Shared Leadership

 
 

Shared leadership is an interactive, dynamic leadership method in which more than one team member shares leadership responsibilities.  Team members step up to lead in different areas at different times, depending on their capacity and expertise.

For example, if Julian has lots of experience gathering and analyzing data, he would probably lead his team when there is a project that is heavily data dependent.  On the other hand, Dasha has great marketing skills and would be the one to guide the team as they are developing a marketing campaign for a new product.       

For shared leadership to work, there must be high levels of humility and trust within the team.  Humble leaders will be able to learn from others effectively.  If they also have high emotional intelligence, they will be able to keep their self-regard intact while deferring to others’ leadership strengths.  Trust is foundational to cooperation and performance on any team, especially on teams with shared leadership.  When trust is present, there is an environment of mutual respect where team members can exchange ideas and perspectives, which helps generate innovative ideas.

Shared leadership has many benefits.  It can create a cooperative atmosphere and fosters positive relationships between team members by allowing everyone to have a significant impact in the area(s) where they are most effective.  Because no individual hogs the spotlight, teams using this leadership method tend to seek more feedback and generate more creative output.  Compared to teams without shared leadership, teams with shared leadership tend to have less conflict and more cohesion.

Although shared leadership has many benefits, there are also some downsides.  Implementing shared leadership requires time and resources and may also cause a temporary decline in a team’s productivity as members adjust to the new normal.  Sharing leadership also means that existing leaders must pass some of their influence and authority to others, which may be difficult for leaders who want to use a more authoritative leadership style.  Shared leadership also tends to exacerbate existing communication problems within the team.

Despite these drawbacks, there are several situations where shared leadership tends to work exceptionally well:

  • Shared leadership tends to work well when used by generations who gravitate towards a collective leadership style, such as millennials.

  • If several groups are competing for a leadership position, shared leadership can help reduce strife and make use of everyone’s talents. (Note: this is especially useful in family businesses with two or more viable candidates to succeed the founder).

  • Shared leadership can be a great alternative for leadership positions that require more knowledge and capacity than one person will reasonably have.

Chew On This:

What projects can you see using shared leadership in?