July 30, 2025 • 16 mins
Emily answers Nicole S.'s question about how to balance the tactical and strategic sides of the Chief of Staff role, sharing examples from both startup and large company experiences. She covers ways to prioritize, how to have conversations with your principal about trade-offs, and offers practical advice like delegating, automating, and asking if all tasks are necessary. Emily also explains why it’s important to regularly check if you’re spending your time where it matters most.
Links Mentioned:
Free Resources:
- Strategic Planning Checklist
- Chief of Staff Skills Assessment Checklist
- A Day in the Life of a Chief of Staff
- Chief of Staff Toolkit
Get in Touch With Emily:
- Connect on LinkedIn
- Follow on YouTube
- Learn more about coaching
- Sign up for the newsletter
- Clarity Call with Emily
Who Am I?
If we haven’t yet before - Hi👋 I’m Emily, Chief of Staff turned Executive Leadership Coach. After a thrilling ride up the corporate ladder, I’m focusing on what I love - working with people to realize their professional and personal goals. Through my videos here on this channel, books, podcast guest spots, and newsletter, I share new ideas and practical and tactical tools to help you be more productive and build the career and life you want.
Time Stamps:
00:50 Balancing Tactical and Strategic Responsibilities
01:36 Company Stage and Role Dynamics
03:53 Challenges in Shifting to Strategic Work
05:06 Conversations with Your Principal
07:04 Making Strategic Decisions
07:42 Prioritizing Tasks and Trade-offs
11:15 Delegation and Automation
11:56 Evaluating Tactical Work
12:58 Adapting to Company Changes
15:03 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
emily-sander_1_07-11-2025_10 (00:25):
We have a listener question from
Nicole s in Nashville,Tennessee.
Nicole says, what tips orguidance do you have for
balancing the chief of staff'stactical and strategic
responsibilities?
It feels like I'm always pulleddown into the tactical work
because our organization isresource constrained, but I know
I also need to play a strongerrole focusing on strategy.
(00:46):
Finding the balance is tricky.
Exclamation point.
It sure is, Nicole.
It is indeed.
but this is a fantastic question'cause this hits almost every
single chief of staff.
In my experience, in my personalexperience as chief of staff, I
was.
Constantly purposing in and outof strategy and tactical.
So I was going in and out ofstrategic stuff and tactical
stuff and strategic stuff andtactical stuff, and that was a
(01:08):
constant flux and flow.
The ratio and percentage of timeI spent in each and the duration
in each would change and evolveover time, and I'd have to be
adaptable.
But there was always a mix.
And I've seen this with prettymuch every single chief of staff
I've spoken to with, I'm tryingto think, with rare exception,
(01:29):
most chiefs of staff will havesome mix of this.
Now, the exact mix and how that,how that shows up is gonna be
different.
The biggest deciding factor forthat would be company stage.
So.
Intuitively, you can think aboutstartup world.
Chief of staff is often doingtwo roles, if not three, four,
or five that might show up intheir title.
That might just show up.
In reality, they're doing a lotof the tactical functional work
(01:52):
as is pretty much everyone elseat the company in that stage.
I've had chief of staff at largeglobal companies where, where
their work is primarilyprincipal management and taking
the communication and directionand guidance from corporate and
rolling that down to their org.
So let's say like a, I havechief of staff who is supporting
(02:13):
an SVP at a, at a Fortune 500company, and basically in that
company that SVPs have like alittle fiefdom they run and
it's, it's a organization untoitself, but the corporate.
Is is sitting on top of all ofthe SVPs and they push stuff
down to their organizations.
So this chief of staff isworking very closely with their
(02:34):
principal.
They're taking guidance anddirection from corporate.
They're also coordinating withother organizations across the
company.
And that's a big deal, thatscope and that range.
It's like global, differentregions.
That's a big deal.
And, and I've had a chief ofstaff, this was a while ago now,
but he was, a chief of staff forlike a regional head of
(02:56):
something, something, of like aspecific geography.
And his main task wascoordinating with this third
party basically.
But this third party wascritical for the entire
corporation.
So his one.
Region happened to be the one tocoordinate with this third
party, but he was, he wascoordinating across the, the
(03:19):
corporation.
So anyway, long, long way ofsaying there's a different mix
at different stages ofcompanies, and so it, it's
always a mix of tactical andpractical.
I think at a startup, thetactical pieces might be like,
hands on keyboard.
