Co-CEOs: A New Leadership Paradigm for Social Service Agencies

Abstract

This article contributes to the literature on nonprofit management by defining and exploring a new type of collaborative leadership, the Co-CEO model, adopted by a mid-sized metropolitan behavioral health center in the Midwest at a time of critical change, and by presenting recommendations for further study of this shared leadership option. The study's results are supported by qualitative data gathered and analyzed from interviews and questionnaires conducted with the organization's Co-CEOs, board members, staff, and community colleagues. Highlighted in this article are the key aspects of the Co-CEO leadership model that differentiate it from a more traditional leadership style, the relative benefits and risks of the Co-CEO model, and the potential for replication of this model in other social agency settings.

Multi‐Leader Teams in Review: A Contingent‐Configuration Perspective of Effectiveness

“…Research suggests that fewer leaders and less role co‐enactment creates an increasingly centralized hierarchical structure that enables more rapid action and quicker decision‐making (Fischbach et al . ). Further, when dual‐leaders balance the burden of ‘day‐to‐day’ responsibilities, they can focus on more imperative, executive‐oriented responsibilities (Rosengren and Bondas ; Rosengren et al .…”

Fifty-five years of managerial shared leadership research: A review of an empirical field

“…In the selected papers, sharing took place at all managerial levels (top, middle and first-line), and all papers but two could be categorised according to the organisational level of the sharing managers 4 (see Figure 5). Studies of first-line managers were the most common (Thomson and Blackmore, 2006; Rosengren and Bondas, 2010; Eckman and Kelber, 2010; Döös et al, 2018a; Court, 2003; Court, 2004b), followed by studies of shared leadership at the top level, that is, CEOs and directors (Voss et al, 2006; Reynolds et al, 2017; Reid and Karambayya, 2009; Fischbach et al, 2007; Cater III and Justis, 2010). A few studies only focussed on sharing between middle managers (Clausen et al, 2017), a few on both middle and first-line (Thude et al, 2017), and a few on all three levels (Steinert et al, 2006; Saxena et al, 2018; Klinga et al, 2018).…”