Role description Chief of Staff
The Chief of Staff (CoS) is a strategic and operational key role that works on behalf of the Director General/CEO and the management team to increase the organization’s implementation power, decision-making ability, and organizational effectiveness. The role acts as an extension of the leadership and ensures that strategic priorities are translated into concrete activities, follow-up, and results.
In summary, the Chief of Staff is responsible for:
- Ensure that the Director General/CEO and the management team focus on the right priorities and make well-founded decisions.
- Drive and coordinate the implementation of the company’s strategic agenda.
- Lead or coordinate cross-functional initiatives that span multiple business areas or functions.
- Create structure, transparency and follow-up regarding goals, business planning and critical projects.
- Coordinate the work of the management team, meeting formats, and decision-making processes.
- Serve as strategic advisor, analytical support and special project manager for the Director General/CEO.
- Improve internal communication, change management and organizational coordination.
- Identify risks, dependencies, and implementation challenges before they impact the business’s results.
The role typically has a broad mandate but limited formal line responsibility. The chief of staff’s primary value creation lies in enabling the effectiveness of management, creating organizational coherence, and ensuring that decisions lead to action.
Overall mission of the role
The Chief of Staff shall serve as the CEO’s and the management team’s closest strategic and operational support in matters related to governance, prioritization, coordination, follow-up, and business development.
The purpose of the role is to create conditions for faster decision-making, higher quality in management work and stronger implementation power within the organization.
In practice, this means that the Chief of Staff acts at the intersection between strategy, operations management, project management, and organizational development. The role is primarily responsible not for carrying out the operations itself, but for ensuring that the organization as a whole has the right focus, coordination, and follow-up to achieve its goals.
The Chief of Staff should be able to switch between strategic long-term issues and operational challenges that require immediate handling. The role often serves as a catalyst for change initiatives, special projects, and issues that lack a clear organizational home.
Organizational placement
The Chief of Staff normally reports directly to the CEO and works in close collaboration with the management team.
Primary partners
- General Manager / CEO
- Management team
- Business area managers
- Human Resources Manager
- CFO/Finance function
- Communication managers
- PMO or project organization
- Chairman of the Board and Board of Directors as needed
Position in the organization
The Chief of Staff does not normally form part of the line organization but acts through influence, coordination, follow-up and mandate from the DG/CEO.
The legitimacy of the role is based on:
- Trust from the Director General / CEO
- Access to strategic information
- Clear mandates from management
- Ability to create collaboration without formal power
Main areas of responsibility
1. Strategic support for the Director General / CEO
The Chief of Staff serves as a strategic partner to the Director General/CEO and helps ensure that management time is used where it creates the highest value. Responsibilities include:
- Analysis of strategic issues
- Preparation of decision-making materials
- External analysis and strategic monitoring
- Evaluation of growth and development opportunities
- Priority support
- Quality assurance of management decisions
- Coordination of cross-company priorities
The role is tasked with continuously identifying areas where the CEO’s attention yields the greatest impact for the business.
2. Effectiveness of the management team
The Chief of Staff is responsible for developing and maintaining effective structures for management work. Responsibility includes:
- Planning the agenda for the management year
- Preparation of management meetings
- Providing relevant decision-making materials
- Documentation of decisions
- Follow-up of decided activities
- Coordination of the management team's priorities
- Annual evaluation of the effectiveness of the management team
The goal is to minimize meetings that are solely for information sharing and maximize the time for decision-making, prioritization, and problem solving.
3. Strategy implementation
One of the most important tasks of the role is to ensure that the organization's strategy is translated into concrete action. This responsibility includes:
- Coordination of strategic initiatives
- Follow-up of business plans
- Establishing goal structures
- Ensuring ownership of strategic activities
- Coordination between functions
- Identification of implementation risks
- Reporting progress to the CEO and management
The Chief of Staff serves as a link between strategy development and actual delivery.
4. Cross-functional coordination
Many of the organization's most important initiatives require collaboration between several functions. The Chief of Staff is responsible for:
- Coordinate initiatives that affect several parts of the business
- Loose organizational boundary-drawing issues
- Identify dependencies
- Ensure common goals
- Managing conflicts around priorities
- Escalate issues when decisions are required
The role is intended to ensure that the organization works as a whole rather than as separate functions.
5. Special strategic initiatives
The Chief of Staff often serves as the leader or sponsor of prioritized change projects. Examples:
- Business transformations
- Efficiency improvement program
- Reorganisations
- Integration projects after acquisition
- Cultural initiatives
- Digitalization
- AI and innovation initiatives
- New control models
The role is responsible for ensuring progress, risk management, and results.
