Guide · Roles
In briefIn a leadership tandem, roles should be clearly divided rather than diffusely shared: each person has areas with their own responsibility and final decision, plus a clearly named shared area. This prevents overlap, duplicate work and unclear responsibility.
Why role clarity matters
The most tempting and dangerous idea in a tandem is “we’ll just do everything together.” It sounds collaborative but leads to duplicate work, slow decisions and a diffuse responsibility where in the end no one owns anything. Clear roles aren’t distrust but the precondition for speed and reliability.
Dividing roles cleanly
- Name the areas. Which areas of responsibility exist at all?
- Assign. Who owns which area with their own final decision?
- Define the shared part. What do you deliberately decide together – and why?
- Clarify deputising. Who steps in for which area when the other is absent?
- Each area has an unambiguous main responsibility.
- The shared area is deliberately kept small.
- Deputising rules are clarified for all areas.
- The team knows who is the contact for what.
Aus meiner Praxis
My advice from experience: keep the area you truly decide together deliberately small. Everything else costs you time daily. The fundamental belongs to the shared part – not every everyday question.
The most common trap
The creeping role overlap: out of convenience or a wish for harmony, both take on the same tasks. It feels good at first and ends in friction. The remedy is clear responsibilities and a regular check of whether they’re still lived. How to secure this with decision rules is in Decision rules in a leadership tandem.
Frequently asked questions
Should we really divide everything?
No – but clearly name what is decided separately and what deliberately together. The shared part should be small.
What if areas overlap?
Then each interface needs a named main responsibility, so it’s clear who decides in doubt.
Sources & further reading
- Pearce, C. L. & Conger, J. A. (2003): Shared Leadership. Reframing the Hows and Whys of Leadership. Sage.
- Carson, J. B., Tesluk, P. E. & Marrone, J. A. (2007): Shared Leadership in Teams. Academy of Management Journal, 50(5), 1217–1234.
- Wang, D., Waldman, D. A. & Zhang, Z. (2014): A meta-analysis of shared leadership and team effectiveness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(2), 181–198.
How this article was written
This article is based on my own experience as a leader in a job-sharing model and 15 years of leading in banking, as well as the established research on shared leadership (see sources). Where I speak from practice, it is marked as such.
Amrit Rescheneder
Amrit Rescheneder helps organisations and leadership tandems build shared leadership that works. She led in a job-sharing model herself for years – after 15 years of leadership responsibility in banking. She knows shared leadership from practice, not from textbooks.
Updated: 25 July 2026