Secrets of Successful Co-Leadership with Job Sharing Is the Answer to a Changing World of Work

In today’s complex business landscape, co-leadership has emerged as a powerful approach to navigating challenges and driving success. “Co-Leadership” by Janina Schönitz and Stefanie Junghans offers invaluable insights into the dynamics of shared leadership and provides practical strategies for individuals and organizations to excel in this paradigm.

Discover how to leverage the power of co-leadership and take your leadership skills to new heights. Keep reading to explore the key takeaways and critical insights from this groundbreaking book.

Genres

Business, Management, Leadership, Organizational Behavior, Psychology, Collaboration, Communication, Decision Making, Conflict Resolution, Professional Development

“Co-Leadership” delves into the intricacies of shared leadership, exploring its benefits, challenges, and best practices. The authors draw upon extensive research and real-world examples to illustrate how co-leadership can foster innovation, adaptability, and resilience within organizations. The book provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the dynamics of co-leadership, including the importance of trust, communication, and role clarity. It offers practical guidance on establishing effective co-leadership structures, navigating power dynamics, and cultivating a collaborative culture. The authors also address common pitfalls and provide strategies for overcoming them. Throughout the book, readers gain valuable insights into the mindset and skills necessary for successful co-leadership.

Review

“Co-Leadership” is an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand and implement shared leadership effectively. Schönitz and Junghans have crafted a well-researched and accessible guide that combines theoretical foundations with practical applications. The book’s strength lies in its ability to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world implementation, making it relevant for both scholars and practitioners. The authors’ insights into the psychological and interpersonal aspects of co-leadership are particularly illuminating, providing a deeper understanding of the dynamics at play. While the book could have benefited from more diverse case studies, it nonetheless offers a comprehensive overview of the subject. “Co-Leadership” is a must-read for leaders, managers, and anyone interested in the future of leadership and organizational success.

Recommendation

Is your company feeling the skilled labor shortage? Are you struggling to find good managers? Then, you may want to consider co-leadership, a new, more flexible executive model in which two people share a leadership role. Janina Schönitz and Stefanie Junghans, both co-leaders, find that this promising structure benefits the “tandem” managers, their team, and their organization. This clear guide outlines the logistics and advantages of co-leadership, including flexibility, better decision-making, and a significantly lower risk of failure. Here’s what it takes to make job-sharing work at the managerial level.

Take-Aways

• In co-leadership, two people share one managerial job’s tasks and responsibilities in “tandem.”
• Effective co-leaders share the same values and complement one another’s skills and strengths.
• Develop an operating model that defines the structure of your tandem collaboration.
• If you and another manager wish to share a job, go through the application process together. Continue to act as a unit.
• Co-leaders take more care with decisions and tackle projects more courageously.
• Co-leaders are suitable for every role and don’t cost a company any more than single employees.
• Companies that are open to co-leadership are more attractive in the job market.

Summary

In co-leadership, two people share one managerial job’s tasks and responsibilities in “tandem.”

The world of work is far from overcoming the major challenges it has faced in recent years. Digitalization, globalization, and a shortage of skilled workers and managers are forcing companies to develop new work and management models that must allow for more flexibility.

“Co-leadership is a form of shared leadership in which two people share responsibility in a job-sharing arrangement. In joint and shared responsibility, they lead employees and create framework conditions.”

One promising approach is letting people work in tandem. This tactic, which is no longer completely new but is still uncommon, simply means that two people work together in one job. The mechanics of their collaboration can vary:

• Job sharing — Several people share a job previously held by one person. This does not necessarily have to be a management position. The only defining factor is that at least two people share responsibility for a task, project, or role.
• Co-leadership — Again, two or more people fill a single position, but – in contrast to job sharing – this explicitly involves joint management responsibility. With a few minor differences, co-leadership is also called “top sharing” or “dual leadership.”
• Job splitting — The participants divide a job’s tasks among themselves and each person is responsible only for his or her share. For example, one manager could take responsibility for personnel, while the other handles the product.
• Job pairing — In a way, this is the opposite of job splitting. Here, the people involved share responsibility for all of a job’s tasks. If they have a joint employment contract, this is pure job pairing: both parties have the same competencies and are responsible for interchangeable tasks. In “hybrid job pairing,” each person has his or her own contract. The managers informally divide the job’s tasks among themselves, depending on their skills. This is currently the most widespread form of job sharing.

