Mission
Managing the executive team's leverage, alignment, and communication.
Why this role exists
Responsibilities
- Direct support of the CEO
- Strategically manage leaders' time: Working with executive assistants, chiefs of staff look at leaders' external opportunities, including long-term travel and meeting plans, and assess their fit against priorities.
- Act as gatekeepers: Chiefs of staff ensure the CEOs' involvement in project or decision-making processes takes place at key times, where their input and authority are most needed.
- Manage internal and external communications: As partners to CEOs, chiefs of staff often draft company newsletters, reports, pitch decks, speeches, and presentations on their behalf.
- Project management:
- Oversee large, often cross-functional, organization-wide projects or initiatives; bring together important stakeholders and help drive decisions.
- Research, perform benchmarking, analyze data, and make recommendations.
- Propose the creation of new systems and processes to streamline operations.
- Help determine key performance indicators and update dashboards as needed.
- Hiring and Management
- Manage hiring process for leadership roles reporting to the CEO: In partnership with HR teams, chiefs of staff can take over the more administrative aspects of hiring managers. They may also draft and post job descriptions, outline interview processes, and screen candidates.
- Manage other members of the "office of the CEO": Chiefs of staff may hire and directly manage others in CEO support roles, such as executive assistants, special projects managers, speechwriters, etc.
- Support the Steering Group team in operating efficiently.
- Work with leaders to set strategic priorities: Chiefs of staff help identify areas where leaders should direct their focus, as well as metrics for success. They revisit those metrics regularly and evaluate progress against them.
- Prepare for and follow up on meetings: Chiefs of staff prepare leaders for upcoming meetings by ensuring they have all the information necessary to be productive and engaged.
- Events:
- Organize company retreats, conferences, and other special events.
- Lead the annual strategic planning process for the company by acting as a project manager and ensuring alignment with the CEO and leadership team.
Key performance indicators
Interaction with other roles
Benchmarks