When the CEO  is too busy to manage the production quotas and other operational factors of an organization, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) steps in to fulfill that responsibility. Often known as one of the top executives or the senior vice president in the corporate hierarchy, the COO reigns over the day-to-day activities of an organization, reporting back to the Board of Directors on a regular basis.  So the focus of the COO is on operations management, which means he or she is responsible for the development, design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver the firm’s products/services.

The basic tasks of a COO:

1. Marshal limited resources as set out by the CEO  and the board of directors to the most productive uses with the aim of creating maximum value for the company’s stakeholders.
2. Lead by developing and cascading the organizations strategy/mission statement to the lower ranking staff, and implementing appropriate rewards/recognition and coaching/corrective practices to align personnel with company goals.
3. Plan by prioritizing customer, employee and organizational requirements
4. Maintaining and monitoring staffing, levels, Knowledge-Skills-Attributes (KSA), expectations and motivation to fulfill organizational requirements
5. Drive performance measures for the measurement of an operation’s performance and consideration of efficiency versus effectiveness, often in the form of dashboards convenient for review of high level key indicators.

The role of a COO differs case by case

The COO job description and reporting structure should correspond to the needs of the organization. Discussing what the organization hopes to do in the coming years, what kind of leadership will be necessary to fulfill those goals, and what role the COO is expected  to play in relation to members of the existing senior team will determine a vision for the COO position.

The link with the CEO role is essential. It could come down to:

Questions a company should be able to answer before hiring a COO

Questions about the Candidates

Entrepreneur: In some companies, the COO is a figure of power–a coach, a counselor, a master of process engineering, a CEO-in-training. Yet just as often, the COO gets almost no respect; he (or she) is a glorified paper-pusher, someone willing to handle odd jobs that the important executives prefer to avoid. Batman and Robin may be a Dynamic Duo, but it’s a sure bet that Robin sometimes wonders about the resume value of being a perpetual sidekick.

In fact, a good many management experts believe the COO’s real job is to babysit a dysfunctional CEO. “Ninety percent of the COOs I run into,” says one of our subscribers, “are put in place by boards who realize their charismatic, walk-on-water, given-to-flashes-of- brilliance CEO really doesn’t have the skills to run a business.”

This may be a cynical view, but the fact remains that company founders almost never feel that a COO is an essential part of their core management team. And as a latecomer, the COO typically has to carve out a job by taking tasks and authority away from the CEO and from other top executives. Not surprisingly, the COO’s job often ends up as a political battleground.

Still, there are COOs who have quietly helped build great companies, who have become the CEO’s closest confidant and a caring, trusted leader for the rank-and-file.

Sources: Bridgestar, Entrepreneur