The Operations Room: A Podcast for COO’s

In this episode we discuss: "Revolutionising Workplace Honesty: The Radical Candor Experiment". Our special guest is Ben Gateley, CEO at CharlieHR. Ben is an outspoken champion of positive workplace culture and is a passionate advocate for all things “people”. 

Bethany and I discuss the following:

• Praising publicly and criticising privately
• Giving criticism within 24 hours 
• Killing the “shit” sandwich
• What to do with moaning 
• The synergy between asking for feedback and giving feedback
• Coaching vs. Evaluation feedback
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We discuss the following with Ben:

• What made you decide to implement Radical Candor? 
• How did you implement Radical Candor? What were the learnings? 
• How do you now build and operationalise a strong culture of feedback? 
• What is the cultural difference between the UK and US styles? Why does it matter? 
• To what degree do values matter in developing a strong culture of feedback? 
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References: 

Ben’s podcast with Kim Scott: The Culture Ops Podcast: How do you build a culture where people “care personally” ?

Legal law firm for scaleups that Brandon used: Harper James

Biography: 

Ben is the CEO and co-founder of CharlieHR: an HR software used by thousands of small businesses worldwide. He has started and grown a number of successful companies since his teenage years — including BORN SOCIAL, one of the most successful social media agencies for challenger brands in the world. 

In this episode we unpack the topic of: Nurturing High-Performance Leadership Teams. Our special guest is Becca Sweetman, a leadership team coach who has worked across leading VC backed organisations like Kano, MOO and Babylon Health. We discuss the following: 

• What is a high performing team? How do you achieve it? 
• What is the PERILL framework and why is that a good one to use? 
• How do you do an audit of leadership team performance? 
• How do you work through areas of tension between two leadership team members? 
• How can psychometric or behavioral analysis tools help in understanding team members' preferences and work styles?
• With limited time for leadership to “gel” in a scale-up, how do you accelerate that process?
• What is your view on the PERILL and Lencioni approaches to team performance? Which approach do you think would be more effective in a startup environment? 
• Can you share any strategies or techniques that can foster a safe and productive environment for team discussions?
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References: 

Website - https://www.beccasweetman.com/teamcoaching

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccasweetman/

Biography: 

Becca works with Founders and Exec teams to support the successful transition from Series A to Series B. Combining her experience in executive coaching, strategy at McKinsey and operational leadership in startups (Kano, MOO, Babylon Health) she is uniquely positioned to provide both high level support and get into the practical details of what it takes to succeed. Becca works mostly with impact driven companies as an Executive & Team Coach, Advisor or NED.

In this episode we unpack the topic of: Navigating Leadership Team Success and Transitions. Our special guest is Maddies Fox, a guru in leadership development across venture-backed organisations including  Blippar, Lantum and Mixcloud. We discuss the following: 

• How do you set-up a COO for success when they join the organisation? 
• Do job titles matter and how important is transparency around levels in early stage companies?
• What does good look like in exiting a leadership team member? How should you approach the conversations? What are the potential snags? 
• How should you communicate a leadership exit to the organisation? 
• How can an organization balance its obligation to support employee growth with the individual's responsibility to be proactive in their own development?
• How can organizations ensure that their values and actions align when hiring a new leadership team member? 
• Why is self-awareness a critical determinant of leadership success?
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References: 

For leaders who are interested in doing the work, this book is something I would definitely recommend - 

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442174/the-man-who-mistook-his-job-for-his-life-by-shragai-naomi/9780753558331 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddie-fox/

Biography: 

Maddie has over 20 years experience in HR and Learning & Development working with various organizations from corporate to fast growing tech, in Europe, the US and Australia. She is an ICF accredited executive coach, leadership and HR consultant with a wide range of experience, however specialising in developing leaders from emerging leaders to seasoned CEO’s, building high-performing sustainable teams and helping clients successfully navigate change. Her style is eclectic, using research, theory and direct experiences to ensure individuals find ways to effectively embed new behaviours, build resilience and deliver results. More recently she has been working in VC backed start-ups, series A-B, working for mostly founder led businesses as a Chief People Officer, Leadership Coach and Advisor. Clients include Blippar, Lantum, Trint, Mixcloud, amongst others. 

