If you have ever asked yourself, “what is a Chief of Staff (CoS) and how do I know if being one is right for me or my company?” This is the right episode for you!
Nova Chief of Staff Founder, Maggie Olson, covers topics such as:
✴️ The Chief of Staff role defined.
✴️ The difference between CoS, COO, and EA roles.
✴️ Soft and hard skills that make for an excellent Chief of Staff.
✴️ The current Chief of Staff landscape in today’s job market and how to stand out when applying for this role.
✴️ What industries you can find a Chief of Staff in.
✴️ How to identify if the Chief of Staff role is right for you or your company.
✴️ Resources to help build confidence that you’re on the right path to CoS.
✴️ And much more!
With so much ambiguity surrounding the Chief of Staff role, Maggie draws from her personal experiences of being a CoS, consulting with C-Suite executives, and coaching current and aspiring CoSs to help demystify this very important strategic role.
ABOUT MAGGIE
Maggie Olson is the Founder of Nova Chief of Staff, the premier destination for Chief of Staff education and development. As the first Chief of Staff to a president at a Fortune 40 company — who led a multibillion-dollar business with 5,000+ employees — Maggie built the president’s Chief of Staff model from the ground up. Maggie has 20 years’ experience leading large teams and has spent her career focused on both customer and employee experience at companies including T-Mobile, Nordstrom, and Starbucks. In addition to operating the Nova Chief of Staff Certification course, Maggie is a fractional Chief of Staff focused on helping mission-driven, for-profit startup founders scale their businesses quickly. In her spare time, Maggie loves spending time outside with her husband, their animals, and their 1-year-old, Max!
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THE LEADER ASSISTANT PODCAST IS PRESENTED BY NOVA CHIEF OF STAFF
Calling all Executive Assistants: Are you looking for a way to elevate your skills or earn that promotion you’ve been eyeing? Nova Chief of Staff’s online certification course provides you with the knowledge and confidence you need to stand out on the job. Whether you want to land your dream position or level up in your current role, Nova’s self-paced course gives you hands-on practice doing what Chiefs of Staff do every day.
Visit leaderassistant.com/nova to learn more and secure your spot!
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THE LEADER ASSISTANT PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP
To learn more about how you can join growth-minded Leader Assistants, check out our Leader Assistant Premium Membership for ongoing training, coaching, and community.
THE LEADER ASSISTANT BOOK
Download the first 3 chapters of The Leader Assistant: Four Pillars of Game-Changing Assistant for FREE here or buy it on Amazon and listen to the audiobook on Audible. Also, check out the companion study guide, The Leader Assistant Workbook, to dig deeper.
LEADER ASSISTANT LIVE EVENTS
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JOIN THE FREE COMMUNITY
Join the Leader Assistant Global Community for bonus content, job opportunities, and to network with other assistants who are committed to becoming leaders!
SUBSCRIBE
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Join my email list here if you want to get an email when a new episode goes live.
LEAVE A REVIEW
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please take 2 minutes to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Each review helps me stay motivated to keep the show going!
THE LEADER ASSISTANT BOOK
Download the first 3 chapters of The Leader Assistant: Four Pillars of Game-Changing Assistant for FREE here or buy it on Amazon and listen to the audiobook on Audible. Also, check out the companion study guide, The Leader Assistant Workbook, to dig deeper.
LEADER ASSISTANT LIVE EVENTS
Check out our constantly updated schedule of events for admins and assistants at LeaderAssistantLive.com.
JOIN THE FREE COMMUNITY
Join the Leader Assistant Global Community for bonus content, job opportunities, and to network with other assistants who are committed to becoming leaders!
SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to The Leader Assistant Podcast so you don’t miss new episodes!
You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pandora, and Stitcher.
Join my email list here if you want to get an email when a new episode goes live.
LEAVE A REVIEW
If you’re enjoying the podcast, please take 2 minutes to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Each review helps me stay motivated to keep the show going!
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00.100 –> 00:00:00.960
JEREMY: Howdy, friends.
00:00:00.960 –> 00:00:04.180
JEREMY: Welcome to episode 305 of The Leader Assistant Podcast.
00:00:04.180 –> 00:00:09.860
JEREMY: It’s your host, Jeremy Burrows, and I’m excited to share another Nova chat from my friend, Maggie Olson.
00:00:09.860 –> 00:00:16.540
JEREMY: In this chat, she talks all things Chief of Staff, and I’m going to cut right to the chase and let you enjoy it.
00:00:16.540 –> 00:00:21.660
JEREMY: So check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/305, and we’ll talk soon.
00:00:27.920 –> 00:00:35.520
<v SPEAKER_2>The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.
00:00:44.885 –> 00:00:54.545
JEREMY: Hey friends, the NOVA Chief of Staff Certification Course is one of the most popular professional development resources for growth-minded leader assistants like you.
00:00:54.545 –> 00:01:12.045
JEREMY: With dozens of templates, self-paced learning, multiple instructor touchpoints, and peer engagement, NOVA alumni walk away empowered and confident to level up as an assistant or even negotiate a promotion to a Chief of Staff role.
00:01:12.405 –> 00:01:20.365
JEREMY: With well over 500 students across 22 countries, NOVA is the top spot for Chief of Staff learning and development.
00:01:20.365 –> 00:01:23.125
JEREMY: Join the movement today at leaderassistant.com/nova.
00:01:25.065 –> 00:01:26.345
JEREMY: That’s leaderassistant.com/nova.
00:01:31.485 –> 00:01:35.005
MAGGIE: Today, we’re going to talk about all things Chief of Staff.
00:01:35.005 –> 00:01:49.585
MAGGIE: First, I’ll give you a little introduction to me, a brief background about me, about NOVA Chief of Staff and the Founder of NOVA Chief of Staff, premier destination for Chief of Staff education, development, coaching, consulting.
00:01:49.585 –> 00:01:54.325
MAGGIE: Then we will really just dive into all things Chief of Staff.
00:01:54.785 –> 00:02:03.145
MAGGIE: First and foremost, if we are not connected on LinkedIn, please connect with me on LinkedIn, maggi-olson, O-L-S-O-N-C-O-S.
00:02:03.145 –> 00:02:05.165
MAGGIE: Tara will put the link in the chat.
00:02:05.165 –> 00:02:17.425
MAGGIE: I post daily on LinkedIn about the Chief of Staff role, so it’s a really good place to start finding resources from me, from Nova, and also from the Chief of Staff community that exists on LinkedIn.
00:02:18.765 –> 00:02:23.405
MAGGIE: Then I think real quickly what I will do is share about Nova Chief of Staff.
00:02:23.405 –> 00:02:26.545
MAGGIE: A lot of you know Nova, you’re in our network already.
00:02:26.545 –> 00:02:30.685
MAGGIE: I launched the Nova Chief of Staff certification course last year.
00:02:30.685 –> 00:02:32.425
MAGGIE: It’s been almost a year.
00:02:32.425 –> 00:02:37.025
MAGGIE: It is a self-paced online student-led course.
00:02:37.125 –> 00:02:46.045
MAGGIE: It’s around 50 or 60 hours full of hands-on real-life practical examples of what a Chief of Staff does every single day.
00:02:46.045 –> 00:02:49.605
MAGGIE: We’ve got over 400 students in our course across 20 countries.
00:02:49.605 –> 00:02:53.585
MAGGIE: It’s been a resource that’s been received with open arms.
00:02:53.585 –> 00:02:58.385
MAGGIE: There’s been a huge hunger for hands-on resources in the Chief of Staff space.
00:02:58.385 –> 00:03:01.705
MAGGIE: And my background really led me to creating this course.
00:03:01.705 –> 00:03:07.945
MAGGIE: So I was most recently a corporate Chief of Staff at a large telecom company.
00:03:07.945 –> 00:03:09.605
MAGGIE: You can figure that out pretty easily in LinkedIn.
00:03:09.605 –> 00:03:11.325
MAGGIE: I’ll let you go over there and do some research.
00:03:11.325 –> 00:03:15.585
MAGGIE: But I was a buyer at Nordstrom previously for about five years.
00:03:15.585 –> 00:03:17.365
MAGGIE: I popped around to a lot of businesses.
00:03:17.365 –> 00:03:19.265
MAGGIE: I did get my MBA.
00:03:19.265 –> 00:03:24.685
MAGGIE: We can talk about if I think an MBA is necessary for the Chief of Staff role and why.
00:03:24.685 –> 00:03:27.465
MAGGIE: I don’t think it’s necessary for the Chief of Staff role later.
00:03:27.465 –> 00:03:30.145
MAGGIE: We can totally get into that if you’d like.
00:03:30.145 –> 00:03:37.225
MAGGIE: But through the MBA program, I was recruited into an executive development program at this company.
00:03:38.705 –> 00:03:44.445
MAGGIE: I ended up networking with executives at the company and moved into a Chief of Staff role there.
00:03:44.445 –> 00:03:50.525
MAGGIE: It was my first Chief of Staff job and it was the first Chief of Staff that this president had ever had.
00:03:50.525 –> 00:03:54.845
MAGGIE: I was tasked to figure out all the things.
00:03:54.845 –> 00:03:55.865
MAGGIE: What are the processes?
00:03:55.865 –> 00:03:56.705
MAGGIE: What are the tools?
00:03:56.705 –> 00:03:58.805
MAGGIE: How do we make the leader more efficient?
00:03:58.805 –> 00:04:00.365
MAGGIE: How do we drive business forward?
00:04:01.225 –> 00:04:18.025
MAGGIE: And I was privileged enough to build a team of about seven or eight of us on this back office team, doing things from business planning to business process to employee culture and engagements and communications and events and filling gaps and on and on and on.
00:04:18.025 –> 00:04:20.625
MAGGIE: So I loved the Chief of Staff role.
00:04:20.625 –> 00:04:26.565
MAGGIE: I really felt like it was the culmination of all the pieces of my jobs prior that I really, really liked.