The allocation of each manager’s time is flexible and can be adjusted to serve the organization and the people involved. For example, a two-person tandem could call for two half-time positions, two full-time positions, or some other variation.

The structure of co-leadership models can also serve specific organizational goals:

• Diversity tandem — People from different backgrounds work together.
• Legacy tandem — Introduce a successor gradually by having an upcoming manager share a current manager’s role.
• Cross-functional tandems – Employees from different departments interrupt siloes by working together on shared functions.
• Peer tandems — Two specialists combine their expertise as they share a position.

Effective co-leaders share the same values and complement one another’s skills and strengths.

The ways your company can set up a tandem are as varied and individualized as the different types of pairings. If you want to share a managerial job, the best way to find a co-leader is through your personal network. However, your HR department may also be able to help your search. Platforms such as Pairtoshare or Twise offer other options.

“Co-leaders should be equal enough, but also different enough.”

Once you find the right partner, thoroughly investigate whether the two of you are really compatible: Do you share the same values and a similar understanding of leadership? Do you complement each other? Do you contribute a balance of skills and strengths? Do you agree on how you’ll work together? Do your preferred working schedules mesh well?

For a tandem to function smoothly, the participants must agree on fundamental views while contributing different skills, experiences, and networks. During your partnership’s formation phase, speak to each other honestly, openly, and transparently. These conversations lay the foundations for your joint working arrangement. Take the time to coordinate responsibilities, working methods, goals, and functional details with each other to ensure the success and longevity of your collaboration.

Develop an operating model that defines the structure of your tandem collaboration.

Create an operating model that defines how you will work together and describes your future tandem work. Take time, especially at the beginning, to reflect on how you can bring your values to work and make them visible. Clarify what you expect from yourself and your tandem partner. Divide your model into these five fields:

1. Values and attitudes — Shared values and mindsets are the heart of the co-leadership model. The tandem partners must agree on their principles and approaches. This field is divided into two areas: the “I field” and the “We field.”
2. The I field — Catalog your personal values, strengths, skills, qualifications, contacts, career ideas, goals, and wishes. Discuss these factors with your tandem partner, who should create the same list. Where do you see overlaps or complementary concepts and abilities? What potential benefits or synergies emerge?
3. The We field — Working with your counterpart, describe your shared vision, including your mutual understanding of leadership and your relationship. Reach a common consensus on all important issues and philosophies, and decide how you will deal with conflict.
4. Structure — Delineate the logistical parameters of your co-leadership plan. How will you divide tasks? How can each of you be reached most easily? What processes will you follow, for example, if one of you goes on vacation or if you must approve a budget? How will you ensure that handovers run smoothly? How will you make decisions? The simpler your guidelines, the better. As your co-leadership arrangement proceeds, conduct regular coordinating sessions or retrospectives and solicit feedback from your employees or other managers. This will help you continuously improve your collaboration.
5. Technology/Tools — Clarify which technologies you will use to manage shared files and correspondence. Many tandem pairs find a shared digital notebook helpful.
6. Communication — This surrounds the other five fields and includes both internal and external communication. Plan how you’ll inform stakeholders about your co-leadership and explain your shared work. Your direct reports will need a more detailed description than your external audience.

If you and another manager wish to share a job, go through the application process together. Continue to act as a unit.

Once you successfully form a tandem, begin the application process. Submit a joint job application document and take part in work-specific interviews together. Make sure that the two of you speak in roughly equal parts. You will have to take aptitude tests or assessments individually but conduct your contract negotiations together. It is crucial to communicate your operating model clearly. Even more importantly, both of you must always present yourselves as a unit — only then will you appear convincing and radiate confidence. Coordinate your approaches to important topics well in advance. As much as possible, try to decide who will answer which interview questions.

“The tandem should act as a unit vis-à-vis the company, the manager, and, last but not least, the team, giving all stakeholders confidence.”

If the company you are applying to doesn’t have experience with job sharing, bring some basic information. It helps to be familiar with one or two studies on the topic — a number of which show that organizations benefit from co-leadership. For example, tandems are often more innovative and resilient than individual leaders.

Co-leaders take more care with decisions and tackle projects more courageously.

