Discover the job of Chief of Staff: a new position among your C-Levels

In a constantly evolving world of Tech and Innovation, organizational structures are changing to meet the complex needs of startups, scale-ups or unicorns. Among the recent developments in this area, a new role is emerging as the cornerstone of management teams: the Chief of Staff. This position, which seems discreet but extremely influential, brings a new dynamic to companies seeking to optimize their performance and agility.

In this article, Let's dive into the world of the Chief of Staff, by exploring his role, his missions, his profile and the key steps to integrate it strategically into your business.

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To do this, we interviewed Jonas Åman whom we had the chance to support in his recruitment as Chief of Staff within the French unicorn Back Market. In his professional career, Jonas has been able to successfully support various hyper-growth companies on the challenges of optimizing organizations, structuring and supporting change such as Spotify.

1. What is a Chief of Staff?

The Chief of Staff, literally the “Chief of Staff”, “Chief of Staff”, “Chief of Staff” or “Chief of Staff”, is much more than just an executive assistant. Its main function is to support the company's Chief Executive Officer or another member of the Codir for which he is the trusted partner. It is the guarantor of strategic and operational coordination within the organization. In Tech companies, this position is increasingly attached to the CTO, which is a strategic perimeter for innovative companies subject to high development and structuring challenges. Acting as a catalyst for communication, coordination and strategic execution, he sets the company's strategy to music, like a conductor, by working with the various departments. It allows the CEO or other C-Levels with whom he has a hierarchical relationship, to focus on long-term goals. It plays a multi-functional role that requires a holistic understanding of operations, an overview of strategic issues, and the ability to work with a variety of stakeholders.

🎙️ Testimonial from Jonas Åman - Chief of Staff:  

“For me, the most important objective of a Chief of Staff is to help the company derive maximum value from its team, its structure and the organizational constraints in which it operates. More concretely, this often means helping the organization to prioritize how to invest its time (i.e. sometimes helping leaders say no to ideas and initiatives), identifying, improving or even eliminating inefficient processes, and improving communication and transparency within the organization.” ^‍

2. When do you need a Chief of Staff on your team?

Hiring a Chief of Staff becomes relevant at different stages of growth for a specific company or department. If your business is at a strategic crossroads, facing major expansion, or in a situation where it is necessary to streamline operations, this role can be critical.

As a manager, if you are wondering if the time has come to include a Chief of Staff in your organization chart, here are four situations that illustrate when the answer is clearly YES:

1- You are no longer able to be present at all meetings or events where important decisions for the company are made. You identify the need for someone you can trust who is your eyes and ears when you can't be there.

2- You cannot individually monitor dashboards and performance indicators in connection with the growth strategies or long-term projects you are initiating. You live in fear that a critical problem won't be resolved or brought to your attention early enough.

3- Your business is suffering from a steep growth curve and needs to be actively monitored. You need someone to ensure that your strategies extend to all levels of your organization, beyond your leadership team.

4- You don't have time for deep thought and vision because you're in successive meetings and stuck managing operations.

🎙️ Testimonial from Jonas Åman - Chief of Staff:

“My role as Chief of Staff at Back Market was strictly limited to the Tech organization. The reason was that the company was entering a period of major growth (doubling in size in 12 months) and they needed to update the hiring and onboarding processes, the framework and guidelines for professional development, and the internal organization of the department to be able to manage such rapid growth. I worked on all of these aspects, often in close collaboration with HR and engineering managers and directors, to ensure that we were creating processes that were useful in our specific context.”

3. How do you create a Chief of Staff position in your C-Levels organization?

As you can see, the role of Chief of Staff can take on a variety of responsibilities. Each Chief of Staff position will be slightly different because, to be effective, it must be tailored to the needs of the business, management team, and organization.

Therefore, it is essential to clearly define the scope of the Chief of Staff position in order to facilitate its integration into your management team. The mistake would be that you did not take the time to clarify the job description and did not get buy-in from your management team in advance as to the integration of this new member.

In order to define clear expectations for this role, here are some ideas that will help you define the scope and responsibilities of the position:

• Project management: What are the projects for which he will be the referent, which ones he will manage and which ones he will delegate?

• Authority Level: What decisions will it make on behalf of the C-Level to which it is attached? What tasks will he work in partnership with members of the management team? What will it track and measure?

• Process changes: What information, projects and processes will be delegated to this function when they were previously managed by you as a member of the Codir?

• Evolution of the function: Is this position planned to evolve into another C-Level position in your organization? Or is it a long-term partnership between you and your Chief of Staff?

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4. What are the responsibilities of the Chief of Staff?

Once you know how to adapt the position of Chief of Staff to your organization, you can outline the position more precisely and incorporate responsibilities such as:

• Strategic coordination: The Chief of Staff will be able to play a key role in aligning strategic goals across the organization. It will act as a central hub to ensure that the various teams work together towards shared goals.

• Operations management: The Chief of Staff will be able to supervise daily operations and strategic planning in order to free up time for the person to whom he is attached so that he can focus on the long-term vision.

• Analysis and reports: The Chief of Staff collects and analyzes relevant data, providing actionable information to guide strategic decision-making.

• Change management: During moments of transition, the Chief of Staff facilitates the company's adaptation to change management by aligning teams with new strategies and by ensuring transparent communication.