00:04:26.565 –> 00:04:29.205
MAGGIE: And I’ll get into some of that as we go forward here.
00:04:30.665 –> 00:04:35.125
MAGGIE: And I left that job wanting to go into Chief of Staff Consulting, which we do at NOVA.
00:04:35.125 –> 00:04:37.545
MAGGIE: I do Chief of Staff Consulting now.
00:04:37.545 –> 00:04:43.985
MAGGIE: And I figured, you know, I’m going to, so I was talking to my mom, basically, back when I left my corporate role.
00:04:43.985 –> 00:05:01.325
MAGGIE: And I was talking to her about how crazy it was that I, that there are thousands of project management certifications out there in the world, all over the place and nowhere for a Chief of Staff to get hands-on practice doing the things Chiefs of Staff do every day.
00:05:01.325 –> 00:05:03.265
MAGGIE: And I’ll always thank my mom for this.
00:05:03.265 –> 00:05:05.505
MAGGIE: She said, well, why don’t you build it?
00:05:05.505 –> 00:05:06.605
MAGGIE: So that’s what I did.
00:05:06.605 –> 00:05:12.005
MAGGIE: I was pregnant, building a course, built it for about a year, had the baby, launched the course.
00:05:12.005 –> 00:05:13.105
MAGGIE: Here we are a year later.
00:05:13.105 –> 00:05:18.165
MAGGIE: My little guy is almost a year and a half and things are great.
00:05:18.165 –> 00:05:22.025
MAGGIE: It’s a new, I’m in a new world here as an entrepreneur, but I’m loving it.
00:05:22.025 –> 00:05:27.145
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff role really prepares you well for entrepreneurship, but that’s something that is in your future.
00:05:27.845 –> 00:05:32.665
MAGGIE: You don’t have to know that right now, but that’s a little bit about Nova Chief of Staff.
00:05:32.665 –> 00:05:34.805
MAGGIE: We’ve got a team of five full-time folks.
00:05:34.805 –> 00:05:36.545
MAGGIE: We support our students.
00:05:36.545 –> 00:05:43.445
MAGGIE: It’s the most important thing we do because it is, and we just love the space that we’re in, and we’re so glad that you’re all here.
00:05:44.665 –> 00:05:51.685
MAGGIE: Without further ado, one thing that I’m doing just for people who registered for this call.
00:05:51.685 –> 00:05:55.505
MAGGIE: Now, if you know Nova, you know that we do not do discounts.
00:05:56.105 –> 00:05:57.345
MAGGIE: We don’t discount.
00:05:57.345 –> 00:06:01.445
MAGGIE: The product is already well underpriced from market value.
00:06:02.025 –> 00:06:06.365
MAGGIE: There’s no need to, and it just doesn’t make a ton of sense for our business model to do it.
00:06:06.365 –> 00:06:17.345
MAGGIE: However, we are very, very, very excited to have 1200 people registered for this chat, and we wanted to do a little something special for the summer period here.
00:06:17.345 –> 00:06:31.105
MAGGIE: For two weeks only, if you are interested in enrolling in Nova’s Chief of Staff Certification course, we’re going to give $250 off to anybody who’s registered, anybody on this call, and we’ll send an email out with that link.
00:06:31.105 –> 00:06:35.045
MAGGIE: And at the end of this call, I will also share a QR code for that.
00:06:35.045 –> 00:06:36.905
MAGGIE: Tara will pop the link into the chat.
00:06:36.905 –> 00:06:39.625
MAGGIE: You have a couple weeks to figure it out if you need to talk to your leader.
00:06:39.625 –> 00:06:52.805
MAGGIE: Many people in our course are company funded with learning budgets and different things, but we also intentionally keep our prices, hopefully achievable for people paying on their own because we know that a lot of people do.
00:06:53.985 –> 00:06:54.465
MAGGIE: That’s that.
00:06:54.465 –> 00:06:55.905
MAGGIE: We’ll remind you at the end of the chat.
00:06:55.905 –> 00:07:00.505
MAGGIE: We’ll get the link in the chat here for you, but let’s get into it.
00:07:00.505 –> 00:07:08.965
MAGGIE: Feel free to pop questions in the Q&A in about half an hour, 45 minutes, we’ll get to those questions, and I’m just going to get going here.
00:07:10.485 –> 00:07:16.645
MAGGIE: Let’s first talk about my definition of the Chief of Staff role.
00:07:16.645 –> 00:07:27.065
MAGGIE: A Chief of Staff is the business leader’s strategic thought partner, who’s excellent at execution and allows the business leader to focus on what’s most important.
00:07:27.065 –> 00:07:32.765
MAGGIE: Those things are vision, strategy, growth, and leadership.
00:07:32.765 –> 00:07:36.865
MAGGIE: And I know we have a lot of business owners on this call too, who are interested in the Chief of Staff role.
00:07:36.865 –> 00:07:43.005
MAGGIE: So I will continue to try to kind of point different kind of articulations to you as well.
00:07:43.005 –> 00:07:47.985
MAGGIE: Just like an Executive Assistant, we all understand the term Executive Assistant a lot better than Chief of Staff.
00:07:49.365 –> 00:08:08.065
MAGGIE: Just like an Executive Assistant, a Chief of Staff supports the leader directly, but in a highly strategic role that at its core is focused on driving the leaders many and varying business initiatives forward quickly and efficiently, solving problems and removing roadblocks along the way.
00:08:08.065 –> 00:08:19.865
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff also often acts as a proxy for the leader, driving alignment across the leaders executive team and leading major cross-functional projects as needed for the leader.
00:08:19.865 –> 00:08:24.265
MAGGIE: Could be cross-company, could be cross-organization, major initiatives.
00:08:24.265 –> 00:08:33.965
MAGGIE: Now, before I get into the differences between EA and Chief of Staff, let’s talk about how they’re similar because both roles are key.
00:08:33.965 –> 00:08:42.185
MAGGIE: I think the other day I talked about how on LinkedIn, the Chief of Staff, like let’s say is the left hand and the EA is the right hand or vice versa.
00:08:42.185 –> 00:08:46.765
MAGGIE: It’s a strong partnership between the three, the business leader, the Chief of Staff and the EA.
00:08:46.765 –> 00:08:54.785
MAGGIE: And often, the most important relationship is the Chief of Staff and EA because the business leader is sometimes really hard to find.
00:08:54.785 –> 00:08:56.205
MAGGIE: So that relationship is really important.
00:08:56.205 –> 00:08:59.105
MAGGIE: So how are these two roles very similar?
00:08:59.105 –> 00:09:10.125
MAGGIE: Both roles, EA and Chief of Staff, exist to support a person versus their own scorecard or business category, like a COO, which I’ll get into in a minute, or market it.
00:09:10.125 –> 00:09:15.725
MAGGIE: Both roles, Chief of Staff and EA, are highly organized and planful in their work.
00:09:15.725 –> 00:09:20.405
MAGGIE: Both roles can be seen as the glue that holds an organization or team together.
00:09:20.405 –> 00:09:24.865
MAGGIE: Both roles have a major impact on the leadership team and the company.
00:09:24.865 –> 00:09:28.865
MAGGIE: And both roles, as I mentioned, can be kind of the right hand or left hand to the business leader.
00:09:28.865 –> 00:09:33.185
MAGGIE: It’s total trifecta, partnership of three.
00:09:33.185 –> 00:09:39.225
MAGGIE: Now, let’s talk about kind of the differences here between EA and Chief of Staff.
00:09:39.225 –> 00:09:51.505
MAGGIE: My definition of EA, and for all of the EAs on the call, I always say, you know your job a lot better than me, so forgive me if I’m not getting it exactly right, but this is where I’ve landed and I think it’s pretty strong.
00:09:51.505 –> 00:10:07.705
MAGGIE: A Senior Executive Assistant is a highly skilled problem solver, a strategic doer, and the logistical mastermind behind their executive’s calendar, travel, and expenses while acting as the go-to support leader partner for tactical items across the executive’s leadership team.
00:10:07.705 –> 00:10:18.845
MAGGIE: So a Chief of Staff almost never has the core responsibilities of an EA, and I described those core responsibilities as calendar, inbox, travel, expenses, logistics.
00:10:18.845 –> 00:10:27.045
MAGGIE: But often an EA will move into leading a few strategic projects or identifying problems and solutions to solve.
00:10:27.045 –> 00:10:37.965
MAGGIE: So there can be some crossover, but the two roles fundamentally are very different because those core EA functions are truly performed by EA versus Chief of Staff.
00:10:37.965 –> 00:10:43.285
MAGGIE: Now, when we’re talking about definitions, the last example I’m going to give is between Chief of Staff and COO.
00:10:49.112 –> 00:10:57.412
MAGGIE: I’m Maggie Olson, founder of NOVA Chief of Staff Certification, the first of its kind online course for aspiring and existing Chiefs of Staff.
00:10:57.412 –> 00:11:09.572
MAGGIE: With curriculum taken directly from on-the-job responsibilities, NOVA’s self-paced learning modules provides you with hands-on experience so you can feel competent and confident moving into a Chief of Staff-style role.
00:11:09.572 –> 00:11:12.592
MAGGIE: It’s the perfect next step for executive assistants.
00:11:12.592 –> 00:11:17.472
MAGGIE: Head to leaderassistant.com/nova to learn more, grab the syllabus, and enroll today.
00:11:23.092 –> 00:11:31.252
MAGGIE: A COO, for the business leaders on the call, a COO is actually like Chief Operating Officer.
00:11:31.252 –> 00:11:35.652
MAGGIE: It can be a pretty debatable cc position for a few reasons.
00:11:37.072 –> 00:11:39.932
MAGGIE: Operations exists in everything we do.
00:11:39.932 –> 00:11:41.592
MAGGIE: Marketing, heavy operations.
