By Bernice Rook, Deputy CEO, Eastside People
In the rapidly evolving world of charity leadership, it’s clear that the role of the Chair isn’t just critical, it’s transformative. As highlighted in the Bayes Future Charity Chairs Report, being a Chair is both rewarding and demanding, a unique position of influence that shapes how charities rise to meet today’s challenges.
But as the sector shifts, with increased pressure, growing complexity, and a pressing need for diversity and inclusivity, perhaps models of leadership also need to shift. Co-chairing is a concept which is still unfamiliar to many but with the potential to reshape how leadership is done at the very top of our organisations.
The Leadership Challenge
Chairs are central to charity governance. They are the anchor of strategic direction, a sounding board for the CEO, and often the voice of reason in a storm. Yet while much has been said about trustees, effective boards, and the Chair-CEO relationship, the unique demands of the Chair’s role itself often go underexplored.
And there’s a growing issue: where are our future Chairs coming from?
The Bayes report’s findings make it clear, that succession planning, internal development, and a rethink of recruitment practices are needed. There’s no one-size-fits-all Chair, and there’s no single path to the role. But one solution showing real promise is the concept of Co-Chairing.
Co-Chairing: A Model for the Modern Board?
At first glance, the idea of sharing the Chair role may seem counterintuitive. Isn’t leadership about clear direction and a single point of accountability?
In practice, Co-Chairing can be a powerful tool for organisations wanting to distribute leadership more equitably, build greater resilience, and attract a more diverse pool of leaders.
Participants in the Bayes report shared compelling insights:
- Creativity and Contingency: Two heads are often better than one, providing a sounding board for more creative decision-making. And when life happens, illness, emergencies, or simply needing a break, there’s built-in support.
- Inclusive Governance: Charities led by those with lived experience found Co-Chairing helped practically and symbolically. One organisation said it allowed a Chair with a disability to lead while managing their availability realistically.
- Succession Planning: The tag-team approach where an experienced Chair mentors a newer counterpart can create a leadership pipeline in action.
- Complementary Skills: CEOs benefit too, gaining access to a broader set of insights, networks, and expertise.
- But It’s Not Without Its Challenges. Co-chairing isn’t a magic fix. It requires effort, clarity, and, above all, trust. The workload might be shared, but it isn’t halved. Coordination behind the scenes is essential, and if the relationship isn’t functioning well, the ripple effects can be deeply felt, particularly by the CEO, who may find themselves caught between two different leadership styles.
As Mike Ruiter, reflected from personal experience, during his time as interim CEO of Rochdale and District Mind, Co-chairing can be transformative. Though the arrangement came about organically, the Chairs’ coordination and complementary roles offered him both strategic guidance and emotional support. Importantly, their collaboration didn’t just work for him, it worked for the board, the organisation, and ultimately the community they served.
He felt he had a go-to Chair for the all-important regular support. Someone to whom he could readily pick up the phone to get advice on critical issues, or a friendly ear when he needed it the most. As well as a go-to Chair to lead the Board and help balance organisational decision-making with keeping the stories of impact at the heart of every meeting.
“But more than that, I also got the benefit of different lived experiences, professional insights, and the rich opportunities they provided to challenge each other before we even got to the Board“ he said.
“I doubt co-chairing resulted in lessening their time commitment… But it made chairing viable because they could balance the duties with their other life commitments,” he reflected.
Making Co-Chairing Work
So how do you make a Co-Chair model successful? A few takeaways from Mike and others I have spoken to.
- Define roles clearly: Who leads on what? Who line-manages the CEO? What decisions require joint input?
- Support the transition: Training and example-sharing from other charities can help smooth the path.
- Be patient: It can take time for a co-chairing arrangement to feel truly bedded in.
- Embrace diversity: Co-chairing can attract people who might otherwise not consider such a role due to time commitment, confidence, or access barriers.
A Model for the Future
Despite the rapid and unrelenting pace of change and the continued economic and political uncertainty, the sector has continued to deliver, innovate and show extraordinary resilience. We need to be flexible and innovative with our leadership models too.
Having recently recruited Co-chairs for WHAG, a charity supporting and empowering vulnerable women and people affected by domestic abuse, I know the organisation feels they’ve gained double the leadership and are excited about the future under this new model.
Co-chairing won’t be right for every organisation. But for many, it could offer a sustainable, inclusive, and forward-thinking path to stronger leadership and a more vibrant boardroom.
We’d love to hear from you. Have you experienced Co-Chairing—either as a Chair, CEO, or trustee? What’s worked, and what should others watch out for?
Let’s open up the conversation, I’d love to have a chat.
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