This list is, of course, not exhaustive and it will be up to you to specify it according to your own needs and the context of your organization.

🎙️ Testimonial by Jonas Åman - Chief of Staff:

“During my time as Chief of Staff at Back Market, I was attached to the CTO and my peers were the engineering directors. Initially, I didn't have a team, but over time, I hired three people to help me manage the operational aspects of the Chief of Staff responsibilities (i.e. planning, budget work, communications, etc.). In terms of achievements, I would say that I mainly contributed to updating the recruitment process, the process for integrating new teams, and the internal professional development framework (i.e. career development paths).”‍

5. What are the qualities and skills needed to become a CoS?

Once you have clearly defined the tasks and responsibilities of this new position in your organization, you need to think about the right candidate profile. There are a few essential qualities that are always found in the Chiefs of Staff but you will also have to ask yourself what personality type, skills and seniority level will best complement your entire team already in place.

When it comes to basic qualities, here are the ones that seem to be essential:

• Curiosity : The role of Chief of Staff requires a good understanding of the operations, expertise and personalities of other members of the management team. The right person should be stimulated by these broad topics instead of being challenged.

• Resilience : The Chief of Staff position requires learning at a breakneck pace in high-stakes environments, with potential failures along the way. The ideal candidate should be rigorous, humbled, collaborative and adaptable.

• Communication : The ability to communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders is imperative to succeed in the role of Chief of Staff. It is necessary to be able to ensure concise, clear and pragmatic communication that facilitates transversal management within the C-Level stratum of the company.

• Passion : The Chief of Staff must have a deep desire for the success of the organization. He is a unifying profile, with very good relationships and a developed team spirit, with whom it must be pleasant and stimulating to collaborate, especially in moments of stress, exhaustion and frustration.

With regard to skills, the Chief of Staff must have in particular:

• A strategic spirit: The Chief of Staff must quickly acquire a solid understanding of the company's objectives, direction and risks. He leads the strategic management and to do so must be able to understand the why of the projects and not only the what.

• Collaborative project management capabilities: The Chief of Staff will have to build close relationships with all organizations in the company and be able to effectively manage relationships between different sectors. He must know how to work in a team, have great interpersonal skills and have solid managerial skills.

• Strong judgment and decision making : The Chief of Staff must be able to establish priorities to ensure the progress of projects and coordination between the various departments/sectors of the company. It plays the role of coordinator and decision support. He raises the right questions, knows how to propose solutions and anticipate needs.

• Strategic analysis and the ability to process massive amounts of information : One of the core functions of this position will be organizing, prioritizing, communicating, and summarizing data from across the organization in order to make the right decisions at the right time. Mastery of tools such as dashboards, Business Intelligence tools, reporting, etc. is required for the position.

Finally, and this is not always the easiest thing, the Chief of Staff must know how to manage expectations and sometimes power games within the management team.

🎙️ Testimonial by Jonas Åman - Chief of Staff:

“You need to be empathetic, problem solver, and listen. Have a good ear but don't take on too much work. Choose your battles wisely - what improvement would make the biggest difference? Find it and solve it - if you try to change everything, you will only overwhelm and slow the organization down. Also, help people help themselves! Your long-term goal should be to no longer be needed at all, otherwise you will inevitably create an organizational dependency on you! ”^‍

6. How do you collaborate with your Chief of Staff?

Synergy with the Chief of Staff is based on mutual understanding and fluid communication. Here are some tips for developing a successful collaboration:

• Communicate well about your role within your C-Levels team : Take the time to make sure everyone understands how this role will be most effective. What processes are going to change? What projects, data, and questions should be brought to the attention of your Chief of Staff that were previously handled directly by you?

• Set clear goals: Establish clear goals and expectations for the role of Chief of Staff to ensure joint leadership. Your needs, goals, and strategy may change over time as your business grows, but they should always be crystal clear to your Chief of Staff.

• Open communication: Be transparent in your exchanges to establish an environment of trust. Never cancel your one-on-one interviews, even if they only last five minutes because they will be the most effective conversations of your day.

• Ongoing reassessment: The roles and responsibilities of the Chief of Staff may change over time. Regularly reassess the relevance of its functions and adjust them accordingly.

• Mutual support : The Chief of Staff and the person to whom he is attached form a pair. They should support each other, complementing each other in their strengths and skills.

🎙️ Testimonial from Jonas Åman - Chief of Staff:

“For this role to work in the organization, you have to try to establish authentic relationships with leaders - and collaborators, people who make things happen, such as HRBPs, executive assistants, office managers, etc. Listen to their problems without offering solutions, but rather ask questions to help them clarify their thinking. If you can help them shine, the organization will be successful.”

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In conclusion, the Chief of Staff is emerging as an essential element among C-Levels for modern businesses looking for efficiency and strategic success. That's why it is becoming more and more essential in innovative hyper-growth companies such as startups, scale-ups or unicorns that have raised significant funds. This role not only supports the management team, but also strengthens organizational connectivity, stimulates innovation and facilitates the implementation of strategies. By carefully identifying the qualities needed and establishing clear lines of communication, businesses can exploit the full potential of the Chief of Staff to propel themselves towards a prosperous and sustainable future.

Do you want more advice? Skillink, as specialized recruitment firm, will be your best asset in helping you define, recruit and integrate a Chief of Staff adapted to your organization. Talk to our consultants about your recruitment project.