6. Operational management and follow-up
The Chief of Staff is responsible for helping the organization to be managed through clear goals, metrics, and follow-up. The responsibilities include:
- Goal management
- OKR processes or similar
- KPI follow-up
- Management reporting
- Quarterly operational reviews
- Capacity and resource review
- Identifying performance gaps
The role is intended to create transparency regarding results and risks.
7. Internal communication and change management
The understanding of the direction of the organization by managers and employees is crucial for success. The Chief of Staff should:
- Supporting management in internal communication
- Ensure consistent messages
- Coordinate communication efforts during changes
- Identify communication risks
- Contribute to increased understanding of strategy and priorities
- Supporting change management in major initiatives
8. Board work
In organizations with an active board of directors, the Chief of Staff supports the CEO in the board work. This may include:
- Compilation of board materials
- Coordination of board meetings
- Follow-up of board decisions
- Strategic analyses
- Follow-up of ownership initiatives
The role does not replace the CEO or the board secretary but can be central in the planning process.
Mandate and decision-making framework
The Chief of Staff normally has the mandate to:
- Prioritize and coordinate management-related activities.
- Require status updates on strategic initiatives.
- Initiate analyses and investigations.
- Assemble working groups.
- Representing the CEO in internal forums after agreement has been reached.
- Challenge the business in matters related to strategy and implementation.
The Chief of Staff usually does not make decisions about:
- Budget responsibility outside one's own area.
- Personnel responsibility for business managers.
- Commercial decisions within business operations.
- Board matters that require formal decisions.
- Line management of operational functions.
Key processes and working methods
Annual planning
- Strategy process
- Business planning
- Budget process
- Goal structure
- Management agenda
Quarterly follow-up
- Operational results
- Strategic initiatives
- Risk assessments
- Resource allocation
Monthly
- Management reporting
- KPI follow-up
- Project status
- Priority review
Weekly
- CEO alignment
- Management coordination
- Escalation of critical issues
- Follow-up of decisions
Competence profile
Experience
- Relevant experience of at least 8-15 years.
- Proven experience in strategic work.
- Experience from a management team or close management support.
- Project and change management.
- Business and operational development.
- Experience with complex organizations.
- Experience with strategic IT and/or AI
Knowledge
- Strategy development
- Operational management
- Economics and business understanding
- Organizational development
- Governance
- Communication work
- Data-driven follow-up
Personal characteristics
- High integrity
- Strong analytical ability
- Good judgment
- Very good collaborative skills
- High execution power
- Diplomatic
- Structured
- Results-oriented
- Adaptable to change
Measures of success
The Chief of Staff should be evaluated based on the organization's effectiveness rather than individual performance.
Examples of key indicators:
- Share of strategic initiatives delivered according to plan.
- Improved goal fulfillment.
- Shorter lead time from decision to implementation.
- The perceived effectiveness of the management team.
- Degree of implementation of decisions.
- Reducing organizational bottlenecks.
- Increased transparency in reporting.
- Improved coordination between functions.
- Ability to manage change initiatives according to plan.
Boundaries against adjacent roles
Chief of Staff vs. COO
The COO is responsible for the operational activities and delivery within the organization. The Chief of Staff is responsible for coordination, follow-up, prioritization, and execution at the management level. The COO drives the business. The Chief of Staff ensures that the business is coordinated and focused on the right goals.
Chief of Staff vs. Executive Assistant
The Executive Assistant focuses primarily on calendar, administration, and management support. The Chief of Staff works strategically and operationally with analysis, implementation, and management.
Chief of Staff vs. Strategy Director
The Strategy Director often develops the strategy. The Chief of Staff primarily ensures that the strategy is implemented and monitored. The Chief of Staff versus the PMO. The PMO manages the project portfolio. The Chief of Staff drives the overall agenda of management and coordinates the operations based on strategic priorities.
Examples of recurring deliveries
The Chief of Staff typically is responsible for or coordinates:
- CEO brief before important meetings
- Strategic decision-making tools
- Agenda of the management group
- Decision logs and follow-up of actions
- Organizational-wide KPI reporting
- Quarterly business reviews
- Risk and addiction reports
- Board materials
- Strategic roadmap
- Priority and capacity analyses
- Change plans
- Communication materials for major initiatives
- Follow-up of company goals and OKRs
Summary definition
The Chief of Staff is the executive engine of the management and the strategic integrator. The role ensures that the right questions receive attention, that decisions are made on the right basis and that the organization translates strategy into concrete results. A successful Chief of Staff creates increased management efficiency, higher organizational coordination and stronger execution across the entire organization.
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