Learning Through Co-Leadership

Related in the library

• 4.2C047

  Doing More with More: Putting Shared Leadership into Practice

  Michael Allison, Susan Misra, Elissa Perry · Nonprofit Quarterly · 2011

  An article on a 2-year learning community, from 2008 to 2010, in which leaders of 27 California civic participation nonprofits tried shared leadership. It reports results, such as 78 percent of participants growing their ability to develop staff as leaders. It names 4 preconditions: senior commitment, upfront planning time, sound basic management and clear accountability. It then describes 4 areas of change: leader mindsets and roles, structure, decision processes and culture.

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• 4.2C048

  Leadership Lessons: Five Insights from Directors Sharing Power

  Jeanne Bell, Paola Cubías, Byron Johnson · Nonprofit Quarterly · 2017

  A short article with 5 findings from co-directors who share the top job. Shared leadership reflects mission and identity. It becomes an ethos across the whole organisation, seen in practices like narrow pay ratios. It can mean more work while cutting the isolation of a solo leader. Co-leaders must manage when they speak for themselves or as a unit, including with funders who expect one contact. It depends on trust between partners.

  ClassicShort readFree
• 1.3C010

  How to Build an Organisational Development Plan

  The Bridgespan Group · 2022

  A toolkit for Indian NGOs and their funders that takes an organisation from diagnosis to an OD plan. The plan document walks users through 4 steps to find where the NGO falls short and plan improvements. A companion Organisational Development Assessment Guide covers 13 capabilities and helps teams choose a short list to work on first. Bridgespan built it with 5 Indian intermediaries as part of Pay-What-It-Takes India. It is licensed CC BY 4.0.

  Start hereCurrentTool or templateFree
• 1.5C215

  Growth of Youth-Serving Organizations

  The Bridgespan Group · 2005

  A free study by Bridgespan, commissioned by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, of 20 US youth-serving nonprofits that grew substantially. It looks at how they grew, what growth did to their finances, how their structures changed, including adding a chief operating officer, more formal systems and new board roles, and what helped or held them back. It comes as a white paper, executive summary and 20 case studies that leaders and funders use to plan for growth.

  ClassicResearch and evidenceFree
• 1.5C216

  Creating the COO Position

  The Bridgespan Group · 2016, updated 2026

  A free Bridgespan article on when and why nonprofits add a chief operating officer, drawn from a survey of COOs and interviews with COOs and executive directors. It covers the usual triggers, such as a chief executive stretched by a growing staff or a growth plan to deliver, the worries executive directors have about sharing control, and how organisations managed the transition. It links to Bridgespan's wider set of COO resources, including sample job descriptions.

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