Business management is rapidly changing from old, authoritarian models to more open methods, as many companies have been inspired by social media and newer web technologies and thus have begun facilitating the sharing of information.
Call it Business Management 2.0, in which firms essentially run themselves – up to a point, anyway.
Dubbed “shared leadership” the modern approach to getting work done is being employed by more and more companies, big and small. It could help small businesses grow without investing in new employees or high-salaried managers.
What is shared leadership?
Most companies are realizing to achieve their goals depends on the team that they work with. The digital revolution is spawning an entirely different management model where the assumption is that the smartest companies have quick access to the collective knowledge of the company.
Shared leadership differs from the traditional vertical hierarchy management style. In the vertical management style, those in management positions are responsible for the bulk of the decision making, and those in subordinate roles have little input in the decision-making process.
Shared leadership is more of a collaborative effort. One person is still in charge, however power and influence are shared within the group. This could mean individuals have more autonomy over decisions related to their position or more of an open-door policy in which everyone’s ideas are given fair consideration.
Why is shared leadership important?
Shared leadership has a positive influence on the way that company operates. This model encourages and values personal initiative. When employees feel empowered to do what they know, they will be not waiting instead they will do where both productivity and job satisfaction will increase.
If individuals feel that they have an impact on the organization and that they have some power and responsibility, they have a greater desire for a success. Goals will become more personal to them.
The best examples of shared leadership are when decision making gets spread across multiple individuals.
Example of shared leadership
Shared leadership may be a relatively new concept in the business world, but it can be seen in the government structure of democracies. Instead of one person, such as a king or an authoritarian leader, having all of the decision-making power, the power is shared among different branches of government, with the president or prime minister taking the ultimate leadership role.
Newark, Delaware-based W.L. Gore Associates – 9,000-employees in a firm that makes Gore-Tex, among other products – is large, but they keep their offices in small groups, with no more than 150 people per office. Gore works essentially without supervisors, where the team will share between each other the workload that suppose to be done at the certain time.
How to develop shared leadership
There are three basic principles in creating shared leadership:
- Encouraging transparency
- Providing a safