A 2025 Perspective for Architecture, Engineering & Construction Leaders
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
How to Strengthen Your Leadership Team Before You Strengthen Your Org Chart
In many ways, the AEC industry is carrying more weight than ever.
Not just projects, deadlines, coordination, and technical risk, but the human load that comes with constant change.
Digital tools keep multiplying. Client expectations keep climbing. Skilled labor keeps tightening. Project delivery keeps speeding up. And in the middle of it all, leaders are doing their best to hold the company steady while still guiding it toward the future.
It’s no surprise more firms are asking the same question:
“Do we need a Chief of Staff? A COO? Both? Or something completely different?”
The real question underneath is simpler:
“How do we build a leadership team that thinks together, works together, and leads change together?”
That’s the question we will explore.
Choosing between these roles is not just an organizational decision. It’s a strategic one, especially when the question becomes the Chief of Staff vs COO in AEC conversation that many firms are quietly wrestling with.
Why the Chief of Staff vs COO in AEC Question Matters Right Now
AEC leadership has always been demanding. But the demands have shifted.
- And for architecture teams, the work keeps shifting, increased levels of design (LOD) for VDC, and coordinating with more disciplines earlier for collaborative delivery models.
- Engineering groups are handling complex modeling, liability pressure, and accelerated schedules.
- GCs are coordinating dozens of subs in an environment where every delay has a downstream effect.
- On the trade side, specialty contractors are juggling manpower, procurement, prefabrication schedules, and field realities all at once.
- Add industrialized construction, AI-supported workflows, and tighter margins.
- All are addressing resistance to change, and acceptance to any “new way of doing things”
Most C-suites are pulled in two directions:
Vision → where the firm needs to go.
Firefighting → what the firm needs to survive this week.
Many CEOs and Principals quietly admit they’re carrying far more than they show. It’s not a question of competence…it’s capacity. And the way AEC firms have historically structured leadership no longer matches the complexity of the work.
That’s where the Chief of Staff and COO conversation becomes essential.
Not because of titles.
Because of connection.
What a Chief of Staff Does in an AEC Firm
A Chief of Staff is the person who helps a CEO lead, not just manage.
In AEC, that matters because CEOs and Principals often split their attention between:
- chasing work
- delivering work
- holding the culture
- managing studios or divisions
- smoothing out cross-functional friction
- supporting individual leaders
- making decisions nobody else can make
A strong Chief of Staff reduces that load by handling the work that sits between departments, not inside them.
In AEC, a CoS often helps with:
- Translating strategy into real steps studios, PMs, and Superintendents can follow.
- Coordinating priorities across design, engineering, precon, and field operations.
- Making leadership meetings efficient and not another hour lost to updates.
- Tightening communication between C-suite members who rarely get uninterrupted time together.
- Helping the CEO stay focused on what matters, not the noise that keeps showing up at their door.
- Managing sensitive projects (culture work, technology shifts, restructuring, etc.) that need ownership but not operational command.
The CoS doesn’t “run operations.”
They help the CEO clear the path so the company can move with intention instead of urgency.
Clarity rises.
Cohesion deepens.
Continuity becomes sustainable.
And because the role sits close to the CEO, a CoS often benefits from executive or transition coaching so they have the self-awareness and communication skills the position demands.
What a COO Does in an AEC Firm (Including Fractional COO Models)
A COO is responsible for how the work gets done, in real time, on real projects, by real people.
In AEC, that means understanding:
- design workflows
- engineering handoffs
- field coordination
- safety, quality, and schedule pressures
- backlog management
- prefab or modular production rhythms
- how estimating, procurement, and project controls support (or strain) delivery
A COO is not a “traffic cop.”
They are the person who sees the whole system, from proposal to punchlist, and makes it work with fewer surprises.
A COO in AEC drives:
- Delivery consistency across offices, studios, or divisions
- Operational systems that people actually follow, not just document
- Accountability without shame or blame
- Clear roles and expectations so teams stop stepping on each other
- Better handoffs between design, engineering, and field teams
- Decisions based on data, not gut alone
- The pace and rhythm of the company’s operations
When the right COO is in place, field teams feel supported, project teams feel aligned, and the CEO finally gets breathing room.
Why fractional COOs are rising in AEC
Many firms aren’t ready, financially or structurally, for a full-time COO.
