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Tips and Answers
to Your Questions
Leadership and Management
Are there any case studies of a merger where more
than one executive director was appointed? If so, could you please
describe the organizational structure?
We have generally counselled against two executive directors, which
is usually an unworkable situation. The boards usually agree to this
arrangement to avoid conflict and the tough choice of a single leader
for the organization. It is a bad enough situation in a non-merger
situation, but in a merged organization, two executive directors tends
to keep the separate organizations separate.
We have worked on one co-executive situation. The boards agreed to
it as a way to avoid conflict. The executives divided the job into "administration" and "fund
raising" and gave themselves co-executive titles. The executives liked
each other and worked well together prior to the merger. It is now
about a year into the merger and, although the co-executives do still
like and get along with each other, the organizational cultures have
not really gelled into one, and the organization is experiencing some
tensions.
In the end, we hold to our advice: avoid co-executives.
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