Shared Leadership in Teams: Expanding Traditional Approaches to Leadership to Make Teams and Organizations More Effective
Paul Tesluk
Center for Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness
UB School of Management
“Leadership…the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and
enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the
organization”
 House et al., 1999
Why and how is leadership evolving to increasingly
be more shared, distributed and networked, what
might be the advantages for teams and
organizations and what are potential approaches to
build systems of shared leadership?
Complex and ambiguous tasks
Dynamic environments
Differentiated, distributed expertise
Flatter systems
Changing nature of work and organizations = greater reliance on teams that…
Evolving Nature of Leadership
Morning Star
• No one has a boss/manager
• Colleagues negotiate
responsibilities with peers
• Each individual and team is
responsible for acquiring own
tools to do their work
• No titles or promotions
• Compensation decisions are
peer-based
Shared Leadership
 Distribution of leadership influence across multiple team members
 Influence “claiming” and “granting” exchanges
 Mutual influence embedded in team member interactions related to providing direction, motivation and support  Greater utilization of knowledge and expertise
 Team identification and mutual accountability
 Commitment/engagement
Shared Leadership
Performance
 Greater utilization of knowledge and expertise
 Team identification and mutual accountability
 Commitment/engagement
= Superior Relational Coordination,
Employee Engagement,
Customer Focus
Sources:
Wang, D., Waldman, D. A., & Zhang, Z. (2013). A meta‐analysis of shared leadership and team effectiveness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(2): 181‐198.
D’Innocenzo, L., Mathieu, J.E., Kukenberger, M.R. (2014). A meta‐analysis of different forms of shared leadership‐team performance relations. Journal of Management, on‐line version.
• Customer Satisfaction
• Customer Loyalty
• What are potential boundary conditions of shared leadership and its relationship with team performance?
5.0
High Team
Competence
Team
Performance
4.0
Low Team
Competence
3.0
Low
High
Shared Leadership
Source: Chiu, C, Tesluk, P. E., & Owens, B., (2014). Initiating and Utilizing Shared Leadership in Teams: The Interactive Effects of Leader Humility, Team Social Context, and Team Composition. Working Paper. UB School of Management.
• What are the enabling conditions that seem to promote the development of shared leadership?
Shared Leadership Enablers
•
Shared purpose
– Common understanding of team’s goals and purpose
• Social support
– Team members’ efforts to provide emotional and psychological strength to each other
•
Team trust
– team members’ willingness to assume vulnerability with others on the team
• Voice
– Team members’ input into how the team carries out its purpose
Source: Carson, J. B., Tesluk, P. E., & Marrone, J. A. 2007. Shared leadership in teams: An investigation of antecedent conditions and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 50: 1217–1234.
• What is the role and forms of external team leadership that promote the development of shared leadership?
Evolving Nature of Leadership
• Empowering Leadership
– Emphasize significance of work
– Encourage participative decision making
– Build efficacy of the team
– Reduce bureaucracy
• Leader Humility
– Demonstrate self‐awareness
– Acknowledge strengths and contributions of others
– Open to new ideas and feedback
•
Shared purpose
• Social support
•
Team trust
• Voice
1.0
Highly Proactive
Team
Shared
Leadership
0.7
Non Proactive
Team
0.4
Low
High
Leader Humility
Source: Chiu, C, Tesluk, P. E., & Owens, B., (2014). Initiating and Utilizing Shared Leadership in Teams: The Interactive Effects of Leader Humility, Team Social Context, and Team Composition. Working Paper. UB School of Management.
• Empowering Leadership
– Emphasize significance of work
– Encourage participative decision making
– Build efficacy of the team
– Reduce bureaucracy
• Leader Humility
– Demonstrate self‐awareness
– Acknowledge strengths and contributions of others
– Open to new ideas and feedback
• Active Coaching
– Help identify unique challenges
– Assist with developing problem solutions
– Facilitate team learning and adaptation
•
Shared purpose
• Social support
•
Team trust
• Voice
100%
High Active
Coaching
Adaptive
Performance
50%
Little Active
Coaching
0%
Low
High
Shared Leadership
Source: Campbell, E.M., Bartol, K.M., Parke, M.R., Tesluk, P.E. (2014). Leading from Afar: How Virtual Team Leaders Facilitate Emergence and Effectiveness of Shared leader. Working Paper. University of Maryland and UB School of Management.
1. Shared leadership is well suited for the evolving nature of work and can best utilize expertise 2. Teams need to have a clear sense of purpose and a high level of social support, trust and voice to engage in sharing leadership
3. Formal team leaders can enable shared leadership in their teams by engaging in empowerment, demonstrating humility, and using active coaching
1. Shared leadership is well suited for the evolving nature of work and can best utilize expertise 2. Teams need to have a clear sense of purpose and a high level of social support, trust and voice to engage in sharing leadership
3. Formal team leaders can enable shared leadership in their teams by engaging empowerment, demonstrating humility, and using active coaching
Current shared leadership projects:
• Buffalo Public Schools
• Interdisciplinary health care teams
• Sustainable urban transformation Additional Resources
•
Recommended academic research
– Carson, J. B., Tesluk, P. E., & Marrone, J. A. 2007. Shared leadership in teams: An investigation of antecedent conditions and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 50: 1217–
1234.
– Wang, D., Waldman, D. A., & Zhang, Z. (2013). A meta‐analysis of shared leadership and team effectiveness. Journal of Applied Psychology. 99(2): 181‐198.
– D’Innocenzo, L., Mathieu, J.E., Kukenberger, M.R. (2014). A meta‐analysis of different forms of shared leadership‐team performance relations. Journal of Management, on‐line version.
•
You tube clip on shared leadership concept
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haqy9ff2BS8
•
Great example of shared leadership (and followership) in sports – leadership philosophy of coach Phil Jackson
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVWqTQn‐jU4
– See also, Jackson’s book, “11 Rings”
•
Ted Talk by General Stanley McCrystal where shared leadership is covered
– http://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal
•
Wall Street Journal editorial column
– http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB121441363110903891
Contact information:
Paul Tesluk
Center for Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness (CLOE)
School of Management
University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Jacobs Management Center
Buffalo, NY 14260‐4000
phone: 716‐645‐3246
email: [email protected]
http://mgt.buffalo.edu/faculty/academic/resources/cloe