevent raising issues?
What is the ownership and follow-up process?
How quickly are critical stoppages dealt with?
Eyes-on hands off
What metrics are reported and at what frequency, is it a push or pull system?
How are leaders alerted to critical information? Is it automatic?
How frequently are metrics and thresholds updated?
Growth Culture
People strategy
Does your org chart support your top priorities and objectives?
Does promotion & recognition support (actual) company values
Is employee engagement strong (do you know what your employee engagement levers are)?
Have you adjusted people strategy for virtual & hybrid work?
Associate input
How often do you collect associate feedback (on leadership, goals, strategy etc)
What actions do you take as a result & how do you communicate them?
Are associates able to challenge (openly or anonymously?)
Radical learning
Are failures captured and shared across the org (for purpose of learning, not shaming)
Do associates own their development and learning plans?
Can all associates access training that helps them become holistically better (leadership courses, coaching, trainings outside job family)
Are you ready for your organization to reach the next level? Reach out today for a free Chief of Staff consultation!