I have co-chaired two different officer positions. The first time went very well. Up front, my co-chair and I clearly defined what we each would be responsible for, ensuring mutual understanding. We divided things in a manner that ensured ease of use by board members, principals and parents.
e.g. Publicity Co-chairs
X will handle all brochure requests, designs and approval processes
Y will handle all brochure copying, distribution and posting of multi-media announcements
We regularly kept each other informed of what the other was doing and the status of each project, and were always able to serve as each other's back-up. We each had our own little niche that we were happily responsible for. It worked out so well.
Presently, I am now in a different co-chair position, and as much as I attempt to allocate responsibilities, my co-chair doesn't seem to want to do it that way. I am very afraid that efforts will be duplicated, that balls will be dropped and that people won't know who to go to. I fear we'll appear (and be) disorganized; we're definitely inefficient. I'm starting to allocate on my own. "I'm handling this one, I can't work on that one". I'm attempting to allocate on a case-by-case basis so it's *something*, but I really wish we'd iron it out up front like I did with my past co-chair.
My advice: allocate in a way that works easily for everyone, and stay well-informed of what the other is doing.
I believe co-chairing a board position is very hard--- it might work one year with 2 friends-- but then you get into the next year and get 2 strangers in the position-- makes it hard to work together, especially if you have different opinions on things should be done.
Now co-chairing a committee is a little different-- I believe this can work out just fine...
Co-chairs for officer positions or as committee leadership is common. There are generally two issues:
1) Do the co-chairs get one vote for the position or two votes (one for each individual) in formal situations? (If their position means they are part of the Board.)
2) The logistics of two people sharing a task and representing the organization and how decisions get made.
I've co-chaired several positions, many with no problem at all. However, several years ago I agreed to co-chair the Presidency and it was a disaster. Many people have made this work successfully. But my experience was that there were too many decisions that needed to be made quickly and it was just too difficult to keep two people completely in the loop. Both of us were eager volunteers, professionals with tons of real-world experience and friends. But that experience almost killed our friendship.
This is the first year we have co-chairs in Executive Board postitions. This is the first time we are using co chairs with positions. The details of the co's were never hammered out. Do they have the same responsibility as the chairs? How do your schools handle this?:confused:
