Forced to be a co-department lead and it's not going well. How do I bring this up without sounding stubborn?

I've been working at a small startup for almost 7 years now. We're roughly 40 people, and I was the first non-founder hire.

My team recently merged with another to form a new department. When we merged, it was decided by the leadership team that me and the other team lead would co-manage this new department. They did not specify who would be doing what, just that we would "figure out something that works".

Before the merge, I was making a case for myself to single-handedly lead the new department. It was the one real growth opportunity that I've had in the past few years, and I felt I positioned myself well for it but leadership decided otherwise. When I asked about what growth looks like for me now, they didn't have any ideas.

The other team lead is much less experienced than me and has a tough time thinking strategically. They're cordial and nice, but all of their decisions are made in a silo and I'm stuck cleaning up messes so our department doesn't appear to be in complete disarray.

Additionally, I know that in order to make any progress as a department, I can't make decisions in a silo. I have to run everything by the other team lead before presenting it as a departmental effort, which slows progress as a whole. Instead of getting the thing done, I have to go through this extra step of "approval" first.

It's increasingly frustrating, and I'm not sure how to bring this up with my manager without sounding stubborn. I don't want to have to run things by this other team lead. This department doesn't need two people to run it, and it feels like the co-managing arrangement was a lazy solution by my manager because he didn't have a better idea. Further, I really feel that this kills any opportunity at growth in my role.

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