Steps Outlined for Sharing Leadership

"Knowledge work—work that requires significant investment in, and voluntary contribution of, intellectual capital by skilled professionals—is increasingly becoming team-based" with great success in a wide range of organizations, according to management professor Craig Pearce. In turn, Pearce wrote, these teams are shifting toward shared leadership, where members participate in guiding the team. The reason is, "It is ever more difficult for any one person to have all of the knowledge, skills and abilities required for all aspects of knowledge work…" He summarized what managers should know while developing such teams.

Shared leadership works best when group tasks:

• "are highly interdependent."
• "require a great deal of creativity."
• "are highly complex."

When shifting to shared leadership, the manager is responsible for: "Designing the team, including clarifying purpose, securing resources, articulating vision, selecting members, and defining team processes." The manager must also oversee the interfaces between the team and its stakeholders (meaning both suppliers to and recipients of the team's work, among others).

Pearce says the manager sharing leadership will use the same tools as traditional (what he calls "vertical") leaders, but in different ways—and many of those tools will now be used by team members with each other. Order-giving will be limited to "providing task-focused direction or recommendations." The manager must coach members on interacting with each other and play cheerleader. Managers can also help teams "by clearly describing shared leadership, illustrating appropriate leader behaviors, setting clear expectations, and evaluating performance accordingly."

Three organizational systems are critical to developing shared leadership. Training is required to help both managers and team members make the transition, including learning the appropriate roles for each, "training on how to receive influence," and teamwork skills. Reward systems must partially reward team-related outcomes and behaviors in addition to the typical individual rewards. And the culture must support the change, though Pearce is vague on how that is accomplished. He mentions that top managers must "serve as role models and stress the importance of shared leadership," and notes the need to select employees and managers who will thrive in that environment.

Source: Pearce, C. (04), "The Future of Leadership: Combining Vertical and Shared Leadership to Transform Knowledge Work," Academy of Management Executive 18(1):47.