3 Things chiefs of staff want you to know: their duties vary by state and chamber, but chiefs are jacks-of-all-legislative-trades.

• Author: Householder, Stacy
• Position: WHAT STAFF KNOW

Chief firefighter, human resources expert, body man and time-finder. These are just a few of the roles chiefs of staff to legislative leaders perform while doing their jobs.

Chiefs might be researching policy, putting out media firestorms, negotiating, resolving employee conflicts or witnessing history unfold--all in one day, or just one morning!

Of course, given politics and culture, no two chief-of-staff positions are the same. There is no standard job description, because no day is the same.

Chiefs' responsibilities vary among members, chambers and states. But all chiefs know what it takes to be effective and successful on the job. Here are three things chiefs of staff want you to know about being the top staffer in a leader's office.

1. Chiefs know how to find answers but not how to read minds.

   Tom Krause, chief of staff for the Georgia senate majority leader, says the role he plays in the legislative process is information gatherer. "An effective chief of staff needs to be well-versed on a wide range of policy issues--and know where to find information quickly," he says. Given the myriad topics that legislatures cover each session, chiefs are lifelong learners, constantly discovering something new.

   "Whenever a new issue presents itself, I set out to learn everything I can," Krause says. "That includes ... partisan issues, budgetary issues, constitutional issues, etc. My research typically includes a lot of reading, seeking out experts, and looking into what other states may or may not have done. This job allows me to be in the room where decisions are made, to learn something new every day. I often feel like I am witnessing history unfold."

   Robbin Lewis-Coaxum, chief of staff to the former California Assembly majority leader, deals with a constant stream of information. "On most days I learn something new," she says, be it a new public policy, a new word, a different social media application. "By the end of the day, I usually can say, i didn't know that before!"'

   But reading up on a new policy is a lot easier than reading minds, and the biggest frustration for Lesley Crane, chief of staff to the Indiana speaker, is trying to figure out what people want when they can't articulate it themselves, what she calls "navigating unknowns." If she doesn't know what people want, what their ultimate goal is, she says, "I definitely cannot be as productive or helpful as I'd like to be."

2. Chiefs must handle all kinds of people and situations with...