00:11:41.592 –> 00:11:43.072
MAGGIE: Product, heavy operations.
00:11:43.072 –> 00:11:44.332
MAGGIE: Sales, heavy operations.
00:11:44.332 –> 00:11:47.952
MAGGIE: When you say Chief Operations Officer, yes, they exist everywhere.
00:11:47.952 –> 00:11:52.292
MAGGIE: They’re usually awesome leaders, important and relevant to the company.
00:11:52.292 –> 00:12:01.132
MAGGIE: But it can be a little tricky just generally to talk about the wide understood definition of exactly what a COO is.
00:12:01.132 –> 00:12:07.732
MAGGIE: But we’re often asked and there’s often confusion around COO versus Chief of Staff.
00:12:07.732 –> 00:12:22.132
MAGGIE: The Chief Operating Officer is different than Chief of Staff because a Chief of Staff exists to support a person and the Chief Operating Officer exists to support the organization.
00:12:22.132 –> 00:12:32.632
MAGGIE: When we think about COO, they have their own organization, their own scorecard, their own problems to solve, almost their own kind of mini business, if you will, within the company, operational categories of business.
00:12:32.632 –> 00:12:39.532
MAGGIE: If you think about a org chart and you have a business leader and then you have a line under them with all of their direct reports.
00:12:39.532 –> 00:12:42.132
MAGGIE: The EA is off to the side reporting to the business leader.
00:12:42.452 –> 00:12:45.632
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff is off to the side reporting to the business leader.
00:12:45.632 –> 00:12:50.972
MAGGIE: The COO is one of the people that owns a major function of the business.
00:12:50.972 –> 00:12:52.712
MAGGIE: They have their own scorecard.
00:12:52.712 –> 00:13:00.372
MAGGIE: So the key difference is that the Chief of Staff truly exists to catch all the initiatives from the business leader and doesn’t have their own org.
00:13:00.372 –> 00:13:03.912
MAGGIE: They don’t have their own, you know, usually major category of business.
00:13:03.912 –> 00:13:20.512
MAGGIE: If they do, it makes it a lot harder for them to have the strategic impact and gap filling and ability to execute quickly and jump on lots of things for the business leader if they have their own whole kind of organizational responsibility, org-wide responsibility.
00:13:22.492 –> 00:13:32.292
MAGGIE: Now kind of pivoting a little bit here, as you know, proof of all of you being here, we are almost up to 400 now, this Chief of Staff role is growing in popularity.
00:13:33.292 –> 00:13:41.452
MAGGIE: Chiefs of Staff, and I guess, you know, CEOs are telling their friends, hey, my Chief of Staff is making my life easier, you should think about getting one.
00:13:41.452 –> 00:13:46.332
MAGGIE: The EA role is widely known as imperative.
00:13:46.612 –> 00:13:55.152
MAGGIE: If you’re a CEO, you should be focused on what I said earlier, vision, future growth, strategy, leadership, head up, looking forward.
00:13:55.152 –> 00:14:00.092
MAGGIE: Those admin tasks are going to pull your head down, you’re going to be in the operational, the day-to-day.
00:14:00.712 –> 00:14:02.312
MAGGIE: Same with chief of staff work.
00:14:02.312 –> 00:14:06.512
MAGGIE: Let’s say you have incredible initiatives that you’re wanting to go after.
00:14:06.512 –> 00:14:14.732
MAGGIE: CEOs should, and when I say CEO, I mean business leader, principal, like all the terms for whoever that business leader is that the chief of staff reports to.
00:14:14.732 –> 00:14:21.372
MAGGIE: That business leader should be in the vision space, should be in the idea space, and they should stay there.
00:14:21.372 –> 00:14:36.872
MAGGIE: They should have lots of ideas all the time, and the chief of staff exists to catch those ideas, to prioritize, to drive them forward, to execute on some of them themselves, to bring the kind of follow up back to the leader.
00:14:36.872 –> 00:14:41.472
MAGGIE: So the chief of staff role is growing in popularity because business leaders are talking to each other.
00:14:41.472 –> 00:14:44.612
MAGGIE: They’re feeling the impact of this strategic support.
00:14:44.612 –> 00:14:47.412
MAGGIE: They’ve had the admin support for a while now.
00:14:47.412 –> 00:14:53.272
MAGGIE: They need the strategic support so that they can stay in that looking ahead future vision space.
00:14:54.792 –> 00:15:06.592
MAGGIE: Now, what’s interesting about the chief of staff role, and I’m sure a lot of you can relate to this, is that it’s just like not well understood, and it’s not necessarily widely known either.
00:15:06.592 –> 00:15:12.772
MAGGIE: So the chief of staff role exists everywhere and nowhere all at once.
00:15:12.772 –> 00:15:22.512
MAGGIE: And what I mean by this is that you will find a chief of staff, and I’ve talked to chiefs of staff in every single industry that exists.
00:15:23.532 –> 00:15:28.852
MAGGIE: I’d love to find an industry that doesn’t have a chief of staff because they probably actually do.
00:15:28.852 –> 00:15:46.052
MAGGIE: You take sports, you take media, higher education, for-profit, non-profit, startup, big business, small business, health care, I mean, food and beverage, like the government, of course, military, it goes on and on and on.
00:15:46.052 –> 00:15:55.952
MAGGIE: And then you walk in to any of those places, like walk in to a business on the list that I just mentioned, and they may have never heard of the chief of staff role.
00:15:55.952 –> 00:15:58.072
MAGGIE: So it’s a bit of a conundrum.
00:15:58.072 –> 00:16:01.712
MAGGIE: It’s everywhere and nowhere all at once, but it’s growing in popularity.
00:16:03.532 –> 00:16:11.472
MAGGIE: Now, another thing that’s interesting is that the chief of staff role exists under many different titles.
00:16:11.472 –> 00:16:25.412
MAGGIE: So what’s helpful is to realize that you’re doing chief of staff work, to have resources and things like what we’re doing today, to bring awareness to the work that you’re doing and understand that the work you’re doing is chief of staff work.
00:16:25.412 –> 00:16:37.872
MAGGIE: But the other titles out there are things like business planning and business process and director of transformation and special assistant to the business leader.
00:16:37.872 –> 00:16:38.852
MAGGIE: The list goes on and on.
00:16:38.852 –> 00:16:46.792
MAGGIE: We just posted a link in our chat for a blog on our site that talks about this, but 20 plus different titles that chiefs of staff exist under.
00:16:47.332 –> 00:16:57.832
MAGGIE: And the easiest way to identify chief of staff work, like let’s say you work in a large company and you are in the C-suite, maybe you’re a C-suite EA.
00:16:57.832 –> 00:17:10.412
MAGGIE: The easiest way to identify a chief of staff, let’s say in a different division, maybe not in the C-suite, like maybe for a director or a VP, would be to look at the person that is doing the special projects for that leader.
00:17:10.412 –> 00:17:13.492
MAGGIE: Who’s putting together the all hands meeting decks?
00:17:13.492 –> 00:17:14.892
MAGGIE: Who’s running the all hands?
00:17:15.012 –> 00:17:21.472
MAGGIE: Who’s delivering the work that your leader might be asking of that VP?
00:17:21.472 –> 00:17:25.352
MAGGIE: Who’s the one actually doing it behind the scenes, getting approval from the leader, sending it to you?
00:17:25.352 –> 00:17:26.952
MAGGIE: Who are you interacting with?
00:17:26.952 –> 00:17:41.052
MAGGIE: The person that is kind of that right hand to the business leader and their role mostly exists to take on things from that leader, the doer, the operational, the strategic, the execution, that’s the chief of staff.
00:17:41.052 –> 00:17:47.552
MAGGIE: Now, along with a million different titles, there’s also many, many, many different leadership levels.
00:17:47.552 –> 00:17:53.512
MAGGIE: There’s different leadership levels of chiefs of staff, and there’s different leadership levels who have chiefs of staff.
00:17:53.512 –> 00:17:56.872
MAGGIE: So in this example I was just giving, directors have chiefs of staff.
00:17:56.872 –> 00:17:59.272
MAGGIE: They might be under another title.
00:17:59.272 –> 00:18:01.132
MAGGIE: VPs have chiefs of staff.
00:18:01.132 –> 00:18:03.052
MAGGIE: C-suite have chiefs of staff.
00:18:03.052 –> 00:18:06.972
MAGGIE: Entrepreneurs and startup founders have chiefs of staff.
00:18:06.972 –> 00:18:08.052
MAGGIE: It doesn’t mean they all have them.
00:18:08.052 –> 00:18:12.292
MAGGIE: It doesn’t mean they all know what one is, but you’ll find them in all of those places.
00:18:13.832 –> 00:18:18.912
MAGGIE: Okay, so, who would make a great chief of staff?
00:18:18.912 –> 00:18:21.232
MAGGIE: This part’s fun.
00:18:21.232 –> 00:18:27.552
MAGGIE: As I share this list, I often think about the people that I’ve worked with in my career that fit into this profile.
00:18:27.552 –> 00:18:28.192
MAGGIE: It’s easy for me.
00:18:28.192 –> 00:18:29.572
MAGGIE: People just pop into my head.
00:18:29.572 –> 00:18:33.532
MAGGIE: Well, Mallory over here and Kate over here and Travis here.
00:18:35.092 –> 00:18:49.192
MAGGIE: I’m assuming that it will also be easy for you to either identify yourself as this kind of profile who a great Chief of Staff person would be, and likely others that you work with too.
00:18:49.192 –> 00:18:51.532
MAGGIE: Who would make a great Chief of Staff?
00:18:51.532 –> 00:19:06.472
MAGGIE: You’re fast, you’re driven, you’re curious, you’re growth-minded, you have strong executive presence where you’re getting there, you’re achievement-focused, you have high emotional intelligence, you can build trust well.
