Understanding The Difference Between A CAO Vs. COO
A chief administration officer (CAO) and chief operating officer (COO) are two executive positions that report directly to the company's top leader, the chief executive officer (CEO). CAOs relieve the CEO of tedious, time-consuming managerial duties, while a COO works to turn leadership’s ideas into action.
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Who Is A CAO?
A chief administrative officer is an executive leader who manages a company’s daily operations. Typically, they serve as heads of departments, such as human resources (HR), sales, finance, or any that take part in customer-facing interactions or other daily tasks.
A CAO reports to an organization's CEO and board of directors and helps the company improve performance by developing new policies, reviewing processes, preparing reports, and managing projects, updating critical stakeholders as they go.
Here are some other duties a CAO performs:
Setting key performance indicators (KPIs) for the organization’s departments and management
Training new managers
Evaluating managers
Attending regular meetings with board members and other C-suite executives
Who Is A COO?
A chief operating officer is an executive leader who oversees manufacturing, personnel, and sales within an organization. They operate at the executive level and may also work with other top-level executives to make strategic decisions for improving the efficiency of an organization’s operations.
They help prepare budgets, create financial reports, conduct employee performance reviews, and develop marketing campaigns that lead to growth and success. COOs also delegate tasks to the teams they manage and execute new strategies and programs that promote safety standards in the workplace.
Here are more responsibilities that a COO usually performs:
Managing banking and accounting processes
Developing plans to respond to organization losses
Creating business goals that please and help to keep clients
Attending meetings and conferences at national and international venues
Differences Between The Two Roles
Here are some ways the CAO and COO are different:
Focus
One primary difference between the CAO and COO is where each focuses their time. Since a CAO manages an organization's daily tasks, they typically focus on boosting specific elements of its operations. They can act as the head of particular departments, such as human resources and sales, to understand how they work and improve their processes.
A COO focuses more on the operations of the organization. Sometimes, they work on manufacturing and production processes to improve efficiency. Thus, a COO may help with projects, such as choosing upgrades for an organization's technology, finding new locations for manufacturing plants, and creating new processes for completing tasks that can improve productivity.
Skills
A CAO and COO also differ in the skills needed for their positions. Typically, a CAO has excellent communication and interpersonal skills that make their interactions with employees and clients positive and professional, which is valuable in their client-facing and HR responsibilities.
A COO typically requires extensive decision-making and strategic skills, even though their job entails improving technical operations, such as production and manufacturing. Also, they must have in-depth knowledge of business and marketing strategies that can shape how they design and guide the execution of new marketing initiatives.
A COO also must have excellent organization skills to oversee many departments or marketing initiatives in a business simultaneously, and they must devote adequate time and effort to each responsibility.
Interactions With The Chief Executive Officer
CAOs and COOs also differ in working with an organization’s CEO. Although both positions usually report to the CEO, the two leaders communicate differently.
For example, a CAO updates the CEO and holds meetings to brief them about specific departments and projects. A CAO may also promote communication between the CEO and other staff members or department heads by preparing reports and relaying messages.
For a COO, communication with the CEO is more direct and frequent. A COO is often the second in command at an organization. They usually serve the CEO by communicating updates, improvements, and strategies that affect the company.
Many COOs also look to CEOs for guidance in their career development because some COOs aspire to become CEOs in the future.
Where They Work
Another significant difference between the CAO and COO is their preferred type of organization. For example, CAOs often work in large corporations and interact with clients, including financial institutions, retail businesses, insurance companies, and other organizations serving customers.
COOs can work at any company, but often they work in large companies with a wide range of operations. That’s because the COO spends time focusing on performance and providing valuable insights into many business areas. For example, many COO positions exist at companies that engage in the production or manufacturing of products, as a COO oversees and improves these areas.
Final Thoughts
A CAO oversees an organization's daily operations and reports directly to the CEO. In comparison, the COO operates at the executive level and may work with other top-level executives to make strategic decisions to boost the efficiency of a business’s operations. Also, the CAO and COO differ in where they work and their interactions with the CEO.
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