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What is Shared Leadership?
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Leadership… Here is a term that is more and more used everyday
People often confuse “leadership” with “authority”, “position”, “title”. Nowadays, even though authority is rather badly perceived, the notion of leadership, on the other hand, is still quite popular.
According to the online dictionary, Linternaute.com, leadership is an anglicism that means “function”, “position” or “leader”. This term defines the influence of an individual on a group. A leader is therefore, by definition, a decision-maker – who has decision-making power, without necessarily mobilizing and leading his/her people to do what they are supposed to do – and the manager – who has management skills administers an organization, without necessarily inspiring people.
While both occupy a position of authority, they may lack true leadership. Indeed, far from being innate, leadership is a skill that can fortunately be developed and improved.
To progress and develop one’s leadership, whether in a position of authority or not, is essential. However, many people are promoted to management positions every day because their superiors believe they have what it takes to get the job done. As a matter of fact, they are often not sufficiently prepared to properly and skillfully manage the human factor – the bête noire of many managers. These leaders are not catalysts for action. And while a manager’s attitude can build a team, it can unfortunately also destroy it.
All humans are different. In the same way, there are different ways to manage or lead members of a team and the people who report to us. Let’s discover here the four main leadership styles:
Autocratic leadership is to lead in the primary sense of the word. In a context of hierarchical superiority, autocratic leadership implies a “funnel” relationship: the leader gives orders, while the subordinates carry them out. And any behavior deemed “deviant” is repressed. In a crises situation, this style is necessary.
Democratic leadership requires the participation of all, even if the leader often has the last word.
Laissez-faire leadership, as its name implies, is not imposed. In such a context, the leader lets his/her team carry out the various projects in their own way and expects an exceptional result – which does not often happen.
Shared leadership requires the collaboration and involvement of all members. They become an integral part of the project itself and take ownership of the objectives that emanate from the vision, mission and strategic goals of the organization. From this perspective, each individual develops his/her proactivity, pleasure and pride at work, and thus becomes responsible for the harmony that reigns within the team and the expected results.
Over time, the face of leadership tends to change and the tradition of the “boss” being solely responsible for the results to be achieved is now obsolete. Indirectly, he is indeed the only one responsible, but he needs to mobilize everyone to succeed. Without the mobilization of his troops, it will be impossible for success.
To be able to face the uncertainty and the multiple challenges of our time, an organization must be effective and efficient. And efficiency means mobilizing the workforce.
Meaningful participation leads to a sense of involvement that allows for influence which, in turn, generates a sense of belonging resulting in total commitment.
In shared leadership, each member adheres to the cause and is personally involved at all levels. They act to replace dysfunctional behaviors with functional ones. The individual and the team then find themselves in total complementarity and become effective thanks to a stimulating, innovative and unifying environment.
While many still dismiss the role of emotions in business, the reality is that offices are, in fact, emotional war zones.
The process of communication is described as the interaction of two individuals trying to exchange ideas, frustrations, concerns or symbolic meanings. It goes without saying that the behavior differs from one individual to another since we do not share the same beliefs or values. This phenomenon makes assertive communication a more complicated process than it seems. In addition, the emotions experienced by each person can often lead to painful situations in the workplace when the human factor is not taken into consideration.
It has been proven that people with higher emotional intelligence are more likely to get out of difficult situations and are able to deal with complex characters. So don’t miss any opportunity to use your emotional intelligence!
To create high-performing individuals and winning teams, the combination of shared leadership and the valuing of emotional intelligence is fundamental. Once integrated, emotional maturity replaces ego, and serves to build a healthy shared leadership that makes everyone want to give his/her 100%.
To learn more about emotional intelligence for leaders, click here.
To learn how to become an effective leader, click here.