I might actually be coding forour program here.
I might actually be writing oursocial media posts and then the,
(03:40):
the tactical work at a globalcompany will look a bit
different.
So just getting that out thereto kick off the conversation.
There's always, there's almostalways a mix.
So to your question, I'm curiousaround what is.
Preventing you from moving intomore strategic initiatives.
So, so you said I get pulleddown into tactical work, but I
(04:01):
know I also need to play a rolefocusing on strategy.
So I'm curious, what ispreventing you from doing that?
Some common things I've seenhere are sometimes people hold
themselves back in a way.
Um, I'm not sure how much ofthis is happening for you, but
I've just seen folks.
Uh, who are familiar with thetactical work.
Maybe they came from a rolewhere they were doing the
(04:21):
tactical work, and so it'sfamiliar, it's comfortable.
They can do it in their sleep.
In previous times, that's whatmade them successful.
That's the way they added value.
Um, and they need to progressinto more strategic initiatives.
Sometimes it's overwhelmed,like, oh my gosh, now I have
like 57 things and it's alloverwhelming and it's all scary
(04:42):
and I don't know where to startand I don't wanna start.
So I default and go back to thefamiliar tactical pieces.
So that's an element to look atif that is happening for you.
If you're like, Emily, that'snot my problem.
My problem is I'm more thancapable and more than ready to
be more strategic.
Other external elements, people,personalities, uh, pressures,
(05:04):
whatever are holding me back.
If that's the case, then thefirst thing I would say is if
you can have a conversation, ifyou have a relationship with
your principal, where like, yep,we can have a conversation
around where my role lives andwhat the trade-offs are of the
type of work I do.
I would just have a conversationat your next one-on-one or if,
(05:26):
if your principal likes a littleprep for that stuff, kind of
give them a heads up that you'dlike to talk about this.
Come with some ideas and somerecommendations of course, or
some reasons why you'rerecommending what you're
recommending.
But I think the, the showingtrade-offs is a good move.
And this, this is, and what Imean by that is, you know, if
(05:46):
you're asking me to do this andI can't do this, this, and this,
and it's not a necessarily likean emotional charge, like moral
judgment, like you're making medo the tactical stuff versus the
strategic stuff.
It might just be, Hey, I'd loveto support that.
I think that's a great idea.
In order to do that effectively,I need to pause X or I need to
delegate Y, and that's justdemonstrating the trade-off that
(06:08):
you're making.
I'm, I'm more than happy to helpyou with what you need or what
you want, but just here's thetrade-off and at least have that
conversation and at least getthat out there.
If you want to follow up with,here's why I think X and Y need
to be the priority and whythey're more important and why
it would be best to have mestick to those, then you could
have a follow up very easily inthat type of conversation or
(06:31):
make a recommendation towardsthat.
And sometimes if, sometimes it'seasier to bring this in a group
conversation.
Like if we are going to get toour company goals that we've set
out for ourselves in the next 12months, we need to be focusing
on more strategic pieces of thepuzzle here.
So it might be it's notnecessarily me personally, it
(06:52):
might be a we thing.
Uh, it depends on the situation.
Again, you, you're closer to it,but just throwing that out
there.
Sometimes it's a, Hey, if we'regonna make it to where we wanna
be, we, we are all gonna have tolift ourselves out a little bit.
And inherent in this is adecision, this is important.
At the crux of strategic,tactical, what's my scope?
(07:14):
What's my role?
I always have a hundred thingsto work on.
What do I pick is a decision.
It's a decision.
Nerd, alert, root word ofdecision is to cut decision.
And scissor have the same rootword.
You have to cut something out.
So we're doing this, not that.
We're deciding we're doing thisand we're not doing that.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
We have to do that.
Well, we have to do that.
(07:34):
That's important.
That's really important.
Okay, let's talk about it.
What's more important?
Is something urgent or somethingimportant?
Does something move the needlefor the company in the next six
to 12 months?
Or does something meet ourdeliverable for tomorrow?
Is it this or is it that?
And sometimes, oftentimes that'snot a good feeling.
(07:58):
It's like, oh no, I wanna do allof it.
I wanna do both this and that.
And it's like, uh, like ideally,yes, if you had unlimited
budget, we would be doing this,that, and the other thing, but
we don't.
And that's the reality.
So we have to choose.
We have to decide is it this oris it that?
