{"id":21988,"date":"2015-07-13T05:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tested-neuron.flywheelsites.com\/?p=21988"},"modified":"2015-07-11T22:39:49","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T04:39:49","slug":"what-does-it-take-to-become-a-master-startup-coo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/what-does-it-take-to-become-a-master-startup-coo\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does It Take To Become A Master COO?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congratulations, you\u2019re a COO!<\/strong> Now what? <\/p>\n

If you\u2019re the COO of an organization, chances are you\u2019ve already demonstrated that you\u2019re an operations guru. You\u2019re the go-to person to get the job done. Your attention to detail is surpassed only by your ability to multi-task and you\u2019re the happiest making order out of chaos.<\/p>\n

But, as Marshall Goldsmith<\/a> said, “What got you here, won\u2019t get you there.\u201d Becoming an effective COO depends on letting go of what made you an operations phenomenon and embracing new skills like strategic thinking, delegation, and number crunching.<\/p>\n

The role of COO varies greatly from one organization to another. Here we look at some common archetypes and offer market insights and practical tools to help in each category:<\/p>\n

The Consigliere<\/h2>\n

This is a counselor, or advisor, to the boss. Not quite the same Mafia-style role as \u201cThe Godfather,\u201d but pretty darn close. For a CEO and COO to become a successful one-two punch they need to compliment each other’s skills and divide and conquer. The best leadership teams set a shared strategy which is then converted into actionable, operational steps by the COO.<\/p>\n

The best leadership teams set a shared strategy which is then converted into actionable, operational steps by the COO.<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Take time to get to know your CEO on a deeper level and establish a shared mode of communication. For a great way to connect on a human level, try the CONNECT questions game<\/a>. For your own career development, be authentic about what you want to accomplish and encourage your CEO to clearly articulate their expectations and how you can achieve them in his or her eyes.<\/p>\n

The Mechanic<\/h2>\n

There are dirty jobs, and someone\u2019s gotta know how to do them\u2014and that someone is you! The days of being in the trenches and performing day-to-day operations may be over, but this is where you draw on that knowledge. Your role is to ensure that you have the right people in the right roles with the right resources to achieve organizational greatness.<\/p>\n

Taking the time to map the processes in your business is critical to creating a self-sufficient team and identifying where costs can be eliminated. Six Sigma<\/a> theory, popularized by Jack Welch (General Electric) in the 90s, is still a great framework for operational efficiency. Many of these principles have since been adapted for modern-day startups in The Lean Startup<\/a><\/em> by Eric Ries.<\/p>\n

The Caretaker<\/h2>\n

Time to get in touch with your nurturing side and know thy people! Being a successful COO means taking care of your most valuable asset\u2014your work family. Make sure that you know what each member of your team wants to accomplish and how you can help get them there.<\/p>\n

The COO\u2019s mantra is \u201calways be recruiting.\u201d<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are many performance management templates out there but what really matters is the delivery. Here\u2019s an interesting article<\/a> from Stanford\u2019s Graduate School of Business on how to give and receive effective performance feedback.<\/p>\n

Remember that the COO\u2019s mantra is \u201calways be recruiting.\u201d Good talent is hard to find so when it finds you, get creative and find a way for them to add value to your business.<\/p>\n

The Bean Counter<\/h2>\n

Even if your organization has a CFO, you\u2019ll probably be responsible for setting up data management tools. The old adage that you can\u2019t manage what you don\u2019t measure still holds true.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t manage what you don\u2019t measure<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Work with your team to identify key performance indicators (KPIs), drilling down until you get to the real drivers of your business. I like the practical advice from these entrepreneurs<\/a> on this topic, or, for a more theoretical understanding of what you choose to measure, check out this Harvard Business Review article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the age of Big Data, there are also some powerful tools to track and visualize metrics such as Tableau<\/a> and Splunk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The COO wears many hats, which is what makes it a challenging and stimulating role. For more thoughts on what makes an effective COO, check out EY\u2019s \u201cThe DNA of a COO<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

We’ve also pulled together this cheat sheet<\/a> with the help of other COOs to provide a potential task list if you\u2019re new to your role. We\u2019d love to hear from you on what\u2019s missing from this list and share other useful tools in the comments section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The COO wears many hats, which is what makes it a challenging and stimulating role, but what are the steps to becoming a master COO?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":22025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[476,1510,1515,1516],"tags":[450,2078,2077],"class_list":["post-21988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-career","category-leadership","category-starting-up","tag-career","tag-coo","tag-nicole-ballin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Does It Take To Become a Master COO?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The COO wears many hats, which is what makes it a challenging and stimulating role, but what are the steps to becoming a master COO?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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