Shared leadership? It works like this!

Shared leadership? It works like this!

As a team you have goals to realize. This will only succeed if the team understands the necessity of it.

That requires leadership. However, you can’t expect all leadershipleadership qualities are embedded in one person. So leadership is never in one person. The solution? Shared leadershipwhere het leaderleadership not is associated with a formal role or position. It therefore fits in well with the principle of value-creating leadership.

How is leadership distributed within your team? And what types of leaders should you think about? In 5 reading minutes you will have the answer.

Better performance, better well-being

Almost always the formal leader in an organization makes all the decisions. Katrien Fransen, professor at the KU Leuven, argues that shared leadership ensures much better performance of teams and employees. And that this bfurthermore atcontributes to the well-being of employees. After all, there less imposed from above and employees feel feel more involved with the leadership.

Leaders are people who have influence in a team. They don’t have to be necessarily the formeappointed leaders at are. The for example are also experienced employees. Meditorss with a groot heart for others. And positive attitude employees who know their colleagues motivate. Do you have all these people on one team? That’s wonderful.. As team leader, delegate the various the various leadership tasks within the team, so that you can lead in the right way. Incidentally, more than onee people can have asame take on the same role. That is the beauty of shared leadership.

Four types of leaders

Fransen conducts research on effective leadership. In her research she shows that teams in which the various leadership roles are filled by different people are much more efficient than teams with a single with one leader who is in charge of all matters. It concerns the following four types of leaders:

The task leader

The task leader sets the strategic and tactical lines. He or she will make adjustments where necessary. The task leader works with the team.

The motivational leader

In every teamt a enthusiastic employee with a positionf and enthusiastic character. Someone who’s got his colleague’s motivate and encourages them to go to extremes, also when things get tough. Do you have someone like that on your team? Then give this employee the informal role of motivational leader. Make good agreements about this. Like: “If something’s going on, I’m looking at you”.

The social leader

Do you have in your team colleagues who always look backand to others? Who likes the informal contact? And create a nice atmosphere? Then they are might be quite capable of being social leaders.s. Such a person functions in conflict situations as a kind of confidant.

The external leader

How do you maintain good contacts and connections with the outside world? With customers, suppliers and colleagues from other departments or locations? It is best to do this task at to the people with the best reciprocitye contacts. HT his may involve several external leaders, at zowel strategic, tactical and operational levels.

Tip: bMap out people’s networks with a network analysis. Then you’ll see in aat a glance who is best suited to the role.

Which employees do you choose for which leadership role?

Shared leadership therefore offers opportunities. In doing so, you don’t have to strictly adhere to the leadership types mentioned above. Some organizations need a different type of leader, such as the innovative leader. So look carefully at what types of leaders are necessary. And then look at which people you are using for that. But how do you determine which people within your team you can best engage for which type of leadership? You do this by making a network analysis. One tip, perhaps needless to say: use people for their talents.

Want to know more about value-creating leadership? Then download the ebook Leadership in the Economy of Value. Or click here for our leadership training courses.