A COO can spend years getting better at the job and still find the same problems one level down. The question is where the gap sits: in the COO’s own growth, or in the managers who report to them?

The two answers point to different tools, and COO Alliance and Invest in Your Leaders each fit one of them.

When The Gap Is The COO

The gap sits with the COO when the problems are new and nobody inside the company has faced them before. A President and COO at Hennessey Digital describes it as the difficulty of finding people who understand the daily challenges of the role.

COO Alliance is built for that case. It is a peer network of full-time COOs and second-in-command leaders, with monthly mastermind calls and in-person events. Members run a team that reports to them, at companies with at least $2 million in revenue.

It is not a course: COOs train by practicing with peers who have solved the same problems. A director at Kindred Bravely says she was surrounded by “people who know what I am facing at work.”

When The Gap Is The Managers

The gap sits with the managers when the same signs keep showing up:

• The team brings problems it could solve on its own
• Deadlines slip and projects run late
• Meetings drag, start late, or end without decisions
• Managers ask for more hires before checking how their time is spent

These are the problems the Invest in Your Leaders course addresses. It teaches managers to coach, delegate, run meetings, manage time, and interview, among twelve skills in all.

How The Course Works

Invest in Your Leaders is an online course taught by Cameron Herold, and each leader works through it at their own pace. Companies usually enroll the CEO, COO, and leadership team first, then anyone who manages others.

Clients describe the effect on managers. A COO at Kintec Footwear rolled the course out to five leaders because it is quick and comes with action points. The CEO of The Nomad Escape had trouble aligning her management team and saw results after one module.

Bottom Line

A peer group grows the COO, and training grows the managers around them. Pick the tool that matches the gap.

If the gap is the COO, learn more at cooalliance.com. If it is the managers, see the course at investinyourleaders.com.