00:19:06.472 –> 00:19:09.412
MAGGIE: You love working on breadth versus depth.
00:19:10.012 –> 00:19:12.212
MAGGIE: I like to call this expert generalist.
00:19:12.212 –> 00:19:16.832
MAGGIE: You’re really good at a lot of things and you like to do a lot of different things.
00:19:16.832 –> 00:19:28.972
MAGGIE: You’re a problem-solver, you’re solution-oriented, you learn quickly, you ask great questions, you’re collaborative, you’re an influential leader in your own way.
00:19:28.972 –> 00:19:32.412
MAGGIE: It doesn’t mean you have to have been a people leader before.
00:19:32.412 –> 00:19:38.552
MAGGIE: You want more responsibility and you love supporting senior leadership, learning a business from the top down.
00:19:39.832 –> 00:19:47.552
MAGGIE: Take that in for a minute, think about, oh gosh, that totally resonates with me or whoever that might be in your life.
00:19:47.552 –> 00:19:53.732
MAGGIE: But these characteristics, I have no doubt, make great Chiefs of Staff.
00:19:56.772 –> 00:20:00.612
MAGGIE: Where do Chiefs of Staff come from?
00:20:00.612 –> 00:20:02.172
MAGGIE: Do you need an MBA?
00:20:02.172 –> 00:20:04.332
MAGGIE: Do you need a consulting background?
00:20:04.332 –> 00:20:09.032
MAGGIE: Who’s the perfect person from a job profile perspective to then be a Chief of Staff?
00:20:09.032 –> 00:20:11.272
MAGGIE: Do you have to be a Chief of Staff before?
00:20:11.272 –> 00:20:18.892
MAGGIE: These are all very great questions that most of the answers no.
00:20:18.892 –> 00:20:20.172
MAGGIE: You do not need an MBA.
00:20:20.172 –> 00:20:22.172
MAGGIE: You do not need to have a consulting background.
00:20:22.172 –> 00:20:25.152
MAGGIE: You do not need to have been a Chief of Staff before.
00:20:25.152 –> 00:20:31.692
MAGGIE: Now, of course, there are job descriptions out there, job postings that require these things.
00:20:31.692 –> 00:20:35.792
MAGGIE: But that does not mean that you would not be a great Chief of Staff.
00:20:36.012 –> 00:20:38.172
MAGGIE: And I have student meetings.
00:20:38.172 –> 00:20:44.952
MAGGIE: What’s so fun about this job is, I’ve been speaking on this topic and doing a lot of work on this world for a long time.
00:20:44.952 –> 00:20:55.972
MAGGIE: And what’s so fun now about this job and the growth and the Chief of Staff role is, I have kickoff calls with all of our new students at NOVA a couple of times a week.
00:20:55.972 –> 00:21:10.212
MAGGIE: And on these calls, multiple times a week, I am hearing from senior executive assistants or people in other roles who are working with their leader and their leader is approving them moving into a Chief of Staff role.
00:21:10.212 –> 00:21:19.512
MAGGIE: And that’s either happening before they find NOVA’s course and then the course is helping them hit the ground running or they’re going through NOVA’s course and they’re building confidence and practice and hands on learning.
00:21:19.512 –> 00:21:25.692
MAGGIE: And then they’re having conversations with their leader about moving into a different role and they’re being supported.
00:21:25.692 –> 00:21:29.732
MAGGIE: So just know that it absolutely is happening, I think, two to three times a week.
00:21:29.732 –> 00:21:32.232
MAGGIE: I’m hearing from students telling me this, which is amazing.
00:21:33.172 –> 00:21:35.572
MAGGIE: And that’s just people in my network.
00:21:35.572 –> 00:21:40.112
MAGGIE: And I’m talking to CEOs a lot too, who are considering like, who is it, how do I move?
00:21:40.112 –> 00:21:41.532
MAGGIE: Like, what is it?
00:21:41.532 –> 00:21:44.232
MAGGIE: So an MBA.
00:21:44.232 –> 00:21:51.992
MAGGIE: I loved my MBA program, but nothing I learned in my MBA program is how I learned how to be a chief of staff.
00:21:51.992 –> 00:21:53.112
MAGGIE: Not at all.
00:21:53.112 –> 00:21:56.032
MAGGIE: I learned confidence for sure.
00:21:56.032 –> 00:21:59.152
MAGGIE: I learned that I could do hard things, like a mergers and acquisitions class.
00:22:00.632 –> 00:22:07.732
MAGGIE: I received this incredible access to a hyper local network in Seattle, where I’m from.
00:22:07.732 –> 00:22:15.472
MAGGIE: And I had an amazing opportunity out of my MBA to move into that executive development program I was talking about.
00:22:15.472 –> 00:22:17.632
MAGGIE: So those are really, really good things.
00:22:17.632 –> 00:22:26.612
MAGGIE: If those sound like things that make sense to you from a financial perspective and other reasons why you’d want to go get an MBA, absolutely do it.
00:22:26.612 –> 00:22:30.352
MAGGIE: But is it relevant and necessary for the Chief of Staff role?
00:22:30.352 –> 00:22:31.412
MAGGIE: I don’t believe so.
00:22:31.412 –> 00:22:33.372
JEREMY: No.
00:22:33.372 –> 00:22:43.532
MAGGIE: OK, so a couple of questions here, and then I’m going to dive into some of the tactical things that you do every day as a Chief of Staff.
00:22:45.672 –> 00:22:50.412
MAGGIE: Let’s see, first, how do you get into like a Chief of Staff role?
00:22:50.412 –> 00:22:52.612
MAGGIE: How do I move into a Chief of Staff role?
00:22:52.612 –> 00:22:56.672
MAGGIE: I always tell people the easiest way to do that is that you’re at your current company.
00:22:56.672 –> 00:22:59.532
MAGGIE: And that’s not like revolutionary advice.
00:22:59.532 –> 00:23:03.072
MAGGIE: Most people trying to get a promotion, it’s going to be easier at your current company.
00:23:03.072 –> 00:23:06.292
MAGGIE: You have access to leaders.
00:23:06.292 –> 00:23:10.532
MAGGIE: You have the ability to see all the jobs in front of you.
00:23:10.532 –> 00:23:12.212
MAGGIE: You have existing relationships.
00:23:12.212 –> 00:23:14.612
MAGGIE: You have time while you’re still employed.
00:23:15.672 –> 00:23:17.712
MAGGIE: So it’s always easier in your current job.
00:23:17.712 –> 00:23:25.032
MAGGIE: But like anything else, networking, conversations, talking about what you’re good at, talking about how you solve problems is the way to do it.
00:23:25.032 –> 00:23:28.712
MAGGIE: Start paying attention if you’re not already on LinkedIn.
00:23:28.712 –> 00:23:29.392
MAGGIE: Follow me.
00:23:29.392 –> 00:23:31.252
MAGGIE: Follow Clara Ma.
00:23:31.252 –> 00:23:37.212
MAGGIE: We’re always posting any open roles that we see for chief of staff positions.
00:23:37.212 –> 00:23:41.612
MAGGIE: If you’re thinking about externally, what could that look like outside of your company?
00:23:44.652 –> 00:23:54.272
MAGGIE: So I think real quick here, if you were a business leader and you’re on this call and you’re thinking, okay, cool, but do I need a chief of staff?
00:23:54.272 –> 00:23:55.192
MAGGIE: I just still don’t know.
00:23:55.192 –> 00:24:00.152
MAGGIE: It’s expensive and we can talk about salary for sure if you’d like.
00:24:00.152 –> 00:24:01.492
MAGGIE: But do I need one?
00:24:01.492 –> 00:24:07.112
MAGGIE: Here’s when an entrepreneur, a business owner needs a chief of staff.
00:24:07.112 –> 00:24:14.192
MAGGIE: It’s when you are feeling so bogged down in the day-to-day operational aspects of your business.
00:24:14.192 –> 00:24:26.812
MAGGIE: Your head’s down, you’re chasing follow-ups, you’re just executing operations like constantly non-stop, and you have not been able to lift your head up to look forward to think strategically in a while.
00:24:26.812 –> 00:24:37.512
MAGGIE: If you are not able to imagine a place in a few months at least, where you can go take a solo off-site and have some strategic planning time.
00:24:37.772 –> 00:24:44.112
MAGGIE: If that just feels so far outside of your wheelhouse right now, you probably need a chief of staff.
00:24:44.112 –> 00:24:55.992
MAGGIE: Now, you probably need an admin first, but if you already have one and you’re still feeling like you’re chasing all these operational tactical items, that is definitely when a business leader needs a chief of staff.
00:24:57.132 –> 00:25:01.132
MAGGIE: In terms of how do I level up in the chief of staff role?
00:25:01.132 –> 00:25:04.072
MAGGIE: How do I move into the chief of staff role?
00:25:05.752 –> 00:25:10.112
MAGGIE: I think there’s a lot of resources for you at novachiefofstaff.com.
00:25:11.332 –> 00:25:13.192
MAGGIE: We’ve got a whole free resource library.
00:25:14.172 –> 00:25:23.472
MAGGIE: If you’re looking to build confidence and get hands-on practice and deeply understand how to do the role, Novach’s course is a great option for you.
00:25:23.472 –> 00:25:44.492
MAGGIE: If you’re looking to start having conversations and having more impact in your job today, things like ensuring that you’re having one-on-ones with everybody on your executive’s leadership team is a good place to start asking important questions around their priorities and problems they’re trying to solve and things that are hard for them right now.
00:25:44.492 –> 00:25:57.752
MAGGIE: Starting to lift your vision to a more heads up strategic place, looking across the organization at what’s going on in the business right now.
00:25:57.752 –> 00:26:09.572
MAGGIE: If you’re looking to level up in your current role and you’re trying to add more impact in your job, let’s say you’re an executive EA, how can you make your boss’s job easier?