Let's get all of our cards onthe table, let's get all of our
trade-offs on the table and makea really good informed decision
(08:19):
about this.
And sometimes saying no isimportant, sometimes saying not
right now.
That's a common one by the way.
So you could say, um, let mejust make something up.
So we would love to have theupgraded automated internal
process, but do we need to havethat right now?
(08:39):
Do we need to have that rightnow?
Well, technically no.
'cause we have a workaroundprocess that's working now.
Everyone knows it.
It's working now.
Okay.
So therefore we don't need thatright now.
Would we like to have it now?
Sure, absolutely.
But we don't need it.
Okay.
So can it be delayed and pushedfor six months?
Yes.
Okay, it doesn't feel great,might not feel great, but now
(09:01):
we're able to lift ourselves outto do these other things.
Having those types ofconversations or framing up
those types of conversations isgood.
So I think one of your ins here,Nicole, might be to kickstart
some of those conversations.
Um, another way to go about thatis to say what is, or what are
(09:23):
the unattended strategic piecesthat aren't being done?
Whereas like everyone might bemired down in the tactical stuff
and oh my gosh, you guys righthere, like, if we did this, that
would open up a whole bunch ofdoors.
Or we need to do this big thingto set the foundation for all
the things that we have to do toget us to where we wanna go.
It.
(09:43):
So take a step back and say,what's not being done?
I.
What's being left on the tablethat we're not doing as a
company or that I'm not doing asa chief of staff.
So again, it can be a groupthing, a we thing, or it can be
like, oh, you know what?
When I take a hard look at that,that's a me thing.
I'm not doing that.
I'm not stepping up into that.
What is being left unattended?
And that might be your way in.
(10:05):
And along with that, if everyoneknows what needs to happen, but
it's just not being done, thenjust starting the thing.
And this can be like a inform,not request type of deal, or it
could just be like, just do it.
Like, don't even just, juststart doing it and then it's
done.
And sometimes when you juststart doing the strategic thing,
(10:27):
the tactical stuff kind of takescare of itself.
And what I mean by that is it'slike, oh, actually everyone's.
Up into this strategic thing,they don't even care about the
tactical stuff like that.
Didn't really need to get done.
Oh, okay, that's not actuallyimportant compared to this.
Or it might be a forcingfunction to say, okay, this is
clearly most important.
(10:48):
Everyone's getting excited aboutthe momentum and this and this
thing about this unattendedstrategic initiative.
And so it's a forcing functionto like, okay, we have to get
this tactical stuff done.
Let's delegate that.
Let's automate that.
Let's get a data entry resource,or use AI or what have you.
So what are, what is theunattended strategic piece you
can fill and start doing?
(11:09):
And that might just puteverything else into place on a
tactical level.
You could also ask yourself, whocan help me with the tactical
stuff?
I don't need to be doing all ofit.
Who can help me with that?
Do we have an internal teammember?
Is there a part-time person or aproject based person or a part,
you know, a fractional person wecan bring on?
Who can help me with that?
(11:30):
Can AI help automate that?
Can I delegate it?
Can I automate it?
Can I not do it?
Do I have to do it at all?
Or like, really?
Like, I don't use this.
Does anyone use this?
Let's not do it for a week andsee if anyone says anything.
Let's not do it for a month andsee if anyone says anything.
Does this need to happen?
Do I have to do it?
Am I the only person who can dothis?
Or are there seven other peopleI can think of right now that
(11:52):
can do this?
So those are some questions toask as well.
Another way to think about thisis there are gradients of
tactical work.
Meaning, meaning askingyourself, is this$10 an hour
tactical work?
Is it a hundred dollars an hourtactical work?
Is it a thousand dollars an hourtactical work?
(12:14):
I mean, there's lots ofdifferent types, types of
tactical work, some tacticalwork needs to be done, and maybe
you are the only person to doit, or you are the best suited
person to do it right now atthis stage of the company.
And so you just wanna be, um,you just wanna be strategic
about which tactical work youtake on.
so there we go.
so that's another frame to lookat it through.
(12:34):
we've gone through a lot here.
Is it urgent?
Is it important?
Am I the only one who can do it?
Who can help me?
What's the right mix of tacticaland practical for right now?
And by the way, I think askingthat question.
On a pretty regular basis is agood practice for any chief of
staff because it will change,especially if you're, if you are
in a startup situation or asmall to medium business
(12:56):
situation, that can changepretty rapidly.