In this episode we discuss the topic of: Decoding the CEO-COO Relationship: Strategies to Thrive Our special guest is Scott Gellman, COO of Nowsta. We discuss the following:

• How do you think the role of a COO differs from that of a CFO in terms of responsibilities and dynamics with the CEO
• How do you think the power dynamic between CEO and COO can affect decision-making and the overall functioning of an organization?
• How can effective communication positively impact the working relationship between a CEO and a COO?
• How do you think gender dynamics can influence the working relationship between a CEO and a COO?
• Why do you think managing the relationship with the CEO during difficult times or crises is particularly crucial in maintaining an effective working relationship?
• What interview questions do you think would be important to ask to assess compatibility and potential challenges in the working relationship?
• What do you think are some key principles for establishing and maintaining a successful working relationship between a CEO and a COO?
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References: 

The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter. https://amzn.eu/d/0YDQcpH

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-gellman-9622634/

In this episode we discuss the topic of: Why licensing 170 SaaS tools is a great idea! Our special guest is Joe Aurilia, Jr., Senior VP Operations at Cyware. As a former CIO, Joe comes at the COO role from a really interesting angle. We discuss the following:

• Why 170 SaaS applications in an organisation with 270 employees?
• What does best practice look like in the procurement process? What should it look like in a smaller organisation?
• How do you ensure ownership ensuring the organisation is receiving the expected value from a given tool?
• How do you ensure you don't miss a critical feature or integration requirement?
• What are your pet peeves when it comes to vendor support?
• How has your previous role as CIO informed your thinking as COO?
• How do you not slow down by putting so much process in place?
• Do suppliers need to have both SOC 2 and ISO certification?
• What tools do you like in the cross-functional space?
• When would you recommend getting an organisation wide orchestration tool?
• How are you handling renewals and the increase in costs? 
• If you had to cut your SaaS spending by 20% tomorrow, what would you do? 
• What do you think about sales tools where there is often a lot of overlap in functionality but they also tend to do one thing quite well? 
• How do you ensure data integrity from a COO lens, if you don’t have direct ownership of the rev ops data stack? 
• What are your favorite SaaS apps that you can’t live without? 
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References: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephauriliajr/

Biography: Joe is a seasoned operations executive with over 20 years dedicated to technical and operational leadership.  He has served in a wide variety of roles in both corporate and startups all focusing on core technology and operational excellence.  Throughout his career Joe has executed operational and technical strategies key to business expansion, successful funding rounds, and extensive company growth.

While a technologist at heart, Joe’s most recent ventures have placed him in core roles responsible for enabling operational scalability.  A focus on successful team alignment has resulted in explosive people growth and international expansion.

Joe has led a variety of Operations teams including Technology Operations, Contract Operations, Revenue Operations, People Operations, Security Operations, PMO, and Talent Acquisition. Key to success of each has been the empowering of teams to reach beyond expected boundaries and achieve higher limits.

When not working you will find Joe enjoying the exploration of new places, hiking local trails, and chasing his little one around. He is also a firm believer there is no such thing as rewatching Marvel movies too many times.

In this episode we unpack the topic of: What are the five traits of successful COO’s? Our special guest is Charlene Chen, a key figure in the startup operations community and former COO of Lantum and AZA Finance. We discuss the following: 

• How do different personalities and styles of Ops leaders contribute to the overall success of a company?
• In what ways do Ops leaders act as the connective tissue of a company? 
• How can communication breakdown be addressed as a company scales and teams become siloed?
• What are the key responsibilities of Ops leaders in terms of internal communications?
• How does the performance of teams who don't directly report to a COO reflect on their success and failure?
• Why is it challenging for COOs to measure their value and articulate their impact in an OKR format?
• How do consultants-turned-Ops leaders approach problem-solving differently from those without a consulting background?
• Why is self-awareness important for COOs and operations leaders in identifying their strengths and weaknesses?
• How does resourcefulness play a significant role in the success of COOs, especially in times of crisis or limited resources?
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References: 

