Last week a founder of a software development company asked what to look for in a COO on answers.onstartups.com. Since this is a fairly common question to me, I decided to expand upon the answer I posted and further describe what attributes a great business operations leader/professional should possess.
Bit of background: I have been in operations for almost my entire career and have had some incredible mentors along the way. I spent 2+ fun years as the heading operations for an awesome software development company that we grew to 120+ employees by the time I had to move. It was an honor serving some of the smartest software development professionals in the market.
So here are the points one should consider when looking to add a Chief Right Hand Person to your team:
- Operations is operations, no matter the industry. I have worked in the entertainment, professional services, legal, software development, and technology consulting industries. Operations is the same everywhere (in ultra-specialized and regulated industries we just surround ourselves with specialists and attorneys).
- A good operations leader will be an ultra-generalist. This person should have broad hands-on experience in the areas of IT, HR, accounting, recruiting, infrastructure, marketing, sales, etc.
- Those who need credit and recognition for everything have no place in operations. Operations people should be the Secret Service of the company. If the operations team works well, everything runs smoothly and nobody knows what the heck we do.
- Instead of “faking it”, a good operations person will pick up the phone and ask for advice from experts. A large “rolodex” of suppliers, vendors, and specialists is essential for their everyday success.
- Earning credibility with everyone in the organization is extremely important to the success of the person in this position. He/she should be able to speak the “language” of every professional on the team.
- The COO must understand the delicate balance that is required to keep employees and customers happy while also protecting the company. It is a tough skill to develop and requires a passionate drive for sniffing out the facts and mediating outcomes.
- Operations professionals at every level must have highly controlled egos. Leading by serving is an important attitude.
- An operations leader should have no qualms about getting his/her hands dirty. No white gloves here!
- Real operations people will have backup plans for backup plans. This is how our heads work ALL the time (at work and home). You will not find us bungee jumping or skydiving because there is only one backup in case of failure.
I hope these criteria help you pick your Chief Right Hand Person. Operations is a very sensitive area of the company, so be very picky. A great ops person can dramatically improve the way your company works and make your life a lot easier.
Photo credit: Nina Hiironniemi
I think the underlying theme here Apollo is that a good COO / right-hand person should generally be process-oriented (as opposed to a CEO, who should tend to be more “vision-oriented”). I don’t mean this in a bureaucratic way (hearkening back to the recent post on Six Sigma), but such a person should at least think in terms of processes and not just people, and provide the structure that allows a business to operate on a day-to-day basis with minimal oversight. For example, a good COO should enforce the idea that processes are assigned to “roles”, not “individuals”, since individuals can leave on a moment’s notice (or hold a company hostage with their specialized and exclusive knowledge).
Having a process orientation makes it easy to span fields or functions, as many processes are somewhat similar (even if the language is different) across companies. It also makes it easier to set egos aside, since process trumps expertise (in many cases), and is not dependent on a specific individual (to your point #3).
Frankly, I think the COO is every bit as important as the CEO, and having a strong person in this role keeps a company running more smoothly, with less frustration for employees and customers, than having a superstar CEO does. For nearly every celebrity CEO (who has earned his status for the right reasons), there is likely a strong COO supporting him or her.
Greg,
Some great points!
I personally look at my role in operations is to make the vision happen.
As I have told once to one of my former CEOs: “I expect you to tell me you have a vision for taking the company to the moon and then convince the investors to pay for it. It is my job to help you figure out what it will take, make sure the rocket does not blow up, and people don’t die once we are there.”