00:26:09.572 –> 00:26:12.132
MAGGIE: How can you get them more prepared?
00:26:12.352 –> 00:26:16.192
MAGGIE: Is there a process that briefs them for every single meeting they walk into?
00:26:16.192 –> 00:26:25.092
MAGGIE: Do they have a piece of paper that quickly tells them background and the relationship history and the sales history for a vendor meeting that they’re going into?
00:26:25.092 –> 00:26:28.632
MAGGIE: If that doesn’t exist yet, maybe that’s something that you can add impact in.
00:26:28.632 –> 00:26:41.032
MAGGIE: Maybe you can help be their executive project manager and catch all of their wild and fun and crazy ideas and help them prioritize and figure out who’s up and where things are going.
00:26:42.152 –> 00:26:45.412
MAGGIE: Talk to your leader about your goals, even if you’re not sure yet.
00:26:45.412 –> 00:26:49.792
MAGGIE: Hey, I’m considering, I’m thinking about, I’m hearing about this chief of staff role.
00:26:49.792 –> 00:26:51.472
MAGGIE: There are resources out there to help me.
00:26:51.472 –> 00:26:58.372
MAGGIE: Would you support me going and getting some hands on practice because it will show up for you in your day job.
00:26:58.372 –> 00:27:05.792
MAGGIE: Nova’s course is all about things that probably sound very familiar to you, but with the chief of staff lens.
00:27:05.792 –> 00:27:21.292
MAGGIE: So we’ve got executive project management, we’ve got creating briefs, strategic recommendations, throwing a complex off-site, ghost writing for your leader, throwing big events, presenting verbally and digitally.
00:27:21.292 –> 00:27:28.472
MAGGIE: There’s a lot of scenarios that are hands-on practice focus to give you the practice and confidence you need, if that’s what you’re looking for.
00:27:29.752 –> 00:27:35.992
MAGGIE: I think what I will do here is go into, what are the things that a chief of staff does every day?
00:27:36.912 –> 00:27:41.632
MAGGIE: What’s fun about the chief of staff role is that it changes all the time.
00:27:41.632 –> 00:27:43.372
MAGGIE: You’re always doing something different.
00:27:43.372 –> 00:27:45.452
MAGGIE: There’s no core functions of the role.
00:27:45.452 –> 00:27:50.812
MAGGIE: I mean, there are, but those can look very, very different depending on where you’re a chief of staff.
00:27:50.812 –> 00:27:59.512
MAGGIE: Unlike the purpose of the role, which is the same everywhere, which is to maximize your leader’s time, to support your leader and maximize their time.
00:27:59.512 –> 00:28:04.392
MAGGIE: The core functions of the chief of staff role, I’m going to say some buzzwords and then I’ll dive into them.
00:28:05.032 –> 00:28:20.272
MAGGIE: Business planning, rhythm of business, business process, executive project management and prioritization, employee culture, events, communications.
00:28:20.272 –> 00:28:24.452
MAGGIE: I could go on, but those are some high-level bucketed things.
00:28:24.452 –> 00:28:26.352
MAGGIE: Now, what do those mean?
00:28:26.352 –> 00:28:27.952
MAGGIE: Let’s take communications to start.
00:28:27.952 –> 00:28:29.352
MAGGIE: We’ll go backwards.
00:28:29.352 –> 00:28:45.192
MAGGIE: Communications, you may have somebody at your company that writes comms for your leader, but the chief of staff is usually the last person to approve, or maybe the first person to draft before it gets to the business leader.
00:28:45.192 –> 00:28:48.972
MAGGIE: Communications like a Juneteenth announcement to your company.
00:28:48.972 –> 00:28:51.552
MAGGIE: Is anybody talking to your company about Juneteenth?
00:28:51.552 –> 00:28:58.872
MAGGIE: Is anybody talking about a social event that happened, that your people want to hear from, hear from you from?
00:28:58.872 –> 00:29:13.152
MAGGIE: The chief of staff should be very connected to employee culture, very connected to the culture of the business and your people, and be able to give really important, sometimes tough, and relevant feedback to the business leader for how they should show up.
00:29:13.152 –> 00:29:19.232
MAGGIE: Often, communications is one way that a chief of staff really supports a business leader.
00:29:19.232 –> 00:29:21.412
MAGGIE: Events.
00:29:21.412 –> 00:29:23.952
MAGGIE: You may have an events team that you work with.
00:29:23.952 –> 00:29:31.612
MAGGIE: Obviously, an EA is very involved in throwing events from room booking, and food, and invites, and all of it.
00:29:32.192 –> 00:29:39.952
MAGGIE: But if you don’t have a chief of staff, usually, it’s the business leader that’s overseeing it and has to be really involved.
00:29:39.952 –> 00:29:41.132
MAGGIE: That’s not ideal.
00:29:41.132 –> 00:29:51.592
MAGGIE: Ideally, the chief of staff oversees an event from left to right, top down, in a project management style approach.
00:29:51.592 –> 00:29:58.452
MAGGIE: So who’s on rooms, who’s on food, who’s on agenda, who’s on all of the things?
00:29:58.452 –> 00:30:07.112
MAGGIE: And the chief of staff should at any time always have the most latest information if somebody were to ask, if the leadership team were to ask.
00:30:07.112 –> 00:30:14.432
MAGGIE: It’s ready to share, it’s ready to provide on a template or something like that.
00:30:14.432 –> 00:30:19.292
MAGGIE: The chief of staff has to be in the know about everything that’s going on, and they have to make sure it goes off without a hitch.
00:30:19.292 –> 00:30:25.932
MAGGIE: So they’re overseeing major events and highly connected to them, even if they’re not the one doing all of it.
00:30:27.192 –> 00:30:36.112
MAGGIE: Now, we were talking about employee culture, employee communications, all of the employee sentiment.
00:30:36.112 –> 00:30:43.872
MAGGIE: A chief of staff, as I mentioned, should be hyper connected to employee culture, so that they can give that feedback to the leader, how they’re showing up.
00:30:43.872 –> 00:30:52.092
MAGGIE: As you guys know, the higher a leader gets in leadership level, the less they hear the truth from their teams.
00:30:52.092 –> 00:31:02.912
MAGGIE: A chief of staff should be able to be that truth teller, and from an employee culture perspective, maybe that looks like you are not feeling super connected to your employee base.
00:31:02.912 –> 00:31:08.392
MAGGIE: So even though there’s an HR function, you want to dive deeper into insights from surveys.
00:31:08.392 –> 00:31:12.152
MAGGIE: You want to ask maybe a few additional questions on the survey.
00:31:12.152 –> 00:31:18.012
MAGGIE: You want to bubble up information in a better, different or more actionable way to your leadership team.
00:31:18.012 –> 00:31:26.152
MAGGIE: So the chief of staff might take on a huge projects, like the feedback surveys or like an employee newsletter, kick off and launch.
00:31:26.152 –> 00:31:29.492
MAGGIE: Now, they’re probably not writing the newsletter every single week.
00:31:29.492 –> 00:31:37.812
MAGGIE: The more projects a chief of staff takes on that are repeating, the less they’re going to be able to go and solve other problems in other places.
00:31:37.812 –> 00:31:45.412
MAGGIE: So figure out the problem, help create a solution, help launch it, get it off the ground and then figure out who’s the doer.
00:31:45.412 –> 00:31:53.972
MAGGIE: They should probably be involved from the beginning and make sure that there’s a process to continue all of that going on, so that the chief of staff can remain really, really broad.
00:31:55.752 –> 00:32:01.872
MAGGIE: As we talk about, we talked a bit about employee or excuse me, executive prioritization.
00:32:01.872 –> 00:32:07.992
MAGGIE: So that’s like, if you’re an executive on this call, you have a million ideas, where are they going?
00:32:07.992 –> 00:32:09.352
MAGGIE: Are they just in your head?
00:32:09.352 –> 00:32:10.872
MAGGIE: Who’s following up on them?
00:32:10.872 –> 00:32:12.632
MAGGIE: Who’s managing them?
00:32:12.632 –> 00:32:16.252
MAGGIE: Who’s feeding you information back about the progress?
00:32:16.252 –> 00:32:17.372
MAGGIE: Who’s leading some of them?
00:32:17.372 –> 00:32:18.252
MAGGIE: That should be the chief of staff.
00:32:20.012 –> 00:32:37.672
MAGGIE: Removing roadblocks, refining process, building process, identifying sticky, clunky processes that exist today that really should be refined and prioritizing which ones do we tackle, which problems do we solve.
00:32:37.672 –> 00:32:42.612
MAGGIE: And then I’ll end talking about business planning.
00:32:42.612 –> 00:32:46.652
MAGGIE: Rhythm of business is a term that is used often with business planning.
00:32:47.452 –> 00:32:55.932
MAGGIE: Now, your rhythm of business is really, when is your leader meeting with everybody that he’s meeting with?
00:32:55.932 –> 00:33:00.952
MAGGIE: Not one-on-ones, but major business driving meetings, so operational meetings.
00:33:01.232 –> 00:33:11.392
MAGGIE: When is the leader looking down at today, current operations, current product launch, employee statistics, those types of things?
00:33:11.392 –> 00:33:17.012
MAGGIE: When is the leader looking back, retro, past performance, last year, last month?
00:33:17.012 –> 00:33:18.412
MAGGIE: You learn a lot from looking back.
00:33:18.412 –> 00:33:19.452
MAGGIE: It’s important.
00:33:19.452 –> 00:33:21.512
MAGGIE: And of course, when is the leader looking forward?
00:33:21.512 –> 00:33:25.232
MAGGIE: When is the team doing long-term planning?
00:33:25.232 –> 00:33:33.892
MAGGIE: Five-year, maybe 10-year, depending on the company you work for, one-year planning, next month, upcoming product launch.
00:33:33.892 –> 00:33:38.992
MAGGIE: All of these meetings are referred to as the leader’s rhythm of business.
