Shared Leadership

What exactly do you mean by shared leadership?

Claudia Dünisch: Specifically, it's the distribution of leadership among different people. This means that a team has not just one, but several team leaders. It is a form of plural leadership. In our case, we make decisions in pairs. For companies, shared leadership has the advantage that decisions are made on a broader basis, from multiple perspectives.

How did this increasingly popular set-up come about for you?

Carmen Kuster:Last year, Raiffeisen Capital Management advertised the position of Head of International Business. We were both already on the team and applied for it with a very different, but as we realized in retrospect, perfectly complementary pitch. During the assessment center, I proactively proposed the shared leadership model to the decision making committee. Apart from the fact that I had already enjoyed working with Claudia, it was also clear that it was very important for our company to bring about a generational change in favor of younger, extremely talented, and ambitious colleagues as managers, without losing the market experience of long-standing employees. I was very pleased that we were given the opportunity to provide proof of concept.

The model is often associated with parttime, but you both work full-time. How does the daily routine work? Does your team have to coordinate with both of you?

Claudia Dünisch:When we accepted the challenge of the co-leadership model last year, we dealtvery intensively with the design, the common understanding, and a clear structuring and task focus that is also transparent for our team. We have divided up the content-related responsibilities - along our target markets and groups - so that it is clear who is responsible for what and is also the contact person for this in the team. We coordinate closely on personnel issues and hold joint goal-setting and evaluation meetings. We have divided up the administrative tasks that arise in connection with the management of employees.

What advantages do you see in this model?

Carmen Kuster:The fact that we exchange views on important issues on a daily basis means that we can support each other in upcoming decisions through targeted questioning. In discussions, we sharpen our arguments and can then communicate more clearly and purposefully to the team, customers and other stakeholders. We see ourselves as sparring partners, and we are.

Claudia Dünisch: In addition, we are also more efficient this way, because we can drive several projects forward in parallel. In customer care, customer requests and needs are always the top priority, which cannot always be anticipated and planned. Often, the “fire fighting” in day-to-day business means that other projects take a back seat. Two of us can manage this better and one of us can take time off if necessary.

The shared leadership model is implemented more often than average by and with women. Why do you think that is?

Carmen Kuster:It is not for us to generalize on this point, as we know too little of the empirical data worldwide. However, I can imagine that some men, out of tradition, still strive for the single leadership model, while women, for different reasons, are more open to sharing leadership responsibilities. They see - as we do – the many benefits that this model brings to them, but also to the team. Institutional client business is an extremely time-intensive business – being able to share leadership responsibilities is something that escapes us greatly. In general, shared leadership requires good communication, mutual trust, and a clear, shared understanding of predefined objectives. The willingness to reach a consensus, even when opinions differ, is an important basis for the functioning of this model. In the process, you learn a lot from the other person.

Speaking of learning, what do you take away in this regard?

Claudia Dünisch: We have found that our very different characters complement each other well and help us to achieve common goals: Carmen is bubbling over with ideas and creative approaches to solutions; I, on the other hand, am very structured and try to put her ideas into a clear and implementable form. With the willingness for self-reflection and the recognition of each other's strengths, this can be combined in a productive way.

Carmen Kuster: And our goals are to meet the demands of our customers as a team: To ensure that our service quality is top notch and that we can offer investment solutions that generate returns based on a sustainable, responsible investment style.

Source: Raiffeisen INSIDE, Nr. 1/2023