Description
Chief of Staff to the Chief Governance Officer
Position Overview
The Chief of Staff is an executive-level role responsible for facilitat ing and oversee ing the functions of the Chief's senior team to ensure that the Chief is able t o maximize their focus and productivity to achieve their organizational goals. The Chief of Staff serves the Chief as a strategic and trusted advisor, including on confidential matters; as a collaborator in identifying and solving problems to achieve outcomes ; and as a credible voice/proxy.
The primary responsibilities of the Chief of Staff role include ensuring that the Chief's functional team operates with a high level of efficiency and discipline through organizing functional team systems; ensuring that the Chief's time is focused on their stated priorities and on functional areas with gaps in progress toward goals; and ensuring that the Chief has relevant, timely, and comprehensive data to make informed decisions. The Chief of Staff may directly manage members of the Chief's team, manage specific scopes of work or time bound projects, and facilitate the engagement of the Chief's senior team with the Board of Directors. The Chief of Staff to the Chief Governance Officer provides additional coaching and oversight on key projects for the lead team including but not limited to, board meeting preparation, legal fee review and analysis, drafting and reviewing a wide variety of documents (including correspondence, operating procedures, presentations, etc.) and providing critical feedback to areas that impact large groups of stakeholders, such as governance training and reporting. He/she plays the role of a critical end user, devil's advocate, and gatekeeper to ensure that the information shared by the governance team to staff and external parties is clear, compelling, and accessible and breaks down bureaucracy where necessary.
The Chief of Staff will manage complex situations and multiple responsibilities simultaneously, balancing long-term priorities with urgent demands. From the outset, the Chief of Staff must build trust with colleagues, and collaborate with and achieve results through influencing others. The Chief of Staff must be able to effectively manage highly confidential information and must be viewed as credible and reliable among the staff, the Board of Directors, and key external partners.
The Chief of Staff is the Chief's partner in prioritizing the most important work- both now and in the future- and creating time and space to ensure it gets done.
The Chief of Staff will:
• Act as a strategic thought partner, confidante, and sounding board for the Chief by helping them shape and advance their vision, providing them with the most relevant information , data analysis and decisions to be made while synthesizing, funneling, and filtering advice and perspective .
• Act as a strategic thought partner, confidante, and sounding board for leaders within the Chief's line of management, including Vice Presidents/Directors, as well as other Chiefs of Staff in the organization.
• Develop over time the in-depth knowledge, communication, and leadership skills to represent the Chief internally. The exceptional proxy represents the Chief when needed to gather and cascade information, seek input, or provide guidance .
• Coordinate and interact with senior leaders and executives and external partners as needed on a diverse range of strategic, operational, and organizational matters.
• Design and drive strategic initiatives and objectives of the organization , along with processes and projects in accordance with the directives of the Chief, senior leadership, the district charter, and Board of Directors.
• Design and implement systems of organization for repeated procedures, including setting responsibilities, coordinating functions among departments, and providing accountability for adherence.
• Prepare and/or contribute to the preparation of reports, proposals, briefings, presentations, and responses on functional or organizational data/outcomes.
• Anticipate problems and whenever possible resolve those by taking initiative independently or bringing options and recommendations to the Chief for engagement as needed.
• Act with sensitivity, empathy, or diplomacy as warranted, without shying away from honest communication with the Chief and colleagues.
• Inform the Chief of timely and relevant information, including diverse perspectives, during deliberation and decision-making.
• Communicate with a variety of audiences, primarily internal, and within a variety of contexts, including but not limited to functional progress toward goals, organizational priorities, and functional scopes of work that are in turnaround or other improvement modes.
The Chief of Staff will possess the following leadership qualities:
• Analytical , critical, conceptual thinking and problem -solving , along with the ability to coach and develop these in others .
• Organization, prioritization, follow through, and attention to detail using a variety of project and performance management tools and techniques .
• Emotional Intelligence- ability to build relationships, i nfluence others, manage conflict, and maintain composure even under intense pressure while interacting with the Chief and colleagues.
• Integrity - honest and ethical decision-making along with sound judgment and ability to maintain confidentiality .
• Communication - exceptional skills both verbal and written, including identifying and replicating someone else's "voice" to ensure consistency and clarity of expectations .
• Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities, challenges, with exceptional independence and requiring little supervision , along with shar ing opinions and direction without hesitation.
• Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
• Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
• Dependability/Consistency- Job requires timely delivery on all commitments.
• Anticipatory- Job requires thinking ahead and preparing for likely next steps or outcomes.
Required experience:
• Education: bachelor's degree required (master's degree preferred).
• Minimum experience: A minimum of 8 years (10 preferred) of successful experience: Education, and/or Organizational Administration , Authorizer , Board Relations, and/or Legal Affairs .
• Must have experience in strategy, analysis, project management, and interacting/influencing senior leaders.
• Certifications: PMP preferred, but not required
• High level of proficiency with the Office 365 suite.
• Proven experience translating data and metrics to action.
• Demonstrable experience managing high-profile projects.
• Robust written and verbal communication portfolio.
Supervisory Responsibilities: This position may have supervisory responsibilities to be determined in partnership with the Chief.
Location: This is a full-time (remote/on-site) position based in Texas with preference given to candidates who live in Austin, El Paso, Houston, Permian Basin (Midland/Odessa), Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, and Tarrant County (Fort Worth), or who are willing to relocate.
Travel Expectations are up to 25% at the busiest times of the year.
Compensation & Benefits: Salaries for people entering this role are commensurate with relevant experience and qualifications and in alignment with internal equity. This role is also eligible for performance pay based on organizational performance and goal attainment .
Additionally, we offer medical, dental, vision, and supplemental benefits as well as retirement plans and a generous vacation package. You can find more information about our benefits at https://ideapublicschools.org/careers/benefits/ .