If you’re in the corporate space, you might have heard the term ‘Chief Strategy Officer’ floating around the job boards.
Chief Strategy Officers are becoming increasingly popular for two main purposes: the creation of business strategies and the execution of business strategies. Within those two central needs, CSO’s are taking on more specific roles to improve enterprise performance on various levels. It is important to understand that CSO’s are changing the corporate executive structure and are allowing companies to operate more smoothly and efficiently at every level of the organization. Let’s review the diverse responsibilities that CSO’s are taking on today, and why every company should use their CSO wisely.
There are many types of CSO’s that vary among the different departments in an organization and also differ in their role description. A lot of company’s might use the CSO role as consultant, specialist or bring them on to help a company adapt to a big change.
The type of CSO’s that we are focusing on in this article, are being brought in to organizations for two reasons.
To help the CEO plan the strategy
Execute the plan and make sure that the whole company is aligned and collaborating around this strategy
The CSO’s main goal is to make sure that the company they have been hired by will reach their own goal, whatever it maybe.
These CSO’s take on the role of the “executor” who oversee the creation and communication when formulating a strategy, they are responsible for making sure that the plan is executed and completed with precision. They also ensure that everyone acting within the strategy is communicating with one another so that small, frivolous mistakes aren’t made. Chief Strategy Officers usually try to split their time evenly between strategy planning and execution. That being said they often lean towards the executions side just that little bit more, as the way to see if your strategy pan works is to make sure it is executed.
This role is sophisticated and CSO’s need to think, plan and write down every single step through. No matter how experienced they are or how long they have been working, they are going to need some help, this is where tools or programs come in use. A lot of CSO’s use either external consultants or they use tools in order to distribute their plans and goals. A goal planning or tracking tool is very useful, when collaborate with those accountable for resolving risks.
From what we’ve seen, the role of the Chief Strategy officer’s is rising throughout enterprises. The tools and software they’re using are their weapons and with them they are able to execute their plans and strategy in order to help enterprises to the next level.
By Shani Ravidi