What is Chief of Staff role?
You may have heard of the Chief of Staff role in popular movies and TV series. This role then became common among tech startups in the 2010s. But now, it is prevalent in most organisations, small and large, and across tech, HR, business. In this blog, we will unpack what the role is and what skillsets are expected.
What does a Chief of Staff (COS) do?
A Chief of Staff is usually someone who is a master of all trades and can work on different types of projects from strategy to tactical efforts to launching pilots to scaling a product. There are different flavours to the role depending on the type of company, the life stage of the company and the leader that you are a Chief of Staff to. I find that is the beauty of the role — that you can make it into what you want it to be. So, as a generalist, this is really a dream role to explore different areas and get a holistic understanding of the business
What is the career path like?
One usually gets into a COS role from strategy, program management roles or business operations roles. This is usually not an entry-level job and requires atleast 2 years of experience. After being a COS for few years, I have noticed that many transition to more senior roles such as CEO or function/business head.
What skills are required in this role?
The Chief of Staff will be required to represent the leader on many occasions and so, one of the most vital skills is strong communication skills. One also has to work with different teams and hence stakeholder management is another key skill as well. Another vital skill is to be able influence without authority since a COS would have to influence others to get projects moving. We will deep dive into these skillsets more in the upcoming blogs.