Management history offers many examples of successful co-leadership. Take Thomas Angerstein of SAP, who has worked in tandem for many years. Until 2022, he and Christof Lieber jointly managed a department that their boss actually wanted to divide. Their co-leadership emerged as a way to avoid that split. They opposed the division because the unit dealt with too many overarching issues, so they convinced their manager to try the co-leadership solution.

Angerstein and Lieber’s decision paid off. They found, most notably, that as a tandem pair, they reflected more on decisions and considered a variety of perspectives — something that their team appreciated.

“How do I achieve 360-degree thinking if I don’t have anyone to question me? You can only do that with co-leadership.” (Thomas Angerstein, SAP)

One disadvantage of co-leadership is that building a trusting relationship takes time. In Angerstein’s view, job sharing is not suitable for people with big egos who are sure they can handle any task alone. He finds that successful co-leaders must be open and self-critical. They should be able to cope with negative feedback and prepared to stand up for and support each other. Angerstein, who continues to work as a co-leader with another colleague, finds it annoying that some corporate leaders still see co-leadership as a model that works only for women and only in part-time or administrative jobs.

Other successful co-leaders emphasize that sharing a managerial role helps them develop individually as well as collaborate. Managers who lead in tandem can challenge each other and productively combine their skills and knowledge. Co-leadership can increase each person’s effectiveness and efficiency, and it emboldens managers to act courageously. If you have one another’s back, you’re less afraid of taking well-calibrated risks.

Co-leaders are suitable for every role and don’t cost a company any more than single employees.

People typically praise the concept of co-leadership in theory. But when it comes to having a team or project led in tandem in your company, all kinds of concerns are likely to surface. One common myth claims co-leadership does not work at the top level. This is based on the belief that managers must make quick, unambiguous decisions without coordinating with someone else beforehand. Numerous examples contradict this notion.

Management teams run many start-ups, and dual leadership has long been as common in politics as in the media industry. In fact, co-leadership can work for any role — provided that the people involved make the “we” more important than the “I”.

“Tandem staffing may seem to cost a little more at the beginning, but once you take things like fluctuation or the risk of absences into account, you’ll realize that it also saves costs.”

Another myth concerns effort and expense. Many people think tandems are costly and unproductive. The opposite is the case. According to a Heilbronn University survey, tandems are at least as productive as individual managers, if not more so. Having double competence means that making decisions may take longer, but they will arise from a better foundation, and, therefore, will be more effective. Tandems also demonstrably foster innovation.

Reduced downtimes and increased stability and resilience offset any higher costs, such as additional IT equipment or corporate contributions to Social Security.

If you want to work in tandem, you should dispel any concerns and clarify your expectations with your managers and employees in advance. The two people who make up the tandem should organize themselves efficiently, coordinate clearly, and trust each other. Address conflicts as early as possible. If they arise, seek professional support from a coach from the outset.

Companies that are open to co-leadership are more attractive in the job market.

Co-leadership offers several advantages from a corporate perspective. On the one hand, the company increases its attractiveness as an employer if it hires tandems— an important factor given the current shortage of specialists and managers. On an individual level, job-sharing helps employees reconcile work and family life. This is particularly interesting for women who have shied away from demanding jobs because they are wary about being unable to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Co-leadership also has a positive effect on managers’ psychological well-being and thus can reduce the risk of burnout. Employees express more satisfaction and a greater sense of being “seen” when they are led by a pair of managers who invest more time in their development, take a more holistic view of their potential, and are less likely to make mistakes in performance assessments.

“The success of job sharing in a company depends largely on the cultural conditions that the company creates.”

An open corporate culture — featuring willingness to experiment, acceptance of new working models, and transparent communication — is a prerequisite for the success of co-leadership models. The HR department must provide everyone with solid information, promote new models, and motivate employees to try them out. It must create clear structures and guidelines for tandem applications and support co-leaders in their work. This requires clarifying legal and salary-related questions and setting up a suitable IT infrastructure.

Companies that successfully introduce and implement co-leadership benefit in many areas, such as succession planning and knowledge transfer. Above all, they are giving their managers the flexibility to advance both their own careers and the company’s best interests.

About the Authors

Both authors work as co-leaders. Stefanie Junghans is Head of Talent at Haniel, an investment holding company, and the founder of Junghans Consulting. Janina Schönitz is Head of Strategy and Reporting Sustainability & Environment at Deutsche Bahn, and the founder of the consulting firm Knallkrebs & Grundel.