Leadership
Traditionally, the leadership role has been viewed as one where one person (usually male) is the single entity that leads in all aspects of a leadership role. This hierarchical view of leadership has changed dramatically, particularly within the last 10-15 years. Friedrich et al (2009) described collective leadership as 'a dynamic leadership process in which a defined leader or set of leaders selectively utilise skills and expertise within a network, effectively distributing elements of the leadership role as the situation or problem at hand requires'. The reality today is that multiple individuals within the team may serve as leaders in both formal and informal capacities, and the shifting of leadership responsibilities reflects individual expertise within the group. Why is this? Today, work is becoming more knowledge-based, problems are becoming more complex, and there is a growing need for rapid response to increasingly complex issues. It is no longer possible for a single leader to guide a team in solving a myriad number of problems in such a diverse range of areas.
This in turn has led to a number of theories about horizontal leadership being promulgated: shared leadership, distributed leadership, complexity theory, team leadership and collective leadership to name a few. But to complicate the debate even further, some commentators began to inject a cautionary note into the theories of leadership and stated that the role of the focal leader cannot be over-estimated. So, some studies started to emerge that stated that leadership may be most effective when both vertical and horizontal forms of leadership are employed. Pearce (2004, p. 48) defined” shared leadership as a simultaneous, ongoing, mutual influence process within a team that is characterized by “serial emergence” of official as well as unofficial leaders”.
The collective leadership framework emerged as the result of the need to acknowledge the crucial role of the focal leader, but also in recognising how focal leaders can share the role with others. Collective leadership (Friedrich, Vessey, Schuelke, Ruark and Mumford (2009) involves a focal leader or leaders selectively utilising the expertise of others as the need arises. By integrating both vertical and horizontal forms of leadership, it also stresses the importance of collective leadership together with the need for leaders to demonstrate social cognition – the way in which people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations.
Create an artefact that captures key leadership knowledge, skills and attributes necessary for building and sustaining collective leadership in education.
Shared leadership oscillates between the more authoritarian models, which focus on one leader, and more inclusive models, which focus on the leadership of many. There are three characteristics of successful examples of shared leadership:
1. Adaptability within the Spectrum. Knowing when a particular expression of leadership is appropriate, and being able to shift within the spectrum as needed.
2. Orientation toward Shared Leadership. Expanding the problem-solving capacity of an organization without giving up the option of top-down approaches when necessary.
3. Culture of Trust. Developing the relationships needed to shift within the spectrum when necessary, without any negative impact or mistrust.
Bibliography:
Friedrich, T; Griffith, J; Mumford, M: Collective leadership behaviours: Evaluating the leader, team network, and problem situation characteristics that influence their use in The Leadership Quarterly 27 (2016) 312-333
https://www.bain.com/insights/transforming-schools/
Mumford, M; Hemlin, S (eds): Handbook of Research on Leadership and Creativity
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/doing-more-with-more-putting-shared-leadership-into-practice/
Pearce, C: The future of leadership: Combining vertical and shared leadership to transform knowledge work Craig L. Pearce 2004