Chief of Staff (CoS) or also know as ‘shadow’ adviser roles are becoming more prominent across the corporate world. Popularized by Intel, Amazon, PayPal and others; installing a Chief-of-Staff (CoS) is a proven way of getting more leverage from that finite resource. So, here are few slides on that topic. Starting with the approach, inside/out, problems you want to solve, archetypes and success measures.
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Changing role of the CEO office
1. The Changing Role of the CEO Office
Fix your operating environment before you fix your people
2. 2
Executive summary
Chief of Staff (CoS) or also know as ‘shadow’ adviser roles are becoming more prominent
across the corporate world. Popularized by Intel, Amazon, PayPal and others; installing a
Chief-of-Staff (CoS) is a proven way of getting more leverage from that finite resource. So,
here are few slides on that topic.
Starting with the approach, inside/out, problems you want to solve, archetypes and success
measures.
3. 3
Organizational Structure redesign approach
Inventory strengths and
weakness of current
organization and
opportunities for
organizational design
and performance
enhancement
Generate
design principles
Develop alternative
organization models
Evaluate alternative org.
models against design
principles
Hybridisation of
scenarios
Identify high level
organizational
consequences of
strategy and operating
model
• Review frameworks
for organization
design.
• No universal best
practice, but critical
for the organisation
structure to reflect
business strategy.
Organization design
frameworks
Evaluation of
design options
and integration
Strategic grouping
to derive a
configuration
options
Guiding
principles
Diagnostic,
benchmarks
and case for
change
1 2 3 4 5
Ensure maximum ownership of new structure by all members of the organization
Source: Agile Dynamics
Before you even get started on a project, you should first take a step back and plan out your
approach. Make sure that you review frameworks for organization design and select the fit.
4. 4
Archetypal ‘CEO Office’ structures
Changing role of the CEO Office
▪ Across all the CEO
Office organizational
structures profiled, three
different archetypal
structures emerge.
Caveat: Although most CEO
Office organizational
structures fall under one
archetypal structure, the
features of each function
will vary from organization
to organization.
CEO Office
Manager
Admin
Assistant 1
Admin
Assistant 2
Admin
Assistant…
CEO
Executive
Secretary
Chief of
Staff
Compliance/
Risk Analyst
Project
Manager
Admin
Assistant
CEO
Executive
Secretary
CEO
Adviser
The Administrator The Operator The Integrator
Differentiating Characteristics:
▪ Any business is going to have
issues arise that require the
attention of the CEO, but the
majority can be handled by an
effective CEO Office Manager.
▪ Having a trusted administrator
and a gatekeeper to triage
problems reduces distractions
and allows the CEO to focus on
what’s most important to the
company.
▪ Additionally, a good gatekeeper
will also bring pertinent issues to
their leader’s attention in an
organized, succinct manner.
Differentiating Characteristics:
▪ Planning and executing senior
management retreats, all-
hands meetings, and company
offsites.
▪ Tracking high priority initiatives
for the executive and identifying
any obstacles.
▪ Communicating initiative status
to the executive, pulling in other
executives or team members as
necessary.
▪ Connecting teams that are
working on similar initiatives.
▪ Pulling together and managing
project teams that require input
from multiple areas within the
company.
Differentiating Characteristics:
▪ Identifying and taking on ad hoc
strategic projects (for example,
executing key initiatives or
closing any operational gaps).
▪ Defining and researching new
ideas and business
opportunities.
▪ Analyzing investment
opportunities.
▪ Building out a new business unit.
▪ Providing decision support
through data gathering,
information analyzing, and
presenting considerations to
relevant stakeholders.
▪ Project managing board meeting
preparation and creation of
board meeting materials.
