The role of a COO: key duties and responsibilities

Picture your organisation like a sports team. Your CEO is the head coach, while the COO is the captain—this is a good way of understanding the role of the Chief Operating Officer.

Also known as a Chief Operations Officer or Vice President, a COO is a senior executive placed second in command to the CEO. Their primary responsibilities include supervising the company’s daily business operations, leading key initiatives and implementing company-wide strategies.

While the CEO formulates longer-term business strategies, the Chief Operations Officer executes them. This article breaks down the COO responsibilities for you. Enjoy.

What is a COO?

The chief operating officer's job is usually tailored to meet the company's plans. Since every company has its unique organisational structure and daily operational needs, a COO's responsibilities vary accordingly.

Essentially, the COO role involves:

leading the company alongside the chief executive officer

acting as a bridge between the executive team and other employees

building the company operational strategy and implementing it

training to become the next CEO

For example, if the CEO of an eCommerce brand creates a strategy for customer retention, then the COO will work with the customer servicing and marketing team to execute the primary action points.

Simply put, the CEO represents the company’s 'front of house' while the COO focuses on the company’s behind-the-scenes.

What are the duties of a COO?

Did you know that a COO earns an average yearly salary of £96,000? So, let's look at the responsibilities they have on their plate to land this paycheck.

The duties of a Chief Operating Officer differ for every company—depending on the industry, the company operations, size and business goals.

Here’s a list of all the key responsibilities and duties of the COO position:

1. Daily operations

Overseeing the day-to-day operations of the organisation should form a key part of every COO job description. This involves a great deal of coordination with all departments—primarily: business development, human resources, sales and marketing, legal and IT teams.

In managing the complete business administration, the COO supervises other senior executives—like the CFO, the CMO and the HR Director.

As part of daily operations, here are some key duties that the COO fulfils:

Setting up the company's recruitment standards

Reviewing the marketing efforts and outputs

Optimising business workflows for greater productivity

Performance & KPI management

2. Budgeting and financial planning

Unless a company has a Chief Financial Officer, the COO oversees the financial side of things as well. They engage in financial review and strategising plans to reach the company's revenue benchmarks.

The COO's role as interim CFO becomes more important when the CEO lacks financial expertise. This Operations Officer also looks into the purchase and sale of assets, industrial alliances and investments.

3. Administrative decision-making

The COO works with senior management and the board of directors to gauge the company's performance and plan for the future. They analyse every department to identify areas of improvement for increasing productivity.

The COO is also responsible for building partnerships with key stakeholders. They interact with clients, investors and partners, to unite and inform them about the company's progress while empathising with their viewpoint.

4. Business-critical travel

There will be occasions when the COO needs to travel in order to represent the company. This could be for top-level corporate sales meetings, investor meetings, acquisition planning or perhaps executive meetings if your business is globally distributed.

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What is the ideal skillset of a COO?

Individuals in the COO position bring years of extensive experience and often a highly academically qualified skillset. That being said, there’s hardly any career path that can train you purposefully for this role.

If you want to become a Chief Operating Officer, or are looking to hire one for your business, here's a list of skills you need to know about.

1. Leadership skills

Despite being second-in-command, COOs supervise most processes in an organisation. They interact with the majority of the workforce, guide all departments and their leaders and plan how to optimise different workflows for cross-collaborative teams.

To carry these responsibilities, you need somebody with a strong leadership aptitude. The candidate should bring a unique leadership style to the table and understand qualities like empathy, collaboration, delegation, emotional intelligence and influence.

2. Management skills

A COO handles everything from people to projects. They need to stay a step ahead and prepare for the future all the time. So, understanding organisational psychology and bringing out the best in every employee are necessary skills of a COO.

With so much on their plate, COOs have to be well-organised in their work. The ideal candidate should have expertise in project management, self-management and management tools.

3. Decision-making abilities

Another key part of the Chief Operating Officer's responsibilities is strategising. They offer intelligence and support to the CEO when making plans for the future. So, it’s important for them to have critical problem-solving skills, self-awareness and an understanding of the consequences of their decisions.

COOs have to cultivate a knack for decision-making to efficiently face every challenge the business faces, head-on.

4. Communication and coordination

A large part of the Chief Operating Officer’s duties lies in delegating and supervising. Communication plays a primary role in this task.

Together with effective leadership skills, the COO should also possess great communication skills. They have to create consensus, resolve disputes, bring people together and build collaboration between teams.

In fulfilling these responsibilities, the COO builds the company culture and maintains a team bond and morale while working remotely or in person.

5. Business acumen

COOs work at the very top of the business's organisational structure. They are responsible for taking the business forward by leveraging their experience and expertise. So, business acumen is a defining factor of a COO’s skillset.

This is where a Master’s in Business Administration (or similar) degree serves as a candidate assessment metric. Candidates with this qualification are often equipped with the right knowledge to take the company forward.

What are the different roles of a COO?

In a Harvard Business Review article, contributors Nathan Bennett and Stephen Miles talked at length about the multifaceted role of a COO. Here’s a look into the many hats a COO dons.

The Executor: the COO focuses on the company’s internal affairs and participates in activities that create enterprise value. They also work with a high level of prioritisation to supervise all departments and execute bigger plans—like taking the company public or preparing for an investors’ meet.

The Mentor: when the CEO is inexperienced or undergoing training, the COO acts as a mentor. They help the CEO transition into their role effectively. As a part of the management team, they also guide other employees.

The Partner: many companies use a co-CEO model where the COO shares the responsibilities of a CEO. It's more focused on an egalitarian model of work.

The MVP: this is a situation when the senior management team promotes an employee to the COO position. The promotion comes after the senior executive team has properly gauged the respective employee’s leadership potential and dedication to seeing the company succeed.

The Heir Apparent: bigger enterprises train the COO as the heir apparent to the CEO with the goal of a seamless succession when the time comes

The Change Agent: the COO becomes a change agent when they are hired to achieve or implement a very specific organisational change. They secure the role based on their ability to spearhead the new initiatives.

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Wrapping up on COOs

The Chief Operating Officer forms the backbone of any organisation. Responsible for managing daily operations and strategising for the big picture, the COO position is both highly rewarding and challenging.

They provide leadership and vision, operational efficiency and managerial support to take your team forward. So, whether you're looking for the perfect COO for your organisation or aspiring to become one, good luck!