Ops Fest 2023 brings together operations communities from all corners of the globe. 

https://operationsnation.com/events/international-ops-fest/communities

Key traits of a COO

• Generalist - Jacks and Jills of all trades covering multiple functions
• Hourglass-Shaped - Ability to zoom out to do strategy but zoom in to design minute processes
• Gluey - The connective tissue of a company, filling the gaps in and between cross-functional teams
• Resourceful - Making do with little human or financial capital 
• Humble - Work hard behind the scenes with little credit given (not as glorified as engineers and salespeople)
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Biography: Charlene Chen has over 15 years of operational leadership experience working with a variety of organisations ranging from tech startups to international non-profits to Fortune 500 companies. She began her career as an IT consultant at Deloitte Consulting, but spent 8 years focused on operational leadership of socially impactful venture-capital backed businesses in the fintech and healthtech industries. Charlene was co-founder and COO of AZA Finance (formerly BitPesa), former COO of Lantum, and is Co-Founder of Operations Nation, a community-led digital hub for Ops-specific content, resources, and training.

In this episode we discuss the topic of: Generative AI & the Impact on the COO role. Our special guest is Aarti Samani, an experienced executive leader with a fascinating career in AI, spanning investment banking and high growth technology businesses. We discuss the following: 

• How does a smaller, tech-enabled company get started? 
• Who should own the quality of data ingested into a generative AI model? 
• Is it good enough to throw a bit of policy around the use of chatGPT and how SaaS tools with generative-based features should be used? 
• Is it realistic to think more broadly around orchestration of organisational data and insights for the business right now, given where these products are at? 
• Are we talking about a Snowflake - Looker type solution for generative AI? 
• What is a sensible, phased approach? 
• How should you think about internal communications and training
• What would you say to the COO that is heads down on the business and feels guilty about not spending enough time thinking about how to leverage AI? 
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References: 

• Coral, from cohere.com, a knowledge assistant to increase productivity of strategic teams: https://txt.cohere.com/introducing-coral/
• Aarti Samani LI.  Reach out for complementary discovery call to discuss how to accelerate your business growth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aartisamani/
• Fiverr AI Services for cost effective, on-demand experts to help you integrate Generative AI in your products or leverage Generative AI productivity services for business efficiency:  https://www.fiverr.com/cp/ai-services
• Nuclia to help you harness unstructured data from various sources, to create chatbots, knowledge hubs and more:  https://nuclia.com/what-you-can-build/
• Runway Finance to consolidate all inputs for more precise and easier financial modelling and forecasting : https://runway.com/
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Biography: Aarti is an experienced executive leader with a fascinating career in AI, spanning Investment Banking and High growth technology businesses. She has successfully scaled three venture backed organizations, two of which exited to Microsoft and Medtronic. The third is a global category leader in the biometrics and identity verification sector. 

Aarti’s innate ability to connect disparate macro and micro data points, has allowed her to align all business functions to accelerate growth.  Founder of Shreem Growth Partners, Aarti works with visionary founders bringing innovative AI based solutions to market.

Aarti’s acumen and industry success led Cranfield School of Management to name her a Woman to Watch for board positions. A meditator, traveler and cancer survivor, Aarti’s journey continues to inspire. 

In this episode we discuss the topic of: How does a co-founder COO survive and thrive? Our special guest is Tom Mundy, is the COO of Goodlord which has scaled to over 350 employees, raising more than £50m in capital and turning over tens of millions of pounds.

