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A music membership charity has appointed a co-chief executive as it adopts a shared leadership model.
Seamus McGibbon has been appointed co-chief executive at Making Music, a charity that supports voluntary and amateur music groups, alongside its current chief executive Barbara Eifler, who has led the charity for a decade.
McGibbon was chief executive of the Association of Photographers from 2014 to 2021, and has previously held posts at the Creators’ Rights Alliance, the Culture Trust Luton, UK Theatre, Stonewall and the British Film Institute.
McGibbon took up his new role at the start of April. The co-chief executives will work part-time, each working three and a half days a week, and will share all leadership responsibilities.
Eifler and McGibbon told Third Sector that the decision to adopt a co-leadership model was intended to bring in a new voice and create a better work-life balance.
Eifler said: “One reason was to bring in a fresh voice to share the leadership of the organisation, while at the same time preserving the experience I’ve built up and the knowledge of the sector.”
McGibbon said: “We’re very lucky in that Barbara and I have known each other for 15 years and our work paths have crossed on several occasions.
“We both have a shared ambition for the organisation and the sector but, at the same time, we complement that with two different approaches to the way we work and the way we think.”
Eifler added: “What you’re looking for in a co-leader is someone that you can not only work with but who you also have absolute trust in. They need to be sharing your values, both personal and organisationally, otherwise it doesn’t work.”
She said the charity had experimented previously with a deputy chief executive but decided to adopt a co-chief model instead so that responsibility could be equally shared.
McGibbon said: “You need to feel very comfortable and confident with yourself when decisions are made. And if they’re decisions that you wouldn’t necessarily have made in that situation, you still need to be able to feel very confident that it is the right one.
“So you need to have an understanding of each other.”
Rhiannon Harrison, chair of Making Music, said: “The board is delighted to have Seamus stepping into the role of co-chief executive and seeing his partnership with Barbara develop.
“Barbara is an invaluable resource to Making Music, and Seamus is going to bring a lot of fresh perspectives to the table, so we are very excited to work with the two of them.”