I would like to correct what I think are two misinterpretations about shared leadership during the recent debate on WEEI’s “The Big O” show about this topic. First, I should introduce myself. I am Joe Raelin and am a professor of management and organization development at Northeastern’s College of Business Administration. I have studied and written several books on shared leadership, though I refer to it as “leaderful practice” rather than leadership. Rather than see leadership as solely residing in one individual or hero, I see leadership as something that everyone can participate in, and not just one at a time, but collectively and concurrently, that is, all together and at the same time! Why put people in a dependent state awaiting orders from on high? Let them contribute and as the US Army once said, “be all that you can be.”
Anyway, the first misconception that I heard on the show was that under shared leadership, one loses the sense of competition. The second misconception was that under shared leadership, people get chosen for the position of leader without earning it. Let me address each:
1. Competition can be just as fierce under a shared leadership as under a single leadership domain. It’s just that there is more cooperation within the team so that it can build itself into a highly performing unit with everyone contributing their special talents. They then take to the field to beat the other team into submission, though at the end of the game, there is the expected extension of good sportsmanship and congratulations.
2. Players don’t have to vie for being the top gun or leader; rather, they seek to contribute in their own special way that serves the “leadership” of the team. So, someone might be the team’s spokesperson; someone might be the organizer of necessary exercise routines; someone might be the comedian who keeps everyone loose; someone might be a mentor who helps the freshmen learn the ropes. Each of these roles serves a leadership function, so it’s not a question of who deserves the leadership; it is a question of everyone pitching in without awaiting orders to do so and being recognized for their critical contribution.
By the way, there are many many examples of organizations working quite well in this way. Catch a concert by the Boston-based “A Far Cry,” which operates without a conductor, or when winter comes and you put on your Gore-Tex coat, know that it will have been made by a company that prides itself on not having any managers!
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