• How did you end up being COO? Why was that the right title? 
• What were the inflection points for your growth?
• How did you manage to survive for the last 8 years given the ups and downs? 
• What is your view on mentorship? 
• What is a good investor and what does it matter? 
• What is the role of the COO when it comes to unit economics? 
• How have you dealt with burnout? 
• Given you were learning on the job, how did you think about ownership of functions? 
• What happened in that first conversation when the new CEO entered the business? 
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Biography: Tom started his first business when he was 14 selling fudge at a market stall. He carried on starting businesses throughout university and finally found his calling in tech at the age of 24 where he co-founded Goodlord. During his time at Goodlord as COO he helped the business scale to over 350 employees, raising more than £50m in capital and turning over tens of millions of pounds.

In this episode we discuss the topic of: How does a COO work effectively with the board? Our special guest is Keith Wallington, the former COO of Mimecast and currently Chairperson working across five B2B SaaS organisations. Keith lays out “what good looks like” in board stewardship for growth stage businesses. He also lifts the hood on expectations for the COO.

• What do you know now that you wish you had known as a COO?
• What do you want from a COO in board meetings
• How much do you tow the line if you are disagreeing with your CEO when in front of the board?
• If you see a CEO and COO always agreeing in board meetings is that a red flag or do you assume they are simply well aligned.
• What's the role of the board in the hiring process for a COO?
• Should the entire exec team be a part of the board and what role should the COO play?
• How should the COO prepare for a board meeting, without killing themselves in the process?
• Do you feel like COOs should have a close relationship with the chairperson?
• What's your advice to the COO’s dealing with an old skool board?
• To minimise board reporting effort can you simply re-purpose reporting you already do with the exec team and wider company? 
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References: 

10 tips for running board meetings as efficiently as Hanno Renner, CEO of Personio

Biography: 

Keith has led strategy and execution in technology businesses since the 1990’s, driving growth in Europe, the USA and Africa: His experience in driving online business models spans Retail Banking, Telecommunications, Online Live Broadcasting, Software and Software as a Service (SaaS): he has led online initiatives at businesses including Microsoft, Standard Bank, Omnicom/TBWA, MTN Group, Truphone and Mimecast.

From 2008 – 2014 Keith spent 6 years driving growth at Mimecast, best in class and global leader in SaaS based email security, archiving and continuity: Here he assumed a number of C Level roles, including COO, spanning most of the business from Marketing to Customer Experience to Technical Operations as he championed scalable, efficient growth during this phase of hyper growth (from $6m to over $110m Annual Recurring Revenue) and global expansion from the UK base. 

After preparing Mimecast for IPO Keith refocused his attention to support businesses on their growth journey. Keith invests in and assumes board roles with Series A to Growth stage companies. He engages directly and also collaborates with Venture Capital and Private Equity teams to co-invest and add depth to portfolio company boards.

In this episode we discuss the topic of a growth mindset and how that informs the COO role. Our special guest is David Norris, a three time COO for venture-backed organisations. David talks about managing critical feedback, personal growth and the transition to Chief Growth Officer.

• How has studying theology informed the type of COO you are? 
• Is there a playbook for COO’s? 
• What does the transition from COO to Chief Growth Officer look like in an 800-person company? 
• What does the transition from a 16 person company to an 800 person company look like as COO? 
• What is the connection between personal growth and organisational growth? 
• How do you manage critical feedback? 
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Biography: David is a seasoned internet leader, having worked in online operational, product, marketing and strategy roles since the turn of the century, mainly in travel and hospitality, including 4 stints as Chief Operating Officer, 3 of which were scaling fast growth venture capital (VC) backed scaleups. He was later a venture capital investor at Forward Partners incubating idea stage startups and now focuses on strategy and marketing in his role as Chief Growth Officer at Holiday Extras. David is also Non-Executive Director at The Sports Trust and mentors startup founders. He is a fellow of the COO roundtable, a community for startup and scaleups to come together and learn. 

He has a degree in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Manchester and a Diploma in Company Direction from The Institute of Directors.   He lives with his family in Deal, Kent, UK.

Follow David at:

• Blog https://www.norrisnode.com 
• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidnorris 
• Substack https://norrisnode.substack.com/p/the-size-of-your-team-determines
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