Most Important Skills for a Finance Chief of Staff at PagerDuty
A Chief of Staff in finance requires strong organizational and prioritization skills to manage competing demands, as "so many different things come at me all at once". The ability to operate with ambiguity, finding solutions with limited information and communicating concisely to high-level executives, is also crucial for success in this demanding role.
Organization, Prioritization, Problem-Solving, Communication, Ambiguity Management
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Andrew La Follette
Chief of Staff, Finance
PagerDuty
University of Arizona, 2012
UCLA MBA
Political Science, American Studies
Technology
Finance
Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Transfer Student
Video Highlights
1. Organization and prioritization are crucial skills for managing multiple tasks and projects effectively. A Chief of Staff role demands juggling various responsibilities, requiring excellent organizational skills and the ability to prioritize tasks based on their criticality and deadlines.
2. Operating with ambiguity and limited information is a key skill. The ability to independently problem-solve, seek out necessary information, and efficiently analyze situations is crucial in a fast-paced environment where detailed guidance may not always be available.
3. Concise and comprehensive communication is essential for interacting with senior executives and various organizational levels. Effectively conveying complex information succinctly to busy decision-makers is critical for a Chief of Staff
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
Yes, there are a few. Number one, as I've mentioned in previous videos, is organization. There are so many different things coming at me all at once. It's not just coming in and doing a set number of things every day that looks the same.
I could get a project that's different one day and then a completely different project thrown at me the next week. Things come up that take priority, so you have to be on your toes. To do that, you have to be super organized.
You have to write things down, take notes, make to-do lists, and prioritize those lists. That leads me to the second skill that I think is critical in this role: prioritization. Again, with so many different things, you can't do them all at once.
You really have to figure out what's the most important thing and how critical it is to getting done within a certain amount of time. So, prioritizing and organization are two foundational skills for me.
The other one that you might not get in a ton of roles is operating with ambiguity and a little bit of information. By that, I mean I'll get projects, but there's not a lot of information to go with them. It's kind of like, "Here's the problem we're trying to solve, and here's a little bit of information. Now, Andrew, you have to go forth and solve the problem."
You have to figure out what more information you need, where to find it, how to document it, how to approach it, and how to analyze it. Operating with ambiguity is super critical in a role like a chief of staff.
The executive that a chief of staff supports doesn't have the time necessarily to walk you through all the really fine details. So, you really have to have a motivational personality to get things done.
And then the last thing is communication. Communication is very key, especially in all parts of the organization, but particularly at the VP and above level. These folks are designing the strategy for the company and ensuring things are running smoothly.
They don't necessarily have the time for you to walk them in excruciating detail through how you came to a solution. They want to know the major things they need to know in the shortest amount of time so they can digest that and give their input and thoughts.
Being able to communicate in a concise but comprehensive way is absolutely pivotal in a chief of staff role.