What's The Role of An Effective CEO?

As a CEO, what is the role you should be playing to grow a thriving company, team and life?

In my previous 5 Minute Growth Tip article I discussed how improving your effectiveness as a CEO is critical to getting your executive team aligned, leading, executing and performing for your company to grow and thrive

The first step to doing this is getting clear on what your role is as a CEO.

Hint, it’s not fighting fires or solving problems for your leaders or managers.

The CEO’s role is ultimately to produce strong, sustainable and predictable company results by focusing on leading the executive team and company.

So what are we talking about in terms of results?

The obvious results are strong financials: revenue, strong profitability and return on invested capital.

But it goes beyond that. These kinds of lagging results are only sustainable and predictable if some other leading results (ie.predictive of the lagging results) are achieved. 

These include customer loyalty and employee engagement, and even more foundational results like leadership team and company talent quality (the percentage of leaders and employees who are A-players) and virtual bench strength (the number of A-player leaders outside the company that you maintain relationships with for when one of your leaders moves on).

​And how are these kinds of lagging and leading results achieved? By focusing on some critical CEO activities. They can be summarized in six areas:

1. Strategy and Planning

An effective CEO is accountable for the company’s long-term business strategy, establishing key organizational metrics and overseeing strategic development for business success. This includes understanding the market, customers, and determining the company’s differentiation. The CEO works with their executive team to develop annual and quarterly plans to execute on that strategic direction.

2. Team Development

A CEO is also responsible for ensuring clear expectations for their executive team members, hiring and retaining top talent, and ensuring new team members are sufficiently onboarded. They conduct regular feedback and development discussions, empowering their direct reports and establishing clear accountability. Ultimately they build a unified, high-performing executive team.

3. Organizational Communication

An effective CEO leads organizational communication by conducting monthly and weekly meetings, and daily huddles, with their executive team to coordinate the efficient execution of their plans. They work with their executive team to keep the middle managers and whole organization up to date on plans and progress through regular middle management meetings, company-wide town-halls and CEO updates.

4. Manage the Culture

A CEO is also responsible for managing the organizational culture by championing its purpose and core values. They welcome new employees, recognize core values in action, address breaches, generate excitement, and celebrate organizational successes.

5. Strategic Relationships

An effective CEO maintains connections with key advisors, terminates agreements with underperforming partners, and develops mutually beneficial strategic partnerships. They also cultivate a public profile for the organization.

6. Continuity Planning

A CEO also works with the executive team to regularly assess products and services at risk and identify actions to replace revenues. They evaluate new opportunities against documented criteria, appoint a clear internal CEO successor, and support their development.

Most CEOs of small to mid-size companies that we meet are only doing a fraction of these things. And they’re often achieving moderate and unpredictable results and/or feeling stretched thin and stressed out. 

Playing a true CEO role, focusing on these higher level, more proactive results and activities, may seem like an unachievable ideal. Yet, by working through the process step by step with a qualified business growth executive team coach, it can become a reality.

​We’ve seen it happen with clients we’ve worked with. We’ll share the journey of one of those clients in our next 5 Minute Growth Tip article.

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If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here.