Shared leadership

31/1/2025

‘Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.’ (Ryunosuke Satoro)

Shared leadership is about attitude, behaviour and culture. It isn’t strictly about role, although it has special significance for people in leadership roles. It’s about sharing the joys and burdens, opportunities and challenges of organisational leadership. It’s about making my best contribution and recognising the distinctive contribution of others. It’s also about respecting interdependence and valuing fellow leaders and colleagues. Here are some examples of shared leadership, in contrast to and as a shift away from a more individualistic approach:

I do whatever suits me best – I shape and support the organisation’s strategy
My own agenda drives my decisions – I plan and work in collaboration with others
I dismiss ideas I don’t like – I try to hear and understand others’ perspectives
I ignore or avoid people I disagree with – I speak up honestly when I disagree
I demand what I want from others – I try to reach agreement whenever I can
I avoid facing difficult issues and decisions – I negotiate to reach win-win solutions
I put my own interests first – I support my colleagues’ development and achievement
I attribute success to my own efforts – I affirm and celebrate others’ contributions
I depend on my own expertise – I draw on the team’s expertise as a whole
Relationships with others aren’t important – I build networks and teamwork

Shared leadership isn’t about being passive or dependent as part of a group. It is about recognising my contribution, recognising others’ contributions too, and working together to achieve shared success. Imagine a scenario in which, for instance, I discover the leader of another team is struggling to reach an important deadline. A person with an individualistic approach may think or say, for example, ‘It’s not my problem, it has nothing to do with me.’ By contrast, a shared leadership response may look something like this:

‘I’ve noticed you are under pressure to meet X deadline. Would you like to grab a coffee to discuss ways I or others could help you?’ Or, ‘Is there anything I could do to help release the pressure for you, e.g. renegotiate what my team is asking from your team or renegotiate our deadlines?’ Or, ‘I have some space in my calendar tomorrow, is there something I could do to help you?’ We see here that the spirit and practice of shared leadership is: contributing my best and, at the same time, drawing on and adding to the contributions of others.

Would you like help with developing shared leadership in your organisation? Get in touch!

[See also: Agency as leadership; Leadershift; Interdependence]

14 Comments

Dr Eleanor Choudhury

1/2/2025 03:30:29 pm

Well said Nick. This article aligns closely with contemporary research on collective leadership models. Studies in organizational psychology show that when leadership is distributed rather than centralized, teams exhibit higher engagement, problem-solving abilities, and resilience. However, successful implementation requires cultural change, shifting from hierarchical structures to networks of trust. Leaders must actively dismantle individualistic mindsets ingrained through traditional corporate hierarchies. The real challenge is not in defining shared leadership but in embedding it within organizational systems.

Nick Wright

13/2/2025 05:20:11 pm

Thank you, Eleanor. I agree with your reflection that 'successful implementation requires cultural change, shifting from hierarchical structures to networks of trust.' It also often calls for a radical shift in mindset, especially in organisations and wider cultures that foster the 'cult of the heroic individual.'

Amara Ndlovu

1/2/2025 03:34:23 pm

Hi Nick. Your blog beautifully articulates what leadership should be. Too often, leadership is misconstrued as authority rather than service. The shift from “me” to “we” is not just a theoretical exercise; it is a necessity for a just and effective workplace. Shared leadership allows for collective wisdom, nurtures trust, and ensures that all voices, especially those historically marginalized, are heard. When we build organizations that honor interdependence, we build a better future for everyone. Thank you for this timely and necessary perspective, Nick.

13/2/2025 05:23:05 pm

Thank you for such affirming feedback, Amara, and for sharing such important points too. I agree completely that, when done well, it allows for collective wisdom, nurturing trust, equity and inclusion and, in potential, builds a better future for everyone.

Rebecca-Jane (RJ) Thompson

1/2/2025 03:36:31 pm

Oh, I love this! This is exactly the kind of leadership we need more of: real, human, connected. I’ve worked in places where it was all about “me, me, me,” and it was exhausting. But when people actually care about each other? Magic happens. Work doesn’t just feel like work, it feels like purpose. If we could all adopt even a fraction of this mindset, our workplaces (and our lives!) would be so much better.

13/2/2025 05:24:12 pm

Thanks for such an enthusiastic response, Rebecca-Jane!

