Power vs Authority & the Strategy to Manage Both
“I think the largest challenge I’ve encountered is around the influence vs. owning dynamic. A Chief of Staff is highly influential and has close “proximity to power,” but rarely owns anything outright”. — — a Corporate Chief of Staff
Power is the ability to influence others to do something. Usually, they believe they must cooperate for any number of reasons including your ability to persuade them, Additionally, it could be that they want to because of your relationship professionally or personally.
Authority is the right to use power that is given to you by a governing body, institution, culture, hierarchy or by law.
Can anyone relate? For example, as a Chief of Staff, the magnitude or weight of your “Power” usually lies in the eyes of the beholder. Some subordinates may assess you as “major muscle” and yet others still perceive you in your previous role or as a glorified executive assistant (no shade to EA’s). Colleagues who also have a proximity to that “power” like your CAO, COO, CIO, CFO may not view you as a C-Suite level leader at all. They know you have the CEO’s ear, so they respect your influence and use it to their advantage. However, unlike operations, finance or information, the scope of what a COS has authority over remains fluid and unspecific. What is your wheelhouse? How do you wield authority in such vague dynamics? What’s the strategy when you are responsible for everything and well…nothing.
My experience:
As I mentioned in the forum discussion, I had the responsibility of every area of my principal’s businesses. The expectation was that I had my hand on the pulse of everything corporately as well as personal. Yet, with all the responsibility, it was not (initially) tempered with any of the authority. Most would take my directives with a grain of salt unless I added the precursor:
As per, [insert boss name here].
After a while that got old. I had influence thus power, so I used that to get things done at first. Eventually, though, I took authority (it sounds more bad a*s than it was…lol). In some cases, I borrowed authority. It was simply “do it “ and say sorry later if need be. What does that look like on a day to day basis? What strategic steps did I make to accomplish this? Here are three critical moves, that slowly solidified my place in the organization and established my role as COS.
1. Change the optics. Changing how you see your role will help change how others see it. You can’t be a “grasshopper” in your own eyes and expect to come off as a giant in the organization. So again, change the optics of how you see you and then how others see you. First, I recommend not referring to yourself as simply an individual. Directly and indirectly, refer to yourself as an “office”. Even if it’s an office of one or two, You are in the Office of the Chief of Staff. Your assistant should answer your phone, Good Morning, this is the Office of the Chief of Staff, how may I direct your call..etc.. Steering the attention away from the person and placing the spotlight on the “office” can be a shift that helps your colleagues feel the weight of what you bring to the table. Next, if you were promoted from another administrative role, you must STOP being seen doing the tasks attached to that role. It is easy to fall into assisting your successor. Train them and then move out of the way. Step into your current role leaving those former responsibilities to the new person. You need to be observed operating at a different level. When others bring you tasks that you are no longer responsible for, quickly punt it to the rightful owner keeping the requestor in the loop which teaches them that where you were, is not where you are.
2. Be an initiator. Reach out to your companies key players. Regardless of where you fall on the org chart, the premise is to present yourself as a colleague versus a subordinate. Set up time over coffee or a lunch meeting. Keeping the meeting seemingly informal, helps others to let down their guard. The mindset should be it’s just “coffee”. However, be focused. Your goal here is to start the conversation with some of the relatable performance goals you are working on in the “Office of the Chief of Staff”. Then, prepare to LISTEN. Ask leading questions that may give insight as to how you can better liaison between this leader and the CEO. Listen for pain points and long-standing obstacles. After the meeting, send a thank you email that includes 2–3 bullets lightly summarizing what THEY talked about and how your office can team with them in the future to help. Do it in a way that doesn’t come off as if your meeting was simply to find out intel to get into their departmental business. Something like “Shawn, while you were sharing about the cost savings you need to realize this year, I thought of a few ways that my office could help implement some cost saving initiatives that could help you realize your goals”. When people know that they have been heard by you, they will seek to hear what matters to you. Invitations to formal meetings where you will be included in planning and strategy will most likely be initiated by them because of your insight. As Stephen Covey said, “seek first to understand and then to be understood.”
3. Stop asking for permission. As mentioned in the initial quote from a Chief of Staff…
“A COS is highly influential and has close “proximity to power,” but rarely owns anything outright”.
Seek projects that you can own from start to finish and complete with excellence. You’ve got to NAIL the project so choose carefully. I recommend at least one major project and two smaller projects annually. It can be a reorganization of a process, the creation of a template, document or operations system that will make the flow of tasks easier. It can be one of the larger corporate events, such as the annual retreat, company all hands meeting or creating a corporate news publication. Which one did I do? ALL OF THEM. How did I get my arms around what needed to be done? I learned it in the one-on-ones. For example, the CHRO shared over coffee that planning the annual meeting always fell at the same time as they had open enrollment for health care which was a MAJOR undertaking. I simply said, let me own that piece for you so you can focus on open enrollment. So instead of her whole team being tied up for the meeting planning, I only needed one of her team members to get me up to speed and I took it from there. This is an example of “borrowed authority”. Because I was working on a project that “HR” normally handled, I used their authority to get the budget approved and the tasks managed. When it came time for the meeting, her team was there to volunteer and support while all the details were already handled. Guess who now had an ally in the HR Dept and among the C-suite leadership? Me. The strategy worked again and again for all types of strategic and planning projects. Until soon certain projects became owned by my office. If it so happened that I assumed when I shouldn’t have or took on a project that my CEO would rather I didn’t, then I apologized, see the project through and keep it moving. Create your own job description gathering authority as you go.
####
Camille D. Jamerson is a global speaker, author & entrepreneur. She is the Senior Consultant and CEO of CDJ & Associates a boutique management consulting firm. As a former AA, EA, Chief of Staff and Head of Global Offices she lends her years experience and expertise as the admin of the LinkedIN Chief of Staff-The New C-Suite Leader group.
Her amazing assistant, Reema handles her wacky calendar and about 76–94% of the rest of her life as well. Reema can be reached at info@cdjandassociates.com to book CDJ for your next event, conference or workshop!
