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Get Your Guide To Working With A Chief Of Staff Understand How A Chief Of Staff Can Transform Your Business As the CEO of a fledgling company, your time is consumed by setting strategy, growing the business, building your top team and fundraising. Optimising the workflow, that is, ensuring that the functions of your business […]

Right-hand man or woman. The one always beside the CEO, the president, or the military general. This person is none other than the Chief of Staff (COS) of an organization. In a complex organization, the Chief of Staff serves as the bridge between the chief executive and its direct-report team. The COS serves as a buffer, working behind the scenes making sure that the chief executive’s time is spent where it is most needed – in leading the company towards its goals. The chief of staff responsibilities vary from organization to organization, but they almost always involve linking the chief executive and the leadership team to the rest of the organization.

What does the chief of staff (COS) do? It depends on the needs of the organization. The short answer is that the best COS’s complement the skills of their leaders. Visionary leaders will need chiefs of staff with strategic focus and operational efficiency to ensure they make the most of a limited and valuable resource: their time.

When you hear the title Chief of Staff (COS), you probably think of a man or woman standing next to a country’s President. And you are not wrong! The most visible and prominent chiefs of staff are those serving highly visible and complex organizations such as governments and the military. The chief of staff job description is identified in connection to leaders of such organizations. It is also the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide-de-camp to an important individual, such as a president, senior military officer, or leader of a large organization.

Whenever you hear the mention of a “Chief of Staff,” John Kelly and Caroline Pugh’s images come to mind. They’re often seen as adept individuals accompanying presidents and high profile politicians. But these people are not constrained to politics or the military. Chief of Staff or CoS are increasingly getting popular in the corporate setting, […]