A fractional COO gives firms:
- high-level operational leadership
- part-time involvement
- objective perspective
- immediate relief in periods of change or growth
- a bridge while the company evaluates its long-term needs
Fractional is especially useful when a company is:
- growing fast
- entering new markets
- integrating prefab or modular
- upgrading systems
- facing quality or delivery breakdowns
- onboarding new senior leaders
Because fractional leaders move between many firms, they also tend to value coaching so they adjust quickly to a firm’s personality, culture, and communication patterns.
CoS vs COO in AEC: The Real Differences
Here’s a simple reframe:
Chief of Staff
- Supports the CEO
- Works across the organization
- Improves alignment, communication, and priorities
- Handles strategic or sensitive projects
- Creates clarity
- Influence > authority
COO (or Fractional COO)
- Runs operations
- Works through department leaders
- Improves delivery, consistency, and margin
- Owns performance
- Builds systems
- Authority > influence
When you break down the real Chief of Staff vs COO in AEC differences, the distinction comes down to alignment versus execution. Both roles improve the company, just in different ways.
The key is choosing the one that addresses your actual pain point, not the one that sounds impressive.
A Quick AEC Leadership Diagnostic
If you’re unsure which role your firm needs, consider these questions:
1. Is your biggest problem alignment or execution?
If people are busy but not rowing in the same direction → CoS.
If people are rowing but in unstable boats → COO.
2. Does the CEO need strategic breathing room or operational reinforcement?
Strategic breathing room → CoS.
Operational reinforcement → COO.
3. Is the tension in the C-suite relational or structural?
Relational → CoS + leadership coaching.
Structural → COO.
4. Are your delivery issues caused by lack of clarity or lack of capacity?
Clarity → CoS.
Capacity → COO
5. Is the firm undergoing heavy change (systems, markets, culture, growth)?
Both roles may be needed, but often fractional COO + change management coaching is the fastest stabilizer.
What Most AEC Firms Miss: The C-Suite Is a System, Not a Set of Titles
Here’s the truth I see across the AEC ecosystem (an to be frank, most organizations):
Firms spend months debating whether they need a CoS or a COO,
but bypass the harder question:
“How well does our leadership team work together?”
Talk to enough CEOs and you start to hear the same thing: the exhaustion often comes not from the work itself, but from leading a team that never learned to act like one.
Principals confide that the higher they rise, the more isolated the role can feel.
And COOs repeatedly describe being stretched across strategy, operations, and people because the rest of the C-suite hasn’t yet learned to share the load.
Titles don’t fix that.
Systems don’t fix that.
Software definitely doesn’t fix that.
Human connection does.
Leadership skills do.
Honest conversations do.
Coaching helps leaders make those shifts, individually and together. So, when a new role enters the team, the team can actually receive it.
The Real Work: Connecting the Humans to the Change
Whether you bring in a Chief of Staff, a COO, both, or a fractional version of either, the firm will succeed only if the humans in those roles can work together without defensiveness, turf protection, or quiet resentment.
That requires:
- clear expectations
- shared goals
- open communication
- emotional maturity
- support during transitions
- the willingness to unlearn old patterns
- psychological safety
- curiosity
AEC firms are built by people who take pride in producing something real.
But the part that often gets overlooked is that leadership is also real work.
It just happens inside conversations, not on job sites.
Coaching supports that work.
It strengthens the people carrying the load.
It creates steadier leadership during stressful seasons.
And it makes new roles (CoS, COO, fractional models) far more successful.
Conclusion: Choose the Role That Solves Today’s Problem, and Build the Team That Can Lead Tomorrow’s Change
Adding a Chief of Staff often signals a desire for more clarity, steadier communication, and stronger connection across your leadership team.
A COO or fractional COO usually comes into view when the firm needs to stabilize operations, strengthen delivery, or bring more discipline to the work.
And when the company is preparing for something bigger, an acquisition, a major investment, or a shift in how you deliver, change-management coaching and consulting help the humans behind the work move into that future with confidence.
All are valid. All can transform an AEC firm.
But the role is only half the solution.
The other half is strengthening the leadership team, the people who make decisions, hold tension, communicate the vision, and shape how change is experienced.
That’s the work I support:
connecting leaders, connecting conversations, and connecting humans to the change their company is moving through.
When those connections strengthen, titles stop carrying the weight alone, the team does.
And that’s when AEC firms move forward with fewer fires, fewer surprises, and far more confidence.
At the end of the day, the Chief of Staff vs COO in AEC decision is less about a job title and more about what your leadership team needs to move forward together.
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