Is it time for a Chief of Staff? An Executive Leverage Diagnostic

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Quiz Questions

1.
How often are you pulled into issues, decisions, or meetings that could move forward without your direct involvement?
- A.
  Rarely
- B.
  Sometimes
- C.
  Often
- D.
  Almost always
2.
How often do day-to-day demands crowd out the strategic work only you can do?
- A.
  Rarely
- B.
  Sometimes
- C.
  Often
- D.
  Almost always
3.
How often do important priorities lose momentum without your attention?
- A.
  Rarely
- B.
  Sometimes
- C.
  Often
- D.
  Almost always
4.
How often do decisions stall because people are waiting for your input, approval or direction?
- A.
  Rarely
- B.
  Sometimes
- C.
  Often
- D.
  Almost always
5.
How often do you find yourself connecting dots across teams or functions that you believe someone else should be seeing?
- A.
  Rarely
- B.
  Sometimes
- C.
  Often
- D.
  Almost always
6.
How often do competing priorities reach you before they’ve been sorted or reconciled?
- A.
  Rarely
- B.
  Sometimes
- C.
  Often
- D.
  Almost always
7.
How often do you wish you had a trusted thought partner who understood the full picture and could challenge your thinking candidly?
- A.
  Rarely
- B.
  Sometimes
- C.
  Often
- D.
  Almost always
8.
How often do you need someone who can represent your priorities and perspective credibly when you are not in the room?
- A.
  Rarely
- B.
  Sometimes
- C.
  Often
- D.
  Almost always
9.
How often are you surprised by issues, resistance or organizational dynamics that you wish someone had surfaced earlier?
- A.
  Rarely
- B.
  Sometimes
- C.
  Often
- D.
  Almost always
10.
How often does the complexity surrounding your role feel greater than the leadership capacity immediately around you?
- A.
  Rarely
- B.
  Sometimes
- C.
  Often
- D.
  Almost always