It, it changes and morphs in a,in a larger established global
company, but probably lessrapidly, uh, the velocity of the
change is, is less.
and I've had chiefs of staffwho, who we've gone through this
exercise.
'cause this is a good question,Nicole.
We've gone through this exerciseof tactical and practical and
(13:16):
then strategic big picture,long-term stuff.
And sometimes we're right nowyou're, you're in the good spot.
You're like, you're in the rangethat you need to be in.
It's always a range.
It's not a fixed box, but you'rein the general range you need to
be in now, now in three to sixmonths, if that product launch
happens.
roles change, including yours aschief of staff.
(13:38):
Hey, hey, in six to 12 months ifthat big merger goes through
everyone's roles change,including chief of staff,
there's gonna be a huge reorg.
And those can be catalystmoments for propelling you into
a new level of chief of staff ora different part of being chief
of staff and being cognizant andaware of those.
And also with that comes the,within that new element or level
(13:59):
of chief of Staffness, what isthe mix of strategic and
tactical in that version?
So those can be things you canbe thinking about.
something I really like aboutyour question, Nicole, is.
There is a consequence tostaying too tactical, too long.
There's an impact to that.
You, you lose your, yourstrategic leverage, you lose
(14:22):
your strategic, uh, influence ina way.
So being cognizant of that,which you are, you're asking
this question, which I think isgood.
I think asking yourself thatquestion on a regular basis is a
good practice to get into.
Am I generally where I need tobe as chief of staff for this
stage of the company, for myprincipal right now, for my
(14:43):
executive team makeup right now?
And that changes and evolves.
But generally speaking, like notpitch perfect, it's not,
nothing's perfect, but am Igenerally where I need to be?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm doing a pretty good job.
Okay, cool.
Or it's like, hmm, you knowwhat?
I really need to move more inthis area.
Okay.
Good to know.
Good to have that conversationwith yourself.
Good to ask that question.
(15:03):
And one thing I'll leave you,Nicole, with, and the listeners
with is it's also a goodpractice to.
Normalize that conversation withyour principal and executive
team, and that can be about yourchief of staff roles
specifically or about like us,the WE conversation as a group.
Where do we need to be?
If you can make that just aregular, like, not like, whoa,
(15:24):
this is outta the blueconversation.
If you can work that into.
Look, if we're trying to meetthese goals, here's where
everyone needs to be at andwe're all moving and we're all
changing and like let's justtalk about that and make sure
we're coordinated and make surewe're good to go and make sure
we're making some some good andsometimes tough decisions.
But if you can make that anormal course of conversation, I
think that's a really strongposition for a chief of staff to
(15:46):
be in.
I think that adds a lot of valueto the chief of staff
themselves, to the principal andthe larger executive team.
So Nicole, I hope that'shelpful.
Thank you very much for yourquestion.
And for anyone listening, if youhave a question that you would
like answered on an episode,then please drop it in the
comments, shoot me a note onLinkedIn or email me directly at
Emily at Next level coach andI'll catch you next week on
(16:09):
leveraging leadership.
We have a listener question from
Nicole s in Nashville,Tennessee.
Nicole says, what tips orguidance do you have for
balancing the chief of staff'stactical and strategic
responsibilities?
It feels like I'm always pulleddown into the tactical work
because our organization isresource constrained, but I know
I also need to play a strongerrole focusing on strategy.
(00:46):
Finding the balance is tricky.
Exclamation point.
It sure is, Nicole.
It is indeed.
but this is a fantastic question'cause this hits almost every
single chief of staff.
In my experience, in my personalexperience as chief of staff, I
was.
Constantly purposing in and outof strategy and tactical.
So I was going in and out ofstrategic stuff and tactical
stuff and strategic stuff andtactical stuff, and that was a
(01:08):
constant flux and flow.
The ratio and percentage of timeI spent in each and the duration
in each would change and evolveover time, and I'd have to be
adaptable.
But there was always a mix.
And I've seen this with prettymuch every single chief of staff
I've spoken to with, I'm tryingto think, with rare exception,
(01:29):
most chiefs of staff will havesome mix of this.
Now, the exact mix and how that,how that shows up is gonna be
different.
The biggest deciding factor forthat would be company stage.
So.
Intuitively, you can think aboutstartup world.
Chief of staff is often doingtwo roles, if not three, four,
or five that might show up intheir title.
That might just show up.
