Start with an Activity Inventory, a process I learned from Dan Sullivan at Strategic Coach. Imagine someone followed you around for a month and filmed everything you did. List every task the camera would capture, then sort each one into a category:
- I (Incompetent): you struggle with it.
- C (Competent): you are okay at it.
- E (Excellent): you do it very well, but you don’t love it.
- UA (Unique Ability): you do it best, and you would do it for free.
Sort Your Own Tasks First
I’m excellent at sales, but I don’t love selling, so sales is an E for me. My Unique Ability is speaking and coaching. Running operations overwhelms me, because I have a million ideas I want to start. That work needs someone else.
Clear the Low Categories
Stop doing your I and C tasks right away. Outsource them, optimize them, automate them, delegate them, or hire an Executive Assistant. Then take the higher-value work you don’t love and that an EA or regular employee can’t handle, and put it in one bucket. That bucket becomes the job description for your second-in-command.
Check Whether You Need a COO Yet
If your inventory points to one function, you may need a strong VP of finance, IT, marketing, or sales instead. That person is cheaper and easier to find, and easier to exit once the job is done. However, if the inventory leaves you with multiple overflowing buckets, you need a coordinating leader to orchestrate them all. A COO is a much bigger commitment than a functional head, so get it right.
Bottom Line
The Activity Inventory turns a vague feeling of overload into a job description.
To see how the COO role works and how it partners with the CEO, download the free guide, The Misunderstood Role of COOs.
