Collaborative Leadership Leadership can take many different forms, depending on the person and the situation in which it is needed. Collaborative leadership is a leadership style in which a leader brings together a large group of people, with a variety of backgrounds, to make a productive decision and act upon it. According to Chrislip and Larson (1994):
…they are the ones who have the credibility to get the right people together to create visions, solve problems, and reach agreements about implementable actions. They are not the leaders who tell us what to do. Instead, they are the ones who help us work together constructively. (p. xx)
This paper is intended to explain where collaborative leadership is used, what characteristics it
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The discussion is an open-process, meaning that the decision making is done amongst the group members, not just the leader. Unlike an authoritative leader, the leader of this group allows the members to be a part of his or her final say. By doing this, it helps to keep everyone on the same page and moving forward in the same direction. Most every community organization functions best when collaborative leadership is in place, but with any leadership style, there are advantages and disadvantages of using it. One of the first advantages of using collaborative leadership is the buy-in among members of the group. When a leader makes use of collaboration, it gives the members a sense of ownership and value, which in turn builds commitment to the organization. With this loyalty, the leader can then assume a greater willingness from the members to be involved in the implementation of their final plan. Another advantage of using this leadership style is the high levels of trust building within the group. Being that this is an open process, members are encouraged to speak and think freely without judgment from other members or the leader. In the words of Chrislip and Larson (1994):
“It is a shift in the practice of democracy from hostility to civility, from advocacy to engagement, from confrontation to conversation, from debate to dialogue, and from separation to community.” (p. 4)
When members feel that their voices are heard, it can also help to
Agreement and consensus is largely formed among the team, who respond well to facilitation by leader. Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted. Big decisions are made by group agreement. Smaller decisions may be delegated to individuals or small teams within group. Commitment and unity is strong. The team may engage in fun and social activities. The team discusses and develops its processes and working style. There is general respect for the leader and some of leadership is more shared by the team. The leader facilitates and enables.
The authors also found that from their study, improved communication processes increased; being respected and understood increased and supporting/sharing leadership increased; which in turn created a more collaborative and successful
Leadership, which is defined as “…The action of leading a group of people or an organization” is used in many different ways. Most people think being a leader is mostly about being the boss, having people work under you and just becoming successful, but it boils down to more than that. Leaders are those individuals that actually utilize their many abilities in leadership and administration to help make a better change for themselves, the people around them and the goal that needs to be achieved. Leadership is not an expertise that can essentially be grabbed from a book or article based on leadership but instead it is one of those initiative abilities that are increased through experience and understanding those real life situations.
The Affiliative Style. “If the coercive leader demands, "Do what I say," and the authoritative urges, "Come with me," the affiliative leader says, "People come first." This leadership style revolves around people-its proponent’s value individuals and their emotions more than tasks and goals. The affiliative leader strives to keep employees happy and to create harmony among them. He manages by building strong emotional bonds and then reaping the benefits of such an approach, namely fierce loyalty. The style also has a markedly positive effect on communication. People who like one another a lot talk a lot. They share ideas; they share inspiration. And the style drives up flexibility; friends trust one another, allowing habitual innovation and risk taking. Flexibility also rises because the
There are many ways to define leadership, but perhaps the most laconic as well as accurate definition is presented in Peter G. Northouse's Leadership: Theory and Practice book (Northouse, 2013, p.5): "Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal". Individuals, engaged in leadership, use influence to solve challenges, which the groups under their leadership face, in order to succeed in their common goals.
One major disadvantage of collective leadership is that the decision making can be a slow and time intensive process. It is also a risk if you are working with sensitive materials because, there are so many people involved from an early stage.
Enabling others to act is a key principle in becoming a great leader. Enabling others involves creating a climate of trust. “Studies demonstrate that trust strongly predicts personal, team, and organizational performance.” (Kouzes & Posner, 2017). If there is no trust in the leader of a cause or organization, it will not get off the ground. Most trust comes out of relationship with other people. By sharing knowledge, showing concern, and being the first to trust, leaders can create a positive foundation for trust in an organization. Beyond having trust, enabling others to act involves facilitating positive relationships. This involved structuring projects to promote joint efforts, develop cooperative goals and roles, and encourage face-to-face interactions between workers. It’s important to help the people you are leading to feel heard, valued, and confident in their abilities. (Kouzes & Posner, 2017).
According to Business Dictionary.com, leadership is defined as the individuals who are the leaders in an organization, regarded collectively. It also can be define as the activity of leading a group of people or an organization or the ability to do this. Leadership involves the establishing of a clear vision, sharing the vision with other so that they will follow willingly, providing the needed information, knowledge, and methods to realize the vision and coordinating and balancing the conflicts interests of all members and stakeholders.
Yes, consensus is a good way for groups to make decisions. Groups, who are willing to participate, gave great creative solution. Complex problem are handled better with everyone's’ perspectives. Consensus manufactures trust and develops loyal hard workers. A general agreement that is comprehensive and connects all members. Also consensus can prompt better quality results that engage groups to work productively.
Leadership is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as the “action of leading a group of people or an organization.” Leadership is also the ability to set trends, inspire, motivate, and sway others to produce desired results. There are different styles and ways of performing leadership and a good leader has the ability to take ordinary people, put them all together, and hopefully yield successful results. For organizations to have sustained results from their performance there must be a good balance of business insight, technical and interpersonal skills, and good team dynamics. A leader must know how to use all these areas as well as trust and communicate with their people in
All group members enthusiastically partake in the leader’s arbitrations, and if conformity is impossible, a vote will be taken (Mc Caffery, 2004).
Communication and involvement information can be better, views and ideas can be shared, making it a tougher team.
Despite the advantages associated with a shared leadership approach, some disadvantages also exist. One disadvantage originates from individual interpretations of teamwork (Baghai & Quigley, 2012). In other words, not all people in a work environment view working together the same, posing a leadership challenge to clearly delineate the organization’s concept of team. Other disadvantages arise when workers chose to bypass or overlook some team members, or when an individual lacks the confidence to exhibit leadership skills resulting in organizational loss of leadership potential (Pearce, Wassenaar, & Manz, 2014).
The group assessment in this unit put together four motivated members that wanted to create quality work. Interestingly, it also included for the first time, in my many team assessments, an additional strong-minded member that wished to lead the group. Sousa & van Dierendonck (2015, p. 15) propose, that sharing leadership duties requires humility from the group leaders to allow others to take responsibility for the task whilst remaining willing to step in and lead when needed. DuBrin (2016, p.27) further states that good team members have the courage to challenge the direction the task is taking and therefore showing leadership within the group. This was an important learning activity for myself as I moved from initial apprehension of joint leadership, to increasingly appreciating the strengths of other team members and the value this added.
Being able to lead a group or someone is a very powerful action. Being a leader in general is very powerful. Leadership is an art that is painted, sculpted, and displayed in all sorts of ways. There are many different styles of leadership that correspond with different tasks. From transformational leadership to laissez-faire leadership, there are various styles throughout the continuum. A transformational leader is one of the best, more successful leadership style. When going down the continuum, the leadership styles only become less effective. Everyone also falls in distinctive categories when it comes to leading others. The leadership style that is displayed depends on the person leading and those who are being led along with the task.