Co-Chairing Boards: Challenges and benefits of sharing leadership

What are the challenges of co-chairing?

Co-chairing won’t suit every organisation. It presents practical risks that need to be managed for the model to work well.

Coordination issues

Differing visions or priorities between co-chairs can cause confusion, delay decisions and lead to communication breakdowns. Without clear role definitions, responsibilities can overlap or be neglected, resulting in friction and reduced board effectiveness.

How to manage it: Meet regularly, agree on clear responsibilities and boundaries, and build strong working habits from the start.

Power struggles

If you’ll allow me to generalise, power struggles are less common in charities than in corporate boards, but egos can still get in the way. If left unchecked, this can damage relationships and confuse both the board and executive team.

How to manage it: Keep the charity’s mission at the heart, be open about leadership styles and expectations, and act as a ‘critical friend’ to each other to present a united front.

Decision-making delays

Co-chairing requires consensus, which can slow decision-making and responsiveness, making it challenging to address urgent issues or opportunities.

How to manage it: Regular check-ins are essential. Use them to surface honest thinking, align on risk appetite and explore different responses. Thought exercises can help uncover how each co-chair approaches big decisions:

• What if we woke up tomorrow and the specific cause our charity is working towards has been solved?
• What if we lost 25% of our income in the next six months?
• What if we gained 25% more income in the next six months?

While these are unlikely scenarios, they allow you to understand how your co-chair thinks and what their priorities are.

What are the benefits of co-chairing?

While the above are certainly issues to be wary of, co-chairing can also have many benefits.

Diverse Perspectives

Boards need to reflect the communities they serve, not just in demographics, but in experience, thinking and lived reality.

Co-chairing brings two sets of eyes to complex decisions, enabling your board to better challenge assumptions, uncover blind spots and lead to more balanced, inclusive strategies.

When your co-chairs listen in different ways and ask different questions, your board is more likely to act with empathy, relevance and depth, especially in conversations about community needs or lived experience.

Shared responsibility and accountability

Chairing a board comes with pressure, especially for people balancing work, family, or other voluntary commitments. Co-chairing spreads that pressure and helps prevent burnout.

This allows each person to leverage their strengths. One might focus on external engagement, while the other supports internal governance. Together, they can share the load and make more consistent contributions.

You’re also likely to attract a broader pool of candidates. People who may have ruled out the Chair role as too much can now bring their experience and skills to the board in a way that feels more sustainable.

Strong co-chairing relationships also encourage healthy challenge and better decision-making. When two leaders trust each other enough to disagree and still move forward, it leads to clearer thinking and stronger outcomes.

Better decision-making

Co-chairing provides boards with access to broader perspectives. With two leaders contributing different experiences and perspectives, decisions are tested more thoroughly, reducing bias and helping to avoid groupthink, especially under pressure.

Shared leadership also builds in challenge. Co-chairs can question assumptions, raise concerns early and develop stronger decisions through constructive disagreement, while staying focused on your service users and beneficiaries…. and that’s really what it’s all about!

In times of crisis, co-chairing offers stability. With shared leadership in place, decisions can be made swiftly and with care, even in fast-moving situations. That continuity helps the board stay responsive and resilient during periods of uncertainty or change.

Continuity, resilience and succession planning

A co-chairing model helps boards maintain leadership continuity. If one chair steps away, whether temporarily or permanently, the other can maintain stability, reducing disruption and helping the board stay on course.

Losing a chair mid-term can slow momentum while the board searches for a replacement. Co-chairing creates a more natural transfer of knowledge, as each leader shares responsibility and learns from the other over time.

It also supports stronger succession planning, allowing future leaders to develop within their role, build confidence and gain insight before taking on full responsibility. When recruitment includes someone who understands the organisation, it strengthens continuity and increases the chances of finding the right successor(s).

Boards that plan for leadership transitions are more resilient, and co-chairing provides the structure to do so effectively.

To work well, co-chairing should be supported by clear governance documents.

Terms of reference, standing orders or role descriptions should outline how responsibilities are shared, how decisions are made and what happens if one chair steps down.

Boards that plan for leadership transitions are more resilient, and co-chairing gives you the structure to do that well.

Some final thoughts on co-chairing

Co-chairing isn’t without its challenges. But with clear responsibilities, honest communication and mutual trust, it can work well.

A strong co-chairing partnership brings balance, shared accountability and better continuity, all of which support more effective charity governance.

Co-chairing won’t suit every board. But where the conditions are right, it’s a model worth serious consideration.