8 Strategies for Chief of Staff Onboarding
Here are 8 strategies to onboard successfully as a Chief of Staff.
1/ Create a likable and presentable “first-impressions” persona
Be nice, personable and non-controversial
Pay careful attention to your attire
Update your Zoom background and lighting
Update your LinkedIn profile
2/ Get multi-level sponsorship from your boss
Create a comms plan re: your role
Formal / informal sponsorship is best
Create a comms mix: Slack, email, all-hand and in-person
Ghostwrite the comms and have your boss approve
Execute comms plan over the year
3/ Mindmeld with your boss
Spend a lot of time with your principal
In person to start is best
Understand their working style
Figure out the way they make decisions
See how they interact with their reports
Why you’re doing this: to become their proxy faster
4/ Deliver value immediately
Begin with small, low-stakes tasks
Look at the bottom 20% priority tasks on your boss’ list
Develop small wins to start
Grow these continuous small tasks into bigger projects
Tasks could be: review a doc, prep for a meeting
Send a weekly email recap of your wins to your boss
5/ Start building the Office of the CEO
Get to know the EA on a deeply personal level
What’s their career path, what are their values?
Ask them about the history of the company
Get coaching on the background of key stakeholders
Sell the vision: a world-class partnership to help everyone thrive
Create a working doc of your responsibilities and the EA’s roles/responsibilities
Define the interaction model between you two
Define the triage system for incoming requests
Create space for them to operate and take on more
Get ahead of personnel issues so they don’t feel threatened
6/ Conduct a thoughtful listening company tour
Create a list of key stakeholders that you should meet
Ask them… what are your goals?
What are the areas that you need support?
Where are you trying to go in your career?
What’s your life story?
Figure out what drives them
Be vulnerable and share your story
Create a stakeholder map
Take notes on their style, warmth and assertiveness
Add a RAG status = strength of your relationship
7/ Create a digital personal user guide
Define how you best like to work with others
Put it in your email signature or Slack profile
Tell people about it and why you are sharing it
Reference it on your listening tour
8/ Complete the Zone of Genius exercise
Create a skill will matrix
Define what you are good at and what you like to do
Do the converse
Share with your boss
Ask if you can do the same exercise with them
Guide them through the exercise
Figure out how to keep your boss in the ZoG
Onboarding mistakes to avoid!
Don’t be too ambitious
Don’t avoid delegating
Don’t underprepare for your first meetings
Don’t forget to update your LinkedIn profile
Don’t forget to leverage the existing team to complete tasks
Don’t forget to take stock every Friday and send a recap email
Onboarding can be the make-or-break-it moment for a new Chief of Staff. Reach out to learn more about our executive coaching services here.