In reality, they're doing a lotof the tactical functional work
(01:52):
as is pretty much everyone elseat the company in that stage.
I've had chief of staff at largeglobal companies where, where
their work is primarilyprincipal management and taking
the communication and directionand guidance from corporate and
rolling that down to their org.
So let's say like a, I havechief of staff who is supporting
(02:13):
an SVP at a, at a Fortune 500company, and basically in that
company that SVPs have like alittle fiefdom they run and
it's, it's a organization untoitself, but the corporate.
Is is sitting on top of all ofthe SVPs and they push stuff
down to their organizations.
So this chief of staff isworking very closely with their
(02:34):
principal.
They're taking guidance anddirection from corporate.
They're also coordinating withother organizations across the
company.
And that's a big deal, thatscope and that range.
It's like global, differentregions.
That's a big deal.
And, and I've had a chief ofstaff, this was a while ago now,
but he was, a chief of staff forlike a regional head of
(02:56):
something, something, of like aspecific geography.
And his main task wascoordinating with this third
party basically.
But this third party wascritical for the entire
corporation.
So his one.
Region happened to be the one tocoordinate with this third
party, but he was, he wascoordinating across the, the
(03:19):
corporation.
So anyway, long, long way ofsaying there's a different mix
at different stages ofcompanies, and so it, it's
always a mix of tactical andpractical.
I think at a startup, thetactical pieces might be like,
hands on keyboard.
I might actually be coding forour program here.
I might actually be writing oursocial media posts and then the,
(03:40):
the tactical work at a globalcompany will look a bit
different.
So just getting that out thereto kick off the conversation.
There's always, there's almostalways a mix.
So to your question, I'm curiousaround what is.
Preventing you from moving intomore strategic initiatives.
So, so you said I get pulleddown into tactical work, but I
(04:01):
know I also need to play a rolefocusing on strategy.
So I'm curious, what ispreventing you from doing that?
Some common things I've seenhere are sometimes people hold
themselves back in a way.
Um, I'm not sure how much ofthis is happening for you, but
I've just seen folks.
Uh, who are familiar with thetactical work.
Maybe they came from a rolewhere they were doing the
(04:21):
tactical work, and so it'sfamiliar, it's comfortable.
They can do it in their sleep.
In previous times, that's whatmade them successful.
That's the way they added value.
Um, and they need to progressinto more strategic initiatives.
Sometimes it's overwhelmed,like, oh my gosh, now I have
like 57 things and it's alloverwhelming and it's all scary
(04:42):
and I don't know where to startand I don't wanna start.
So I default and go back to thefamiliar tactical pieces.
So that's an element to look atif that is happening for you.
If you're like, Emily, that'snot my problem.
My problem is I'm more thancapable and more than ready to
be more strategic.
Other external elements, people,personalities, uh, pressures,
(05:04):
whatever are holding me back.
If that's the case, then thefirst thing I would say is if
you can have a conversation, ifyou have a relationship with
your principal, where like, yep,we can have a conversation
around where my role lives andwhat the trade-offs are of the
type of work I do.
I would just have a conversationat your next one-on-one or if,
(05:26):
if your principal likes a littleprep for that stuff, kind of
give them a heads up that you'dlike to talk about this.
Come with some ideas and somerecommendations of course, or
some reasons why you'rerecommending what you're
recommending.
But I think the, the showingtrade-offs is a good move.
And this, this is, and what Imean by that is, you know, if
(05:46):
you're asking me to do this andI can't do this, this, and this,
and it's not a necessarily likean emotional charge, like moral
judgment, like you're making medo the tactical stuff versus the
strategic stuff.
It might just be, Hey, I'd loveto support that.
I think that's a great idea.
In order to do that effectively,I need to pause X or I need to
delegate Y, and that's justdemonstrating the trade-off that
(06:08):
you're making.
I'm, I'm more than happy to helpyou with what you need or what
you want, but just here's thetrade-off and at least have that
conversation and at least getthat out there.
If you want to follow up with,here's why I think X and Y need
to be the priority and whythey're more important and why
it would be best to have mestick to those, then you could
have a follow up very easily inthat type of conversation or
(06:31):
make a recommendation towardsthat.
And sometimes if, sometimes it'seasier to bring this in a group
conversation.
Like if we are going to get toour company goals that we've set
out for ourselves in the next 12months, we need to be focusing
on more strategic pieces of thepuzzle here.