Chief of
Staff
Compliance/
Risk Analyst
Strategic
Program
Manager
Financial
Analyst
CEO
CEO
Secretary
CEO
Adviser
Admin Assistant
SME Team
Source: Agile Dynamics
5. 5
Opportunities and risks for each ‘CEO Office’ structures
Source: Agile Dynamics
Summary of Opportunities and Risks by Structure
The Administrator The Operator The Integrator
Opportunities
▪ Process efficiency through
reduced duplication and effective
in coordinating executive
calendars
▪ Consistent approach to administrative
processes in managing CEO’s activities
▪ Effective partnership with the
internal business stakeholders
▪ Process efficiency through
central governance
▪ Flexibility to respond to changing
needs of the CEO
▪ Flexibility, bandwidth and
requisite expertise will ensure
effective support in the budget
cycle, business reviews, or with
board meeting preparation
▪ Serving as a trusted advisor and
confidant to the executive
Risks
▪ Inability to effectively diagnose CEO’s
needs due to limited interaction with
the external stakeholders and requisite
expertise
▪ Reduced flexibility and speed of the
team to respond to CEO’s needs
beyond administrative tasks
▪ Duplication of processes if there is
limited central governance unclear
roles and responsibilities through
complexity of organizational structure
▪ Inconsistency of the project
management and possibility of
contradictions between the CEO Office
and enterprise PMO solutions
▪ Significant concentration of the
decision-making power within the CEO
Office
▪ Overlapping processes through limited
control and governance from the CEO
Office
▪ Failure to establish the team due to
lack of required competencies
Works Well
If You Are
▪ A highly centralized organization
▪ Business operates in the stable
environment
▪ A small- to medium-sized organization
▪ A mature/stable organization
▪ A highly centralized organization
▪ An organization operating in a small
number of well-established
markets/products
▪ A small- to medium-sized organization
▪ A mature/stable organization
▪ A highly decentralized
organization/conglomerate/holding
▪ An organization operating in multiple
markets/products through different
business units
▪ A large multinational/global
organization
▪ A rapidly expanding organization
6. 6
CEOs look in the mirror… and see the world
-100
-50
0
50
1006
5
4
3
2
1
0
-2
-1
ChangeinCEO
confidence(%point)
Global GDP growth
Change in CEO confidence
GlobalGDPgrowth
(constantprices,y-y%)
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
QUESTION: How confident are you about your
organization's prospects for revenue growth
over the next 12 months?
Source: PWC 2019
CEOs’ lower confidence could indicate a more subdued global economic growth than leading
forecasts
7. 7
The top ten external threats to business
Summary of Opportunities and Risks by Structure
2018 top ten threats 2019 top ten threats
1.Over-regulation 42% 35%1. Over-regulation
2.Terrorism 41% 35%2. Policy uncertainty
3.Geopolitical uncertainty 40% 34%3. Availability of key skills
4. Cyber threats 40% 31%4. Trade conflicts
5. Availability of keyskills 38% 30%5. Cyber threats
6. Speed of
technological change
38% 30%6. Geopolitical
uncertainty
7.Increasing taxburden 36% 30%7. Protectionism
8.Populism 35% 28%8. Populism
9. Climate change and
environmental damage
31% 28%9. Speed of
technological change
10. Exchangerate
volatility
29% 26%
19%
13%
10. Exchange rate
volatility
13. Climate change and
environmental damage
23. Terrorism
Source: PWC 2019
QUESTION: Prioritize The
Top Ten threats
8. 8
CEOs face issues with their own capabilities
Data Financial Data about Data about the Data about your Benchmarking Data about the Data about Data about
about your forecasts and your brand risks to which employees’ data on the effectiveness your supply the impact
customers’ projections and reputation the business views and performance of of your R&D chain of climate
and clients’ is exposed needs your industry processes change on the
preferences peers business
and needs
Gap between:
▪ Data considered critical/important for decision making
▪ Comprehensiveness of that data as currently received
15%
Comprehensive
21%
94%
89%
41%
31%
90%
87%
86% 84%
70%
66%
26%
23%20%
30%
23%
92%
35%
92%
24%
93%
22%
88%
29%
85%
18%
72%
17%
73%
21%
42%
16%
38%
17%
Critical/important
95%
QUESTION: Thinking about the data that you
personally use to make decisions about the long-
term success and durability of your business, how
important are the following?
2019 Critical/important 2019 Comprehensive 2009 Critical/important 2009 Comprehensive
Source: PWC 2019
9. 9
The problem statement blocks
Top Line Growth External Threats
Expand CEO’s
Bandwidth and
Resources
Change
Management
Groom
homegrown
talent
Data-Driven
Strategic Analysis
& Planning
Preserve and
Enhance The
Culture
Source: Stakeholder interviews and desk research
1 2 3
4 5 6
7
What problem/s are we trying to solve?