00:33:38.992 –> 00:33:43.292
MAGGIE: It’s truly the operating rhythm that is moving the business forward ideally.
00:33:43.892 –> 00:33:47.392
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff is responsible for this rhythm of business.
00:33:47.392 –> 00:33:52.552
MAGGIE: They should, and I like to talk about the first things the Chief of Staff should do.
00:33:52.552 –> 00:34:04.132
MAGGIE: The first thing a Chief of Staff should do, and if you haven’t done it yet and you’re Chief of Staff on this call, that’s okay, go do it now, is document your current state of your rhythm of business.
00:34:05.392 –> 00:34:07.332
MAGGIE: When are all those meetings?
00:34:07.332 –> 00:34:09.332
MAGGIE: We have some templates for this, actually.
00:34:09.332 –> 00:34:12.052
MAGGIE: novachiefofstaff.com and our resource library.
00:34:13.832 –> 00:34:17.672
MAGGIE: Our team will post the link here, but document current state.
00:34:17.672 –> 00:34:22.652
MAGGIE: If we cannot see things clearly, because as we know, leadership’s back offices, they’re messy.
00:34:22.652 –> 00:34:23.572
MAGGIE: There’s a lot going on.
00:34:23.572 –> 00:34:25.732
MAGGIE: They’re changing all the time and that’s okay.
00:34:25.732 –> 00:34:35.152
MAGGIE: But we have to document current state to be able to see things clearly and then to be able to make strategic recommendations for how to move forward.
00:34:35.152 –> 00:34:41.252
MAGGIE: Now that I’m seeing this, we actually don’t have a time that we’re talking about this really important product launch coming up.
00:34:42.072 –> 00:34:45.532
MAGGIE: In two months, and we probably should have a bi-weekly meeting for this.
00:34:45.532 –> 00:35:20.552
MAGGIE: You put a strategic recommendation together, you figure out who should be in the room, and often the Chief of Staff should be the person making sure that people show up prepared, that the meeting is facilitated well, and that all the follow-ups are captured, and not only captured, but they’re being acted on, that the folks who are tagged as responsible for whatever action item, that you’re then, as the Chief of Staff, following up with that person and saying, can I get an update there before the next meeting so that I can share, and then we can maybe send in advance where we’re at on this action item.
00:35:20.552 –> 00:35:22.272
MAGGIE: So that is Rhythm of Business.
00:35:22.272 –> 00:35:26.172
MAGGIE: It’s a huge function of the Chief of Staff role in most places, not all.
00:35:27.252 –> 00:35:33.392
MAGGIE: And I think with that, what I will do now is pause and have a sip of water.
00:35:33.392 –> 00:35:40.952
MAGGIE: I want everybody on the chat to think about if you have any questions, please to put them in the Q&A portion of this chat.
00:35:40.952 –> 00:35:43.112
MAGGIE: And I’m going to go through them in here in a second.
00:35:43.112 –> 00:35:51.452
MAGGIE: Okay, so can a program or project manager move into a Chief of Staff role easily and vice versa?
00:35:51.452 –> 00:35:57.212
MAGGIE: There is an incredibly strong thread of project management through the Chief of Staff role.
00:35:57.212 –> 00:35:59.112
MAGGIE: So that answer is definitely yes.
00:35:59.112 –> 00:36:09.292
MAGGIE: I think it’s about positioning your resume and positioning your articulation and your kind of talking points around the work that you do and how it would be applied well to the Chief of Staff role.
00:36:09.292 –> 00:36:16.932
MAGGIE: But yes, there’s a strong correlation for folks who are in program or project management right now thinking about the Chief of Staff role.
00:36:18.272 –> 00:36:23.532
MAGGIE: I would try to identify like who are the leaders that you’d want to work for your current company.
00:36:23.532 –> 00:36:24.972
MAGGIE: Do they have Chiefs of Staff?
00:36:24.972 –> 00:36:25.892
MAGGIE: Where are gaps?
00:36:25.892 –> 00:36:27.572
MAGGIE: Are there problems you can solve for them?
00:36:27.572 –> 00:36:29.412
MAGGIE: Maybe there’s little projects you can take on.
00:36:29.872 –> 00:36:34.212
MAGGIE: I never recommend trying to do both roles at once, like current job plus Chief of Staff.
00:36:34.212 –> 00:36:35.992
MAGGIE: You’re not recognized for that usually.
00:36:35.992 –> 00:36:37.072
MAGGIE: You’re not rewarded.
00:36:37.072 –> 00:36:38.172
MAGGIE: You’re going to burn out.
00:36:38.172 –> 00:36:39.892
MAGGIE: There’s too many reasons not to do that.
00:36:39.892 –> 00:36:43.852
MAGGIE: But maybe you have the bandwidth to take on a project and do it really well.
00:36:43.852 –> 00:36:51.292
MAGGIE: Definitely be networking and asking executives that you potentially would want to work for, what that could look like for you.
00:36:51.292 –> 00:36:52.952
MAGGIE: Good question.
00:36:53.012 –> 00:36:56.032
MAGGIE: And let me, okay.
00:36:58.332 –> 00:37:01.432
MAGGIE: Okay, so operations management, very similar answer.
00:37:01.432 –> 00:37:04.172
MAGGIE: We just got a question around, what about operations management?
00:37:04.172 –> 00:37:06.672
MAGGIE: I have a strong background in ops management.
00:37:06.672 –> 00:37:13.412
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff role is heavy in operations, process, efficiency, speed, execution.
00:37:13.412 –> 00:37:17.012
MAGGIE: You can’t do any of those things without strong operations.
00:37:17.012 –> 00:37:20.852
MAGGIE: There’s a lot of overlap between ops and Chief of Staff, for sure.
00:37:24.692 –> 00:37:28.552
MAGGIE: Can you please tell us how a Chief of Staff is better for entrepreneurs?
00:37:28.552 –> 00:37:33.912
MAGGIE: What are some key features in the Chief of Staff course that will help upcoming entrepreneurs?
00:37:33.912 –> 00:37:35.372
MAGGIE: This is a fun question.
00:37:36.992 –> 00:37:49.212
MAGGIE: At the end of the day, the easiest, quickest answer is that there’s no better way to learn how to run a business than learning how to run a business from somebody at the top who’s already doing it.
00:37:49.912 –> 00:37:59.112
MAGGIE: The coolest thing about the Chief of Staff role, in my opinion, is getting to be shoulder to shoulder with an executive running a company.
00:37:59.112 –> 00:38:03.572
MAGGIE: Whether they’re in a small company or a big company or they’re a business leader and not in a C-suite yet, that’s okay.
00:38:03.572 –> 00:38:07.272
MAGGIE: They’re still running their own mini businesses for sure.
00:38:07.272 –> 00:38:12.312
MAGGIE: There’s just no better way to learn how to run a company than from somebody who’s doing it.
00:38:12.312 –> 00:38:23.512
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff role is one of the only roles that exists that you are truly intentionally there to be next to this leader consistently, like all the time ideally.
00:38:24.792 –> 00:38:39.012
MAGGIE: On top of that, I guess from the Chief of Staff course perspective, the course goes through how to support a leader in the best, most strategic and tactical and organized and project management ways to make that leader the best they can be.
00:38:39.012 –> 00:38:49.532
MAGGIE: A future entrepreneur going through our course is going to figure out what kinds of things they need, what kinds of processes to run as a leader, who to look for in a chief of staff.
00:38:49.532 –> 00:38:55.472
MAGGIE: They’re going to get hands-on practice figuring out how to build these tools and support leaders.
00:38:57.992 –> 00:39:11.212
MAGGIE: I would love to get in front of students more, students like business school students or undergraduate business school students and talk to them about future entrepreneurship and the chief of staff role because you can tell I’m just so passionate about it.
00:39:11.212 –> 00:39:14.472
MAGGIE: There’s just truly no better way to learn how to be an entrepreneur.
00:39:15.452 –> 00:39:21.472
MAGGIE: Personally, I am a much better entrepreneur from my background as a chief of staff.
00:39:21.472 –> 00:39:26.232
MAGGIE: You learn how to, you learn what to focus on.
00:39:26.232 –> 00:39:27.372
MAGGIE: What’s most important?
00:39:27.372 –> 00:39:28.432
MAGGIE: What’s not important?
00:39:28.432 –> 00:39:32.752
MAGGIE: When to give a 10 second answer and when to talk for two minutes about something.
00:39:32.752 –> 00:39:39.232
MAGGIE: You learn that you have to be breath focused versus depth focused.
00:39:39.232 –> 00:39:41.832
MAGGIE: That you have to be able to dive in deep when you need to.
00:39:41.832 –> 00:39:50.292
MAGGIE: You definitely have to be able to dive in deep, but most of the time, if you dive in deep, it’s going to hinder your ability to be effective in the breath that you need.
00:39:50.292 –> 00:39:54.372
MAGGIE: So hope that helps, Miss Anonymous Attendee.
00:39:57.052 –> 00:39:57.412
MAGGIE: All right.
00:39:57.412 –> 00:40:01.392
MAGGIE: Do you have a funding request letter for the certification that we can present our organizations?
00:40:01.392 –> 00:40:03.032
MAGGIE: I’m happy to say the answer is yes.
00:40:03.032 –> 00:40:11.552
MAGGIE: So if you are looking to enroll in Nova’s course, you can head to our website in our resource library or actually at the bottom of the page too.
00:40:11.552 –> 00:40:12.392
MAGGIE: I think there’s just a link.
00:40:13.252 –> 00:40:24.172
MAGGIE: We have a drafted letter to help you position the Nova Chief of Staff course as an important learning opportunity for you that your employer could fund.
00:40:24.172 –> 00:40:27.372
MAGGIE: So, yep, head over to our site and you can find that there.
00:40:27.372 –> 00:40:27.812
MAGGIE: Okay.