So it might be it's notnecessarily me personally, it
(06:52):
might be a we thing.
Uh, it depends on the situation.
Again, you, you're closer to it,but just throwing that out
there.
Sometimes it's a, Hey, if we'regonna make it to where we wanna
be, we, we are all gonna have tolift ourselves out a little bit.
And inherent in this is adecision, this is important.
At the crux of strategic,tactical, what's my scope?
(07:14):
What's my role?
I always have a hundred thingsto work on.
What do I pick is a decision.
It's a decision.
Nerd, alert, root word ofdecision is to cut decision.
And scissor have the same rootword.
You have to cut something out.
So we're doing this, not that.
We're deciding we're doing thisand we're not doing that.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
We have to do that.
Well, we have to do that.
(07:34):
That's important.
That's really important.
Okay, let's talk about it.
What's more important?
Is something urgent or somethingimportant?
Does something move the needlefor the company in the next six
to 12 months?
Or does something meet ourdeliverable for tomorrow?
Is it this or is it that?
And sometimes, oftentimes that'snot a good feeling.
(07:58):
It's like, oh no, I wanna do allof it.
I wanna do both this and that.
And it's like, uh, like ideally,yes, if you had unlimited
budget, we would be doing this,that, and the other thing, but
we don't.
And that's the reality.
So we have to choose.
We have to decide is it this oris it that?
Let's get all of our cards onthe table, let's get all of our
trade-offs on the table and makea really good informed decision
(08:19):
about this.
And sometimes saying no isimportant, sometimes saying not
right now.
That's a common one by the way.
So you could say, um, let mejust make something up.
So we would love to have theupgraded automated internal
process, but do we need to havethat right now?
(08:39):
Do we need to have that rightnow?
Well, technically no.
'cause we have a workaroundprocess that's working now.
Everyone knows it.
It's working now.
Okay.
So therefore we don't need thatright now.
Would we like to have it now?
Sure, absolutely.
But we don't need it.
Okay.
So can it be delayed and pushedfor six months?
Yes.
Okay, it doesn't feel great,might not feel great, but now
(09:01):
we're able to lift ourselves outto do these other things.
Having those types ofconversations or framing up
those types of conversations isgood.
So I think one of your ins here,Nicole, might be to kickstart
some of those conversations.
Um, another way to go about thatis to say what is, or what are
(09:23):
the unattended strategic piecesthat aren't being done?
Whereas like everyone might bemired down in the tactical stuff
and oh my gosh, you guys righthere, like, if we did this, that
would open up a whole bunch ofdoors.
Or we need to do this big thingto set the foundation for all
the things that we have to do toget us to where we wanna go.
It.
(09:43):
So take a step back and say,what's not being done?
I.
What's being left on the tablethat we're not doing as a
company or that I'm not doing asa chief of staff.
So again, it can be a groupthing, a we thing, or it can be
like, oh, you know what?
When I take a hard look at that,that's a me thing.
I'm not doing that.
I'm not stepping up into that.
What is being left unattended?
And that might be your way in.
(10:05):
And along with that, if everyoneknows what needs to happen, but
it's just not being done, thenjust starting the thing.
And this can be like a inform,not request type of deal, or it
could just be like, just do it.
Like, don't even just, juststart doing it and then it's
done.
And sometimes when you juststart doing the strategic thing,
(10:27):
the tactical stuff kind of takescare of itself.
And what I mean by that is it'slike, oh, actually everyone's.
Up into this strategic thing,they don't even care about the
tactical stuff like that.
Didn't really need to get done.
Oh, okay, that's not actuallyimportant compared to this.
Or it might be a forcingfunction to say, okay, this is
clearly most important.
(10:48):
Everyone's getting excited aboutthe momentum and this and this
thing about this unattendedstrategic initiative.
And so it's a forcing functionto like, okay, we have to get
this tactical stuff done.
Let's delegate that.
Let's automate that.
Let's get a data entry resource,or use AI or what have you.
So what are, what is theunattended strategic piece you
can fill and start doing?
(11:09):
And that might just puteverything else into place on a
tactical level.
You could also ask yourself, whocan help me with the tactical
stuff?
I don't need to be doing all ofit.
Who can help me with that?
Do we have an internal teammember?
Is there a part-time person or aproject based person or a part,
you know, a fractional person wecan bring on?
Who can help me with that?
(11:30):
Can AI help automate that?
Can I delegate it?
Can I automate it?
