After 15 years at an agency I founded to provide supervised visitation, mediation and co-parenting education for parents dealing with children in divorce situations, I am planning to step down as CEO and continue as an adviser. Our consultants have suggested a co-leader structure where one leader will work externally with judges and attorneys to secure new court-ordered referrals and the second will serve as Client Management Administrator to focus internally on intake processing, case assignment, and hiring our independent contractor field staff? Does that sound workable to you? —From the Website.
I assume that this suggestion is made because you have been filling both roles and it is really too much for any one person as the organization has grown. If this is a suggestion for a transitional period while you serve in one of the leadership positions, and try to develop your successor in the other role(s), it doesn’t sound as though it would be particularly effective. The new person would learn only one role at a time and would probably struggle to do both at once when you left your full time participation.
If this is a long-term recommendation to split the work, it sounds possible. I am aware of several groups that have had twin leadership where the leaders know their separate roles and work well together on the overall goals of the organization. It can work well with the right people, but is still unusual and may be more difficult to implement with two people who haven’t worked together in a trusting relationship for a long time.
I have also known organizations that have a Chief Executive Officer who is the face of the organization dealing with marketing and representation in the external world, and a strong Chief Operating Officer who leads the internal operations. It is not usually billed as co-leadership, but divides the tasks between two individuals in a more hierarchical relationship with the CEO normally recognized as the single leader. Your recruiting process may help determine which relationship will work best for your organization.
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