Can an organization be effective with co-leaders?

2016-10-25T10:56:37-04:00

I remember having a conversation with my leadership and colleagues about relationships. I explained to them that in my relationship, my partner and I are of equal standing, meaning there is no leader and no follower. One of my colleagues mentioned that it's impossible, as there always has to be one leader. He also stated that the male should lead the household, but that is a different conversation entirely.

I would like to bring this into an organizational leadership. Can an organization be effective with co-leadership? Or do you believe that there has to be one leader?

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 25 at 2016 11:09 AM

2016-10-25T11:09:05-04:00

Yes an organization can be effective with co-leadership. They must both work together and be on the same page. I would prefer separation of powers and responsibly I do this and you do that more then being equal. However I does work for some command teams and I have seen it work very well.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made Oct 25 at 2016 11:09 AM

2016-10-25T11:09:42-04:00

An organization can have as many leaders as needed, the main thing is that there has to be one mission. You can't have leader A saying the most important thing is pushing sales and leader B saying the most important thing is customer satisfaction. As long as both leaders are on the same page, it doesn't matter how many leaders there are.

Response by Sgt Wayne Wood made Oct 25 at 2016 11:10 AM

2016-10-25T11:10:15-04:00

Sparta had two kings

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 25 at 2016 11:24 AM

2016-10-25T11:24:29-04:00

From my perspective at least, you should be a team. That means important decisions are made together and the team member who has the most expertise in an area takes the lead. When we are shopping and I pick up something that looks good, my wife might tell me to put it back because it has too much sugar in it. The same day she might ask about donating to a charity, I might look them up and see that their overhead is too high or that they have questionable ethics and tell her to find a different charity. We work as a team, each taking the lead on a regular basis depending on knowledge and experience.

Response by SSgt Boyd Welch made Oct 25 at 2016 12:33 PM

2016-10-25T12:33:12-04:00

At the end of the day, one person bears the responsibility of the decisions made ala "the buck stops here..." Discuss by committee but decision by rank.....

Response by SGT Ben Keen made Oct 25 at 2016 1:48 PM

2016-10-25T13:48:52-04:00

There always has to be one person that controls where "the buck stops". While you can work with a leadership team, one person has to be in the position to have final say. Just look at the military. At the lowest level, we have a Platoon Sergeant and a Platoon Leader. While both work to ensure the overall success of the team, the PL, in most cases, has the final say. Yes the PSG has a say and sometimes deals with issues at their level but he/she has the PL to fall back on. And the same is echoed up the chain.

As far as family relationship, I think most men will agree that if the female isn't happy, then no body is happy. I'm sure the same can be said about any relationship where team work is just a critical as it is when you go to breach a door.

Response by SSG Shavonde Chase made Oct 25 at 2016 2:42 PM

2016-10-25T14:42:35-04:00

Everyone has made good replies in this discussion. However, we should define leadership to answer the question appropriately. Steven M. Smith describes leadership as "the ability to adapt the setting so everyone feels empowered to contribute creatively to solving the problems.(http://stevenmsmith.com/what-is-leadership/).

We should all see one common thing: influence. Anyone can have influence on others. Based on this alone, I would say that the answer to the question is, "yes, an organization can be effective with co-leaders.

An Anonymous contributor to Steven M. Smith's article continued the discussion with the following response, "Leadership is about leading people (obviously). It’s also about getting people to work towards accomplishing a common goal. This requires knowledge (if not expertise) or mastery in a particular area/field and the ability to connect with and influence people. These are the core competencies of leadership that spin off the need to be visionary, innovative/creative, decisive and results driven.

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Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Oct 25 at 2016 3:00 PM

2016-10-25T15:00:41-04:00

Partnerships (co-leadership) are a classic form of leadership. Heck, mentors learn from mentees. Mentees learn from mentors. Someone doesn't have to be "in charge." Although ADCON, OPCON, FIRECON can all happen and do support "deconfliction."

That's the real issue with "singular" leadership. Deconfliction. Having more than one leader creates conflicts. Ask anyone who has had more than one reporting senior. That doesn't mean you can't have more than one leader, who doesn't report to each other though... And if that is possible, why can't two people be in a relationship and not be each others' leaders?

Response by Capt Tom Brown made Oct 25 at 2016 3:40 PM

2016-10-25T15:40:32-04:00

I always recall the Lewis & Clark Expedition when the subject of co-leaders comes up. That seemed to work out pretty well on the surface anyway. But as someone noted, a partnership is also a good example. Each partner may have a separate set of responsibilities, but they need to agree and get the concurrence of the other on major issues affecting both.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 25 at 2016 4:11 PM

2016-10-25T16:11:22-04:00

Yes I believe it can with the understanding that both leaders know the others strengths and weaknesses. Also both leaders would have to be mature enough tell themselves that they might not be right (A lot of people have a problem with being wrong).

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Oct 26 at 2016 9:11 AM

2016-10-26T09:11:06-04:00

SrA Edward Vong Very interesting discussion question and it has brought out a lot of great answers. I'm by no means an expert when it comes to leadership, but I've been exercising it for quite a long time. Here is my take on Co-Leadership. I practiced it at every level of command (Company, Battalion, and Brigade). I've practiced it in principal at the Ownership level of business with a partner under an LLC, and sone instances at the Corporate C-Level of two organizations. The Company Commander/1SG relationship and the Battalion/Brigade Commander relationship are ones that could be a very good example of co-leadership at its best (understanding the channels of leadership) within the organization. "Channels" might no be the best word, but I think everyone understands what I'm saying. If this co-leadership relationship is worked and developed correctly the organizational climate and culture of the organization can grow and nurture in my opinion. Same is to be said about a partnership within an LLC (yes, one individual has 51 shares and the other has 49 shares), but if they truly want to prosper they will co-lead the organization into success if applied properly. Also, keep in mind that co-leadership brings different strengths and weaknesses, so a good combination can account for each of those strengths and weaknesses, building a stronger leadership platform. With in the C-Level Leadership groups there is a lot of co-leadership that is brewing now days. You see this the healthcare industry quite often. The downside to this type of co-leadership is the decision by committee affect that can take a long time and many meetings (which can be a waste of valuable hours of production lost). This is just my perspective on the discussion - there are pitfalls to co-leadership as well, especially when there becomes a disagreement in principal and values. Sometimes the stronger leader or the one held accountable (Assumption of Command Orders) will have to step in to put out that fire, but if handled properly (both with grow out of the final decision). Just my two cents early in the morning! Great discussion Edward and some really great responses by the RP Nation! PS ignore all misspelling please!

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 27 at 2016 5:03 AM

2016-10-27T05:03:44-04:00

SrA Edward Vong If they operate as one, each with their own purpose and strength and goals set ahead of them. For example. One may have a gift of social interaction, and the other a policy maker, of a kind. A cohesive admix of talent and cooperative leadership.