Can I not do it?
Do I have to do it at all?
Or like, really?
Like, I don't use this.
Does anyone use this?
Let's not do it for a week andsee if anyone says anything.
Let's not do it for a month andsee if anyone says anything.
Does this need to happen?
Do I have to do it?
Am I the only person who can dothis?
Or are there seven other peopleI can think of right now that
(11:52):
can do this?
So those are some questions toask as well.
Another way to think about thisis there are gradients of
tactical work.
Meaning, meaning askingyourself, is this$10 an hour
tactical work?
Is it a hundred dollars an hourtactical work?
Is it a thousand dollars an hourtactical work?
(12:14):
I mean, there's lots ofdifferent types, types of
tactical work, some tacticalwork needs to be done, and maybe
you are the only person to doit, or you are the best suited
person to do it right now atthis stage of the company.
And so you just wanna be, um,you just wanna be strategic
about which tactical work youtake on.
so there we go.
so that's another frame to lookat it through.
(12:34):
we've gone through a lot here.
Is it urgent?
Is it important?
Am I the only one who can do it?
Who can help me?
What's the right mix of tacticaland practical for right now?
And by the way, I think askingthat question.
On a pretty regular basis is agood practice for any chief of
staff because it will change,especially if you're, if you are
in a startup situation or asmall to medium business
(12:56):
situation, that can changepretty rapidly.
It, it changes and morphs in a,in a larger established global
company, but probably lessrapidly, uh, the velocity of the
change is, is less.
and I've had chiefs of staffwho, who we've gone through this
exercise.
'cause this is a good question,Nicole.
We've gone through this exerciseof tactical and practical and
(13:16):
then strategic big picture,long-term stuff.
And sometimes we're right nowyou're, you're in the good spot.
You're like, you're in the rangethat you need to be in.
It's always a range.
It's not a fixed box, but you'rein the general range you need to
be in now, now in three to sixmonths, if that product launch
happens.
roles change, including yours aschief of staff.
(13:38):
Hey, hey, in six to 12 months ifthat big merger goes through
everyone's roles change,including chief of staff,
there's gonna be a huge reorg.
And those can be catalystmoments for propelling you into
a new level of chief of staff ora different part of being chief
of staff and being cognizant andaware of those.
And also with that comes the,within that new element or level
(13:59):
of chief of Staffness, what isthe mix of strategic and
tactical in that version?
So those can be things you canbe thinking about.
something I really like aboutyour question, Nicole, is.
There is a consequence tostaying too tactical, too long.
There's an impact to that.
You, you lose your, yourstrategic leverage, you lose
(14:22):
your strategic, uh, influence ina way.
So being cognizant of that,which you are, you're asking
this question, which I think isgood.
I think asking yourself thatquestion on a regular basis is a
good practice to get into.
Am I generally where I need tobe as chief of staff for this
stage of the company, for myprincipal right now, for my
(14:43):
executive team makeup right now?
And that changes and evolves.
But generally speaking, like notpitch perfect, it's not,
nothing's perfect, but am Igenerally where I need to be?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm doing a pretty good job.
Okay, cool.
Or it's like, hmm, you knowwhat?
I really need to move more inthis area.
Okay.
Good to know.
Good to have that conversationwith yourself.
Good to ask that question.
(15:03):
And one thing I'll leave you,Nicole, with, and the listeners
with is it's also a goodpractice to.
Normalize that conversation withyour principal and executive
team, and that can be about yourchief of staff roles
specifically or about like us,the WE conversation as a group.
Where do we need to be?
If you can make that just aregular, like, not like, whoa,
(15:24):
this is outta the blueconversation.
If you can work that into.
Look, if we're trying to meetthese goals, here's where
everyone needs to be at andwe're all moving and we're all
changing and like let's justtalk about that and make sure
we're coordinated and make surewe're good to go and make sure
we're making some some good andsometimes tough decisions.
But if you can make that anormal course of conversation, I
think that's a really strongposition for a chief of staff to
(15:46):
be in.
I think that adds a lot of valueto the chief of staff
themselves, to the principal andthe larger executive team.
So Nicole, I hope that'shelpful.
Thank you very much for yourquestion.
And for anyone listening, if youhave a question that you would
like answered on an episode,then please drop it in the
comments, shoot me a note onLinkedIn or email me directly at
Emily at Next level coach andI'll catch you next week on
(16:09):
leveraging leadership.
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