Quiz Outcomes

1.
Your Leadership Leverage Is Working
Right now, the evidence doesn't suggest that you need a Chief of Staff.You appear to have enough capacity and support to stay focused on the work that requires your leadership, while letting the organization operate without making you the center of every decision.That's a good place to be.Your opportunity is to protect it.As your organization grows, watch for changes in three areas:More decisions beginning to flow through youStrategic priorities losing momentum without your attentionIncreasing organizational complexity requiring you to connect more of the dots personallyThose are often early signals that the leadership model that worked at one stage may not be enough for the next.Your next move:Keep strengthening delegation, decision rights, and accountability across your leadership team. Revisit this diagnostic as the scope or complexity of your role changes.A Resource for Your Next StepIf your results have you thinking differently about the support you need, Who Has Your Back? will help you understand what a great Chief of Staff can make possible. It offers practical guidance on what you need from the role and how to build a partnership that creates real leadership leverage.Explore Who Has Your Back? on AmazonWant to go deeper?I'm Laurie Arron, an executive coach, former Chief of Staff, and best-selling author. I spent 27+ years in leadership at AT&T and served as Chief of Staff to three senior executives. Today, I advise senior leaders and Chiefs of Staff on building the clarity, trust, and operating partnerships that allow both the leader and the organization to perform at their best.
2.
Your Leadership Capacity Is Starting to Get Stretched
You may not need a Chief of Staff today, but signs suggest your role's demands are beginning to outgrow your current support structure.You may be spending more time than you should coordinating, following up, resolving competing priorities, or staying close to work that doesn't truly require you.Individually, none of these issues necessarily call for a Chief of Staff.Together, they can signal the beginning of an executive leverage gap.Before hiring, look closely at where the pressure is coming from.Is this primarily a delegation problem?A leadership team issue?Unclear decision rights?Insufficient operational support?Or is the role becoming complex enough that you need someone to operate across those boundaries with you?That distinction matters.Your next move:Identify the three activities currently consuming the most senior-level time that don't require your unique leadership. If those issues are largely cross-functional, strategic, and persistent, it may be time to explore the Chief of Staff role more seriously.A Resource for Your Next StepIf your results have you thinking differently about the support you need, Who Has Your Back? will help you understand what a great Chief of Staff can make possible. It offers practical guidance on what you need from the role and how to build a partnership that creates real leadership leverage.Explore Who Has Your Back? on AmazonWant to go deeper?I'm Laurie Arron, an executive coach, former Chief of Staff, and best-selling author. I spent 27+ years in leadership at AT&T and served as Chief of Staff to three senior executives. Today, I advise senior leaders and Chiefs of Staff on creating greater leadership leverage, stronger executive partnerships, and clearer ways of working.
3.
You Have an Executive Leverage Gap
Your results suggest that the issue isn't simply that you're busy.Your role may have reached a level of complexity where too much organizational activity still depends directly on you.You may be acting as the connector, decision point, escalation path, priority-setter, and follow-up mechanism across too many parts of the organization.That limits your leverage.A strong Chief of Staff doesn't simply remove tasks from your plate. The role can create capacity around the leader by helping priorities move, decisions flow, issues surface earlier, and teams stay connected to what matters most.The right Chief of Staff can also provide something increasingly rare at senior levels: a trusted partner who understands the whole picture, tells you the truth, and helps you see around corners.Your next move:Start by defining where you need the most leverage before writing a job description.Ask:What would I stop doing?What needs to move faster without me?Where do things currently fall between organizational seams?Where do I need a thought partner rather than another direct report?Those answers should shape the Chief of Staff role.A Resource for Your Next StepYour results suggest there is a meaningful gap between what your role requires and the leverage currently surrounding you.Before hiring a Chief of Staff, the most important work is clarifying where you need leverage, what you need this person to own, and how the role should operate alongside you and the rest of your leadership team. My book, Who Has Your Back? can help you think through those decisions.Explore Who Has Your Back? on AmazonWant to go deeper?I'm Laurie Arron, an executive coach, former Chief of Staff, and best-selling author. I spent 27+ years in leadership at AT&T and served as Chief of Staff to three senior executives. Today, I advise senior leaders and Chiefs of Staff on creating the clarity, trust, and operating partnerships that increase leadership capacity and organizational effectiveness.If you'd rather talk through what you're seeing in your organization and whether a Chief of Staff is the right answer, I'd be happy to have that conversation.
4.
It May Be Time for a Chief of Staff
Your results point to something bigger than a time-management problem.Your current leadership model may no longer be sufficient for the complexity surrounding your role.When too many decisions, relationships, priorities, and organizational signals depend on one senior leader to connect them, leadership capacity becomes a constraint on the organization.A strong Chief of Staff can help change that.Not by simply taking work away from you, but by extending your leadership capacity.The right person can help you:Protect your attention for the work only you can doKeep strategic priorities movingSurface issues before they become escalationsImprove decision flow across the organizationConnect dots across teams and stakeholdersServe as a trusted thought partner and truth-tellerRepresent your priorities when you cannot be in every roomThe question now may be less "Do I need help?" and more: "What kind of leverage do I need next?"Your next move:Before you hire, clarify the problem you want the Chief of Staff to solve, the authority the role will have, and what success should look like 6 to 12 months from now.A Resource for Your Next StepBefore hiring a Chief of Staff, the most important work is clarifying what you need the role to accomplish, where you need greater leverage, and how the partnership should work. Who Has Your Back? is my practical guide for leaders considering, hiring, or working with a Chief of Staff.Explore Who Has Your Back? on AmazonWant to go deeper?I'm Laurie Arron, an executive coach, former Chief of Staff, and best-selling author. I spent 27+ years in leadership at AT&T and served as Chief of Staff to three senior executives. Today, I advise senior leaders and Chiefs of Staff on building partnerships and operating models that increase leadership capacity and organizational impact.If you'd like to talk through what the role could look like in your organization, let's have a conversation.