Owners Say They Want a COO…Then Keep Doing the COO’s Job

I hear owners say they want a strong second-in-command because they want more time to think strategically, pursue another location, spend time with family, or simply stop being the person every operational issue depends on. Then they hire or promote a COO and continue approving every expense, talking directly to every manager, solving customer problems, changing priorities, and stepping back into the stores whenever something feels uncomfortable.

From the owner's perspective, it makes sense. You built the company. You know the people and the standards. You can often solve the problem faster. But every time the owner bypasses the COO, they send a message to the rest of the organization about where the real authority still lives. Eventually managers learn that the safest path is to wait for the owner, and the COO becomes responsible for results without fully owning the decisions required to produce them.

Letting a COO lead does not mean giving up control. It means changing how control is created. Instead of controlling every decision, the owner creates control through clear outcomes, financial boundaries, scorecards, operating standards, and a regular alignment rhythm with the COO. The owner should know what is happening without personally making everything happen.

This transition also requires the owner to tolerate a different leadership style. A capable COO may communicate differently, structure meetings differently, or make a decision the owner would have approached another way. The question is not whether the COO becomes a copy of the owner. The question is whether they protect the company's values, produce the required outcomes, and make sound decisions inside the agreed guardrails.

A COO can only create owner freedom when the owner is willing to transfer meaningful responsibility and authority. If the owner remains the final answer to every operational question, the company does not really have a second-in-command. It has an assistant with an executive title. Developing the COO is only half of the work. The owner has to develop into the CEO role at the same time.

Do you like this kind of content? At Transformers Institute, we help owners and their second-in-command leaders clarify roles, align decision rights, and build the leadership capacity required for a multi-shop organization to operate without constant owner intervention. If you are trying to make the COO role actually work, schedule a discovery call with our team to learn more.