Javier Esteban de la Cruz

1/2/2025 03:37:32 pm

A single drop does not make a storm, but together, we flood the earth with possibility. Leadership should not be a lonely climb to a peak but a river, deep, flowing, fed by many sources. When we insist on standing alone, we dry up. When we open ourselves to the currents of others, we move, we change, we grow. This is not weakness. This is wisdom. The tide is stronger than the stone.

13/2/2025 05:25:23 pm

You expressed that so beautifully, Javier. 'The tide is stronger than the stone.' I love that.

Colin R. Wainwright

1/2/2025 03:38:52 pm

Beautiful in theory, utterly exhausting in practice, Nick.

Because here’s what actually happens: A handful of competent people do all the work while everyone else “collaborates” by dumping tasks onto them.

We call it “shared leadership,” but let’s be honest. It’s often just well-dressed codependency. Until we fix that little problem, I’ll keep my enthusiasm in check.

13/2/2025 05:36:57 pm

Hi Colin. Yes, that does sound utterly exhausting - and it doesn't sounds like shared leadership.

Margaret Donnelly

1/2/2025 03:41:42 pm

Hey Nick. All very nice. But let’s be real: leadership is not a group hug. In the real world, deadlines don’t care about feelings, and results matter more than consensus. If I have to stop every five minutes to make sure everyone’s comfortable sharing the load, we’re going to sink. I don’t ignore my team. I expect them to step up. Shared leadership? Fine. But someone still needs to steer the damn ship!

13/2/2025 05:38:13 pm

Hi Margaret. Yes, it sounds like you're objecting to something quite different to what I mean by 'shared leadership' here.

Hannah Levesque

1/2/2025 03:45:53 pm

Great article Nick. A few years ago, I might have skimmed past this blog, nodding vaguely at the ideas but assuming they were more aspirational than practical. Now, having implemented a shared leadership approach in my own organization, I can say with confidence: this works. Not just in theory but in measurable, tangible ways.

I stepped into my role as Director of Operations at a mid-sized tech firm that was struggling with high turnover and disengaged employees. The leadership culture was traditional: top-down decision-making, isolated teams and a reluctance to collaborate across departments. People were protective of their own workloads, hesitant to offer help and quick to say, “That’s not my problem.” The result? Missed deadlines, burned-out managers and employees who left as soon as a better offer came along.

We made a conscious shift to shared leadership, starting with small but intentional changes:

1, Cross-functional problem-solving sessions. Instead of team leads tackling issues alone, we brought in employees from different departments to help brainstorm solutions. The first time we tried this, we solved a logistics bottleneck in half the time it normally took and employees actually enjoyed the process.

2. Reframing leadership responsibilities. We asked every team member, regardless of title, “How can you lead from where you are?” This empowered junior employees to take ownership of projects and voice ideas they might have kept to themselves.

3. Mutual accountability. We removed the fear of asking for help by normalizing it. Leaders started checking in with each other more openly, saying things like, “I see you’re under pressure: how can I take something off your plate?”

4. Celebrating collective wins. Success was no longer attributed to a single leader but to the team as a whole. Recognition emails, monthly peer-nominated awards, and regular shout-outs in meetings reinforced the idea that we rise together.

The impact? Turnover dropped by 38% in the first year. Employee engagement scores climbed from 62% to 89%. And instead of barely hitting deadlines, we started exceeding expectations because people actually wanted to contribute beyond their individual roles.

Most importantly, the culture changed. Employees stopped seeing leadership as a title and started seeing it as a mindset. And once that shift happened, collaboration became second nature.

So, to anyone wondering if shared leadership is just a nice idea, it isn’t. It’s a game-changer.

13/2/2025 05:44:10 pm

Thank you, Hannah - and for sharing such a great case example of shared leadership - along with tangible examples of what reinforces it and what it looks like in practice. It sounds similar in many ways to the ways in which we first introduced and embedded shared leadership as a culture change initiative in a global non-governmental organisation. The outcome was similar to that you described here and, as a consequence of having now used similar approaches elsewhere too, I would agree with you wholeheartedly: 'To anyone wondering if shared leadership is just a nice idea, it isn’t. It’s a game-changer.'