00:40:27.812 –> 00:40:33.552
MAGGIE: So I already touched on why an MBA is not necessary to be a strong chief of staff.
00:40:33.552 –> 00:40:40.332
MAGGIE: And I’m just going to reinforce this here by going back to that list that I was talking about.
00:40:40.412 –> 00:40:45.432
MAGGIE: And let’s see if I can pull that back up without screwing up our view here.
00:40:45.432 –> 00:41:05.092
MAGGIE: Those characteristics, and I’m going to go through them really fast again, fast-driven, curious, growth-minded, executive presence, achievement-focused, high emotional intelligence, breadth-first-step, problem solvers, solution-oriented, graded a lot of things, learns quickly, asks great questions, collaborative, influential leader, wants more responsibility, loves supporting senior leadership.
00:41:05.092 –> 00:41:09.192
MAGGIE: None of those things have any weight on whether there’s an MBA.
00:41:09.872 –> 00:41:11.352
MAGGIE: I know a ton of MBAs.
00:41:11.352 –> 00:41:13.372
MAGGIE: I love my MBA friends.
00:41:13.372 –> 00:41:14.072
MAGGIE: They’re great.
00:41:14.092 –> 00:41:14.652
MAGGIE: MBA is great.
00:41:14.652 –> 00:41:16.812
MAGGIE: We talked about why earlier.
00:41:16.812 –> 00:41:25.332
MAGGIE: I would choose every single day, I would choose somebody with these characteristics that I just shared over just somebody with an MBA, credentialed with an MBA.
00:41:25.332 –> 00:41:28.812
MAGGIE: It doesn’t mean that job postings aren’t sometimes going to require it.
00:41:28.812 –> 00:41:30.332
MAGGIE: They are.
00:41:30.332 –> 00:41:38.012
MAGGIE: But there’s plenty that are not, and it’s happening widely, widely, it’s happening that folks are moving into chief of staff roles without MBAs or consulting.
00:41:38.852 –> 00:41:43.492
MAGGIE: More often than not, I would, I would assume.
00:41:44.652 –> 00:41:45.292
MAGGIE: Okay.
00:41:45.292 –> 00:41:47.412
MAGGIE: Yes, we will be sending a recording of this session.
00:41:47.412 –> 00:41:57.172
MAGGIE: So everybody registered will get a recording of this session with links, with the discount code for the next two weeks, which is $250 off our NOVA course.
00:41:57.172 –> 00:42:04.432
MAGGIE: We never, ever, ever discount, but we were really excited about having so many people and so much interest, 1200 people interested in this topic today.
00:42:04.692 –> 00:42:09.132
MAGGIE: So we’re doing like a little summer fun to week $250 off.
00:42:09.132 –> 00:42:14.892
MAGGIE: So you’ll get an email after that, after this with the video link and that information and a bunch of other resources.
00:42:15.912 –> 00:42:16.592
MAGGIE: Okay.
00:42:16.592 –> 00:42:19.272
MAGGIE: Let’s keep going here.
00:42:19.272 –> 00:42:30.232
MAGGIE: From a career growth perspective, is it best for an aspiring Chief of Staff to report directly to a C-suite or to the Chief of Staff?
00:42:30.232 –> 00:42:31.312
MAGGIE: Okay.
00:42:31.312 –> 00:42:33.352
MAGGIE: So there’s different structures that exist.
00:42:34.332 –> 00:42:53.072
MAGGIE: In a world where there’s already a Chief of Staff, like let’s say there’s a CEO and there’s a Chief of Staff, and there might be this Chief of Staff like I had at my previous company, had many direct reports, and then there might be another leader who has a Chief of Staff with no direct reports.
00:42:53.072 –> 00:42:54.172
MAGGIE: Where should you work?
00:42:54.172 –> 00:42:57.672
MAGGIE: Should you aim for the, working for somebody directly as a Chief of Staff?
00:42:57.672 –> 00:42:59.572
MAGGIE: Should you be on a team of Chiefs of Staff?
00:43:00.912 –> 00:43:06.332
MAGGIE: My opinion is that it doesn’t necessarily matter, especially if this is your first Chief of Staff role.
00:43:06.332 –> 00:43:09.812
MAGGIE: You will learn a ton reporting to the Chief of Staff.
00:43:09.812 –> 00:43:11.632
MAGGIE: You will be their doer.
00:43:11.632 –> 00:43:25.452
MAGGIE: They will be a little bit more focused on strategy and vision and future with that business leader, and they will be implementing new processes and building things and creating things, and you’ll be right there a part of it.
00:43:25.452 –> 00:43:42.112
MAGGIE: You will maybe not have that same relationship and communication directly with the C-suite leader or with the business leader, but you’ll hear all of it, and you’ll understand a lot about the priorities as somebody who reports to the Chief of Staff if you’re on a Chief of Staff team.
00:43:42.112 –> 00:43:44.872
MAGGIE: So there’s no downside here.
00:43:44.872 –> 00:43:47.432
MAGGIE: They’re both great opportunities.
00:43:47.432 –> 00:43:54.672
MAGGIE: And then as a next step, being a Chief of Staff that reports directly to the leader would be a really good next step in your career for sure.
00:43:55.652 –> 00:44:00.212
MAGGIE: Can you share the definition of Chief of Staff again?
00:44:00.212 –> 00:44:01.012
MAGGIE: Yes, I can.
00:44:01.012 –> 00:44:03.312
MAGGIE: And I’m guessing you’re not the only one that wants to hear that again.
00:44:03.312 –> 00:44:05.552
MAGGIE: So I’m going to read it.
00:44:05.552 –> 00:44:17.032
MAGGIE: A Chief of Staff is the business leader’s strategic thought partner who’s excellent at execution and allows the business leader to focus on what’s most important, vision, strategy, growth and leadership.
00:44:17.032 –> 00:44:33.052
MAGGIE: Just like an EA, the Chief of Staff supports the leader directly, but in a highly strategic role that at its core is focused on driving the leader’s many and varying business initiatives forward quickly and efficiently solving problems and removing roadblocks along the way.
00:44:33.052 –> 00:44:46.652
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff also often acts as a proxy for the leader, driving alignment across the leadership team, the executive team, and the Chief of Staff often leads major cross-functional projects as needed.
00:44:46.652 –> 00:44:51.652
MAGGIE: So often we find out about the Chief of Staff role before our leader does.
00:44:51.832 –> 00:44:57.572
MAGGIE: And part of the job of somebody wanting to move into a Chief of Staff role is educating your leader.
00:44:58.652 –> 00:45:08.472
MAGGIE: I don’t know the best way to do this besides trying to have conversations with them, pointing them to resources, maybe sharing the NOVA with them and how we can help.
00:45:08.472 –> 00:45:08.892
MAGGIE: We will.
00:45:08.892 –> 00:45:17.192
MAGGIE: We do have a number of kind of flyers around like the competencies gained and like different things like that in the course.
00:45:17.192 –> 00:45:20.112
MAGGIE: But yes, the Chief of Staff role is hard to explain.
00:45:20.252 –> 00:45:21.112
MAGGIE: It’s hard to define.
00:45:21.112 –> 00:45:22.932
MAGGIE: It’s kind of mysterious.
00:45:22.932 –> 00:45:23.952
MAGGIE: Follow me on LinkedIn.
00:45:23.952 –> 00:45:28.352
MAGGIE: I’m trying to demystify it as much as I can every day.
00:45:28.352 –> 00:45:31.352
MAGGIE: I’m a business operations manager doing a Chief of Staff role.
00:45:31.352 –> 00:45:38.192
MAGGIE: How can I justify the change in title or job description in my annual review to reflect my current responsibilities?
00:45:39.672 –> 00:45:41.692
MAGGIE: This is so common.
00:45:41.692 –> 00:46:02.532
MAGGIE: It’s really common to have a title like business operations manager and to either have the aha of like, oh, my gosh, I’m actually doing a Chief of Staff role, or like you already knew you were doing the Chief of Staff role, and you’re wanting the title and you’re wanting it to sort of just be agreed upon and that your job is reflective of that.
00:46:02.532 –> 00:46:14.112
MAGGIE: I believe that the most important thing here is that you now are aware that you’re doing the role because now resources open, you may have a little bit more of a roadmap for what you should be doing.
00:46:14.112 –> 00:46:17.472
MAGGIE: You might have some validation that you’re doing the right thing as a Chief of Staff.
00:46:18.152 –> 00:46:25.412
MAGGIE: Often, a company, we can’t control a company’s aptitude to use the term Chief of Staff or not.
00:46:25.412 –> 00:46:28.872
MAGGIE: Often, they may not like the term Chief of Staff.
00:46:29.112 –> 00:46:33.392
MAGGIE: It comes from the government and some people have an opinion about the term.
00:46:33.392 –> 00:46:37.872
MAGGIE: I think some companies prefer it only to be used in the C-suite.
00:46:37.872 –> 00:46:41.932
MAGGIE: Some companies just don’t really understand it or know it, many don’t.
00:46:42.612 –> 00:46:44.312
MAGGIE: We can’t control that, unfortunately.
00:46:45.092 –> 00:46:56.692
MAGGIE: What I would try to do the most is kind of what you’re asking here is how do you make sure that your job description and that you’re aligned with your leader on your actual tasks?
00:46:56.692 –> 00:47:01.832
MAGGIE: I think that’s just a conversation with your leader talking about resources and awareness to the role.
00:47:01.832 –> 00:47:04.732
MAGGIE: I’ll take this one step further to your resume.
00:47:05.592 –> 00:47:20.412
MAGGIE: If you feel genuine and confident that you are doing the Chief of Staff role and you feel comfortable saying on your resume, Chief of Staff style role or de facto Chief of Staff, and you can even ask your leader, are you okay with this?
00:47:20.412 –> 00:47:22.252
MAGGIE: You are in charge of what goes on your resume.
