Are you an agile problem-solver?
What was the last big problem you solved? Were you the one to uncover this issue? Did you reveal the root cause? Did you ensure the same problem will not happen again in the future? Did you put in place monitoring measures that will alert staff quickly the next time a similar problem arises?
Becoming an COO basically means becoming a business stakeholder who wants to make the organisation as efficient as it can be. For that, you need a thorough cross-disciplinary understanding, according to an article on the cfo.com website.
What is also key for this role is your point of view. As the COO, you need to assess non-financial questions, such as how best to manage human capital performance. Once again, this role requires an inquisitive personality. You need to form a foundation of knowledge on a wide variety of topics.
You will need to have a strong opinion about:
- business approaches
- technology trends
- general economic climate
In short, you will need to have a good idea of how to address all vital factors.
All this leads to becoming a trusted leader
You will have to put together a vision, one that is based on your points of view on many areas. Connect these points of view into an overall theme: this will be your vision of how to approach doing business.
Would your business partners describe you as being capable of having multiple points of view? Do they see you as someone who is able to put together a coherent strategy?
To conclude, when you are the COO, you need to be curious in order to find root causes of problems and also to be able to form your own points of view on key areas of the business.
-jk-