10. 10
Framework for determining optimal ‘CEO Office’ structure
Perspective Key Questions
Financial
1. Scalability - How important is the need to realize scalability for the business unit?
2. Cost Structure - How important is it that resources are shared by all business units?
Strategic
3. Strategic Projects - How important is identifying and taking on ad hoc strategic projects (for
example, executing key initiatives or closing any operational gaps)?
4. Research and Innovation - How important is researching new ideas and business opportunities
and How important is critical is that the business unit innovates rapidly?
Operational
5. Oversight/Control - How important is it that all critical processes are monitored across business
lines?
6. Speed of Decisions - How important is it that decisions should be made quickly on the line?
Customer
7. Customer Proximity - How important is the proximity of customers and/or external
stakeholders?
8. Customer Leadership - How important is the top-down leadership?
The most successful CEO Office’s dynamically integrate all responsibilities and can track the
flow of a relationship, project, or initiative from end-to-end
Source: Agile Dynamics
11. 11
The Integrator - Organizational structure
Chief of Staff
Compliance/Risk
Analyst
Strategic
Program
Manager
Financial Analyst
CEO
CEO Secretary CEO Adviser
Admin Assistant 1
SME TeamAdmin Assistant 21
Job role Financial Strategic Operational Customer
Chief of Staff ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
CEO Adviser ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
CEO Secretary ✓ ✓
Compliance/Risk Analyst ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Strategic Program Manager ✓ ✓
Financial Analyst ✓ ✓
Subject Matter experts (SMEs) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Job role impact on the balanced scorecard specific measures
Job role descriptions:
▪ Chief of Staff - CEO or executive's 'right hand person’.
▪ CEO Adviser - Ensuring best-in-class consultation to the CEO and
CEO Office on strategic and business growth decisions.
▪ CEO Secretary - Provides administrative support, including
scheduling, writing correspondence, handling meetings…
▪ Compliance/Risk Analyst - The real internal policemen, monitoring,
surveillance and scrutinize specific behaviors and transactions
▪ Strategic Program Manager - Developing strategic plans and
assessing company performance, conducting research and data
analysis to inform business decisions.
▪ Financial Analyst - Analyzing financial results; monitoring variances;
identifying trends; recommending actions to management.
▪ Subject Matter experts (SMEs) – Various profiles based on the
business needs.
Note; 1 – standard duties and responsibilities of the Admin Assistant
Detail view of The Integrator ‘CEO Office’ structure
12. 12
The Integrator - Success measures
Recommended KPIs for The Integrator ‘CEO Office’ structure
Chief of Staff
Compliance/Risk
Analyst
Strategic
Program
Manager
Financial Analyst
CEO
CEO Secretary CEO Adviser
Admin Assistant 1
SME TeamAdmin Assistant 21
Job role KPI 1 KPI 2 KPI 3 KPI 4
Chief of Staff
Revenue and Revenue Growth
Rates
Net Profits
Employee Engagement and/or Net
Promoter Score
Project Fulfillment
CEO Adviser Average revenue/client
New amount/percentage of revenue
from new clients
New amount/percentage revenue
from existing clients
Client retention rate
CEO Secretary Admin tasks performed on-time
Admin tasks that did not require
rework
Compliance/Risk Analyst
Percentage of Compliance/Risk
Audit Plans Completed
Reported Compliance Violations per
Employee
Cycle Time: Compliance/Risk Audits
Strategic Program Manager Schedule Variance Actual Cost Cost Variance Return on Investment
Financial Analyst Burn Rate Net Profit Margin Working Capital Budget Variance
Subject Matter experts (SMEs) TBD Various
Source: Agile Dynamics
Top line growth focus
Focus will shift along the
business dynamics
Broad financial metrics
and project financing
analysis
Ensuring compliance with
global/local and corporate
financial regulatory
polices
Administrative and
transactional performance
measures
Project performance
driven measures
Focused on the success
measures of the CEO