00:47:22.252 –> 00:47:23.552
MAGGIE: What are the five bullets?
00:47:23.552 –> 00:47:25.892
MAGGIE: We have to pick those.
00:47:25.892 –> 00:47:38.172
MAGGIE: Make sure that your job description is, if you’re looking to move into a Chief of Staff role in the future, make sure that your job description bullets are tailored to the Chief of Staff work that you have done.
00:47:38.172 –> 00:47:55.832
MAGGIE: Even if you’re doing 20 different things, and a lot of them sound business operations-y because that’s how they’ve been presented to you, if they’re actually Chief of Staff type work, make sure that they say that, make sure that it’s clear and review your resume for sure before going after a Chief of Staff role.
00:47:55.832 –> 00:47:59.732
MAGGIE: Okay, so is the NOVA Chief of Staff program accredited?
00:47:59.732 –> 00:48:03.352
MAGGIE: There is no accrediting body for Chiefs of Staff.
00:48:03.352 –> 00:48:08.972
MAGGIE: To work through this, I worked with, gosh, eight or 10 experts in the field.
00:48:09.032 –> 00:48:10.072
MAGGIE: You can go to our website.
00:48:10.072 –> 00:48:21.052
MAGGIE: The course has been endorsed, organically, genuinely endorsed, no partnerships here, nothing like that, by a number of leaders in this field.
00:48:21.052 –> 00:48:25.672
MAGGIE: Clara Ma and I, she runs Ask a Chief of Staff, a great membership community.
00:48:25.672 –> 00:48:35.752
MAGGIE: We are partners through 2024 in terms of how we partner in, what we recommend to each other, so it’s great to have her endorsement.
00:48:35.752 –> 00:48:42.032
MAGGIE: Jeremy Burrows, Leader Assistant as well, several other folks in this space we have endorsements from.
00:48:42.032 –> 00:48:52.992
MAGGIE: So we’re working to figure out governing body or advisory committee, something like that for accreditation, but it just doesn’t exist in the Chief of Staff space.
00:48:52.992 –> 00:48:56.192
MAGGIE: So that is the answer there.
00:48:56.192 –> 00:49:01.572
MAGGIE: Would love your thoughts on structural reporting into Chief of Staff for an EA.
00:49:01.572 –> 00:49:09.792
MAGGIE: Most EAs report into this person who’s the Chief of Staff, and there’s a lot of discussion on whether the structure should stay in place.
00:49:09.792 –> 00:49:17.652
MAGGIE: OK, sorry, that was a little hard to explain here, but the question is, what’s the reporting structure for EA, Chief of Staff and business leader?
00:49:17.652 –> 00:49:24.932
MAGGIE: I believe that most of the time, the best option is for the EA to report to the business leader.
00:49:24.932 –> 00:49:42.752
MAGGIE: The EA is intimately connected to the business leader’s calendar, and the calendar drives so much of the day to day that it kind of to me only makes sense that you are directly like leaders from a leadership perspective reporting into that business leader.
00:49:42.752 –> 00:49:48.212
MAGGIE: It doesn’t mean it’s the only way, but that’s how I’ve definitely seen it most successful.
00:49:48.212 –> 00:49:52.092
MAGGIE: EAs can report into Chiefs of Staff.
00:49:52.092 –> 00:49:56.612
MAGGIE: It can be a little bit tricky and a little bit sticky when it changes.
00:49:56.612 –> 00:50:04.012
MAGGIE: So if a Chief of Staff comes in and then the EA moves from reporting to the business leader to the Chief of Staff, they’re not going to love that.
00:50:04.012 –> 00:50:08.272
MAGGIE: You guys know that’s not ideal, but it can be done.
00:50:08.272 –> 00:50:12.152
MAGGIE: So I talk about the EA and Chief of Staff relationship a lot.
00:50:12.152 –> 00:50:43.572
MAGGIE: I think it’s very, very, very important that you each really intimately understand each other’s daily job functions, that you’ve sat down next to each other and spent a bit of time watching what each person does all day, especially the Chief of Staff, seeing how the EA runs in the executives world, and getting to know each other on a personal level from a Chief of Staff perspective, building buy-in and making sure you’re collaborative before you implement and execute.
00:50:43.572 –> 00:50:45.232
MAGGIE: Chiefs of Staff are like go-getters.
00:50:45.232 –> 00:50:46.152
MAGGIE: They’re driven achieving.
00:50:46.152 –> 00:50:47.992
MAGGIE: They want to make an impact fast.
00:50:47.992 –> 00:51:09.732
MAGGIE: I’m always telling new Chiefs of Staff to just take a deep breath, slow down, and the first three months or so to truly just focus on listening, building relationships and getting to know your people and what the problems are before you jump in and try to solve a bunch of problems.
00:51:10.952 –> 00:51:24.132
MAGGIE: What would you title a role at an early startup poised for growth that’s 33% Chief of Staff, 33% EA, and 34% General Operations Unknown?
00:51:24.752 –> 00:51:26.492
MAGGIE: Oh, this is a hard one.
00:51:28.632 –> 00:51:38.072
MAGGIE: I almost always don’t agree that a Chief of Staff and an EA should be in the same role.
00:51:38.072 –> 00:51:45.232
MAGGIE: The only time I think it might be okay is if it’s a very early startup and it’s short term.
00:51:45.232 –> 00:51:50.852
MAGGIE: A Chief of Staff cannot really be a Chief of Staff if they’re doing the core functions of the EA work because it’s a lot of work.
00:51:50.852 –> 00:52:04.512
MAGGIE: It doesn’t leave a lot of room to do the functions of a Chief of Staff and it doesn’t set you up from a positioning perspective and a credibility perspective to then be that influential strategic leader of a Chief of Staff.
00:52:05.552 –> 00:52:14.592
MAGGIE: I think as long as it’s short term, a blended role, I would call something probably more like business operations.
00:52:14.592 –> 00:52:15.692
MAGGIE: I’m not a titling expert.
00:52:15.752 –> 00:52:25.912
MAGGIE: I would go to our blog and the titles blog and check out the 2025 plus titles to see what you would pick there.
00:52:25.912 –> 00:52:29.192
MAGGIE: All right, let’s do a couple more and then we’ll jump.
00:52:29.192 –> 00:52:43.452
MAGGIE: As a Chief of Staff, if you have an EA to utilize for calendar, but your executive still wants you to be involved in how their time is used, what’s the best way to utilize the EA but ensure that the exec’s time is being utilized appropriately?
00:52:44.892 –> 00:52:54.312
MAGGIE: I think what this person is asking here is, how do you still have the oversight of everything when the EA is actually truly responsible for the calendar?
00:52:54.312 –> 00:53:04.692
MAGGIE: My suggestion, what’s worked well in the past for myself and folks I’ve talked to, is the EA is absolutely the driver and owner of that calendar.
00:53:04.692 –> 00:53:07.572
MAGGIE: It’ll just get messy if anybody else is in there.
00:53:07.572 –> 00:53:12.672
MAGGIE: But the Chief of Staff should have visibility settings, visibility permission.
00:53:13.272 –> 00:53:26.472
MAGGIE: And that’s because the Chief of Staff role is to see things really, really clearly to be able to understand what’s going on in broad strokes of that term across all categories for their leader.
00:53:26.472 –> 00:53:33.352
MAGGIE: And then to be able to make suggestions as to how the leader’s time is spent better.
00:53:33.352 –> 00:53:39.012
MAGGIE: So the Chief of Staff can still be a part of the calendaring scope, but it’s not the day to day.
00:53:39.012 –> 00:53:41.692
MAGGIE: It’s not the every little thing oversight.
00:53:41.852 –> 00:53:43.992
MAGGIE: It might be insights across a month.
00:53:43.992 –> 00:53:51.312
MAGGIE: So a good way that you could approach this is if your leader wants you to have some oversight into the calendar, it could be, okay, I’m going to deep dive the last three months.
00:53:51.312 –> 00:53:53.012
MAGGIE: I’m going to do a little time analysis.
00:53:53.012 –> 00:53:54.672
MAGGIE: Where are you spending your time?
00:53:54.672 –> 00:53:59.732
MAGGIE: Business meetings, strategic time, creativity and flow, travel.
00:53:59.732 –> 00:54:02.512
MAGGIE: And we’re going to put something together so that we have visibility.
00:54:02.512 –> 00:54:03.412
MAGGIE: You’ll share that with you.
00:54:03.412 –> 00:54:09.512
MAGGIE: And then I’m going to make some suggestions for how to get you more time in the areas that are most important to you.
00:54:09.632 –> 00:54:12.172
MAGGIE: Maybe that’s strategic or creative time.
00:54:12.172 –> 00:54:17.352
MAGGIE: So that’s how I would kind of approach the calendar conversation.
00:54:17.352 –> 00:54:17.932
MAGGIE: Okay.
00:54:17.932 –> 00:54:19.812
MAGGIE: Well, I think this is it, you guys.
00:54:19.812 –> 00:54:23.452
MAGGIE: We will go through the questions and see if there’s anything else we can add in the follow-up email.
00:54:23.452 –> 00:54:26.312
MAGGIE: But thank you so much for being here.
00:54:26.312 –> 00:54:33.752
MAGGIE: Please reach out to hello at novachiefofstaff.com if you have any personal questions around if Nova’s course is right for you.
00:54:33.752 –> 00:54:34.572
MAGGIE: We’d love to have you.
00:54:34.572 –> 00:54:38.132
MAGGIE: I’ll meet with each student a few times through the course.
00:54:38.312 –> 00:54:43.352
MAGGIE: And we’re getting amazing feedback and hope that you consider joining Nova.
00:54:54.213 –> 00:54:56.573
<v SPEAKER_2>Please review on Apple Podcasts.
00:55:03.009 –> 00:55:04.709
<v SPEAKER_2>goburrows.com.
