Flying Solo: Leading Alone After Shared Leadership

by Chantal Hildebrand, Executive Director of Alliance for Girls

In 2024, Alliance for Girls (AFG) made the intentional and reflective decision to move to a co-leadership model.

This was not a structural shift made lightly, it was a values-driven choice rooted in possibility, curiosity, and a belief in shared power. We deeply believed in the possibilities this model offered not only to the organization and team, but to the girls, gender-expansive youth, and the community organizations we serve. We undertook this path forward with a clear vision and allocated time and resources into bringing the best out of each other and into AFG and our members. It was another way to embody what we ask of others: to collaborate courageously and to imagine new ways of leading together. 

Over the 15 months that Linda and I co-led AFG side by side we journeied by trust, vulnerability, and an ever-deepening commitment to one another and to the work. Together, we navigated moments of complexity and growth from strengthening operations and deepening funder relationships to guiding our team through transitions, while staying rooted in our mission. We learned, every single day, what it really means to share leadership.

There is so much potential in a co-leadership model. It can bring together different and complementary expertise, spark creativity through diverse perspectives, build resilience across leadership, and create more space for reflection and shared growth in collaboration. It creates room for reflection, healing and collective courage.

But, let’s be clear: co-leadership doesn’t succeed on vision alone. It requires intention and investment. Time to build real trust. Resources to support shared decision-making. Infrastructure to hold the weight of leadership across more than one person. It calls for a culture that honors process as much as outcome. 

It’s not always easy. And although it is deeply worth it — sometimes that timing is not right. 

Though our time in co-leadership came to a close and AFG returned to a sole Executive Director model for now, the wisdom we gained continues to ring true. Among these key takeaways:

• Make space for self-reflection and self-awareness in any type of leadership structure.

• Make the invisible work visible. So much of leadership at many levels of an organization lives in communication, emotional labor, and mutual accountability. It is important to talk about these huge elements of the work just as much as the impacts of your programs.

• Create clear decision-making structures. Not to control, but to empower everyone on your team.

• Build a strong support network. Even in shared leadership, it does not mean you have to carry everything alone. 

We shared these and many of other lessons in our The Art of Co-Leadership blog.

Just because AFG is not currently practicing co-leadership doesn’t mean we’ve closed the door. If anything, we’ve opened a window of what is possible when we explore different leadership structures. And in a time when leadership is often isolating, exhausting, and extractive, co-leadership can be a powerful option.