An Overview of Distributed Leadership

‘A distributed leadership perspective frames leadership practice as a product of the interactions of … leaders, followers and their situation. Leadership practice is not just something that is done to followers; followers co-produce leadership in interaction with their leaders.’[4]

Under distributed leadership, then, organizational improvement and change become a collective rather than an individual responsibility. And it is the interactions between the leaders and their followers that matters not what each individual does.

Key Characteristics

The National College for Teaching and Leadership has undertaken extensive research into distributed leadership. It suggests that distributed leadership has three distinguishing features:[5]

1. Leadership is the product of an interacting group or network of individuals, rather than the act of a single person.
2. It opens up the boundaries of leadership to those who would previously have been excluded from leadership activities.
3. It embodies the belief that expertise should be distributed across the organization, rather than being concentrated in the hands of a few people.

To help us understand the characteristics of distributed leadership, Dean[6] has assimilated the work of leading theorists on distributed leadership into eight ‘hallmarks’ of distributed leadership, which she regards as:

• Shared responsibility – whereby leadership is viewed in terms of the collective behavior of many individuals, rather than as a designated role.
• Shared power and authority – whereas traditional notions of leadership focus on command and control, distributed leadership is more concerned with empowerment, participation and co-operation.
• Synergy – under distributed leadership, decision-making is decentralized, with individuals engaging in collaborative activities, and willingly sharing or overlapping roles with others whose skills and knowledge complement their own.
• Leadership capacity – organizations with distributed leadership benefit from the collective knowledge and skills of their leadership participants, giving them greater leadership capacity than traditionally led organizations.
• Organizational learning – according to Senge[7], where leadership and decision-making are distributed throughout an organization, senior leaders have a responsibility to contribute to the quality of thinking throughout the organization. How they work with their own teams serves as an example of how this can be replicated throughout the organization.
• An equitable and ethical climate – corporate scandals such as Enron occurred because decision-making was the preserve of a few powerful people at the top of the organization. Distributed leadership tends to involve a much wider range of stakeholders in the decision-making process, thereby reducing the likelihood that ill-considered or unethical decisions are made.
• A democratic and investigative culture – this is the cumulative result of shared responsibility, shared power and authority, and an ethical and organizational learning culture.
• Macro-community engagement – many organizations that practice distributed leadership appreciate that part of their leadership capacity lies in their ability to understand and contribute to an increasingly complex internal and external environment, over which they can have little real leadership control. This is what Western and others refer to as the ‘ecology of leadership’.[8]

Types of Distributed Leadership

Spillane has identified three different ways in which leadership can be distributed.[9]

• Collaborative distribution which occurs where two or more leaders work together in the same place and at the same time to complete a task or achieve a goal (Spillane refers to this as ‘executing a leadership routine’). To illustrate his point, Spillane likens this interaction to that between members of a basketball team, where the players work together, passing the ball between each other and setting up opportunities to take a shot at the goal.
• Collective distribution occurs where two or more leaders work separately but interdependently. Spillane likens this type of relationship to that between a cricket batsman and bowler where the batsman performs alone, but there must be an interaction between the batsman and the bowler for the process to work.
• Coordinated distribution occurs where leadership routines comprise activities that are required to be performed in a particular order. Here Spillane likens the interaction between leaders to that between participants in a relay race.

Macbeath[10] on the other hand splits distributed leadership into that which is ‘given’ by a leader and that which is ‘taken’ by an individual or group of employees.

• ‘Given’ distributed leadership is where a leader or senior team gives responsibility for leading on a particular issue, or making a decision to those further down the chain, with the caveat that this is carried out within a framework of agreed values and priorities.
• ‘Taken’ distributed leadership usually arises in response to a particular and sometimes pressing need – this form of distributed leadership tends to arise where there are perceived shortcomings in the way systems and processes are being managed from the top.

A Model of Distributed Leadership

One of the few approaches to distributed leadership from an organizational rather than an educational perspective comes from Ancona et al.[11] Their model of distributed leadership views leadership as a set of four core capabilities:

• sensemaking – understanding the context in which the organization operates
• relating – building relationships within and across organizations
• visioning – creating a compelling picture for the future of the organization
• inventing – finding new ways to achieve the organization’s vision

According to Ancona et al., while successful leaders need to exercise each of the above capabilities, typical leaders will show particular strength in just one or two capabilities. Where leaders lack strength in a particular area, it is prudent to distribute the relevant areas of responsibility to others in the organization who do have this particular strength. This prevents organizational myopia setting in, instead creating a balanced, agile and responsive organization.

The Potential Benefits of Distributed Leadership

As organizations become increasingly complex it is impossible for one person to have the requisite time, knowledge and skills to lead every aspect of the organization. By distributing leadership throughout the organization, this may:

• increase employee engagement and commitment, due to a sense of collective responsibility for the organization’s success
• encourage idea sharing and help to generate new solutions to old problems
• encourage more effective and responsive decision-making
• help to develop a greater sense of openness and trust in the organization
• assist succession planning as it can help organizations to spot and nurture the leadership potential of indviduals from an early stage
• encourage better teamwork at all levels of the organization
• give people a more flexible and adaptable approach to work
• improve knowledge sharing and learning inside and across departments as different groups work together
• boost productivity as the outcomes from a distributive leadership approach tend to be greater than the sum of its parts

Potential Downside of Distributed Leadership

Like any other leadership approach, there are potential downsides to distributed leadership. These can include:

• slower decision-making as different viewpoints have to be taken into account
• the emergence of silos, if communication between groups is poor
• lack of overall strategic direction if different organizational departments or units perceive themselves as being in competition with each other

Conclusion

Distributed leadership provides an interesting alternative to the traditional theory of hierarchical leadership, which is proving inadequate for many of today’s complex organizations. However, for distributed leadership to be of real benefit it would be useful to see more research on the subject outwith the education sector, for theorists to make clearer distinctions on how it differs from other similar leadership principles, and to offer more explicit guidance on how the principles of distributed leadership can best be translated into practice.

Find out More

More in-depth information on distributed leadership can be found in James P Spillane’s book Distributed Leadership. The National College for Teaching and Leadership has also carried out extensive work on the subject – visit their site at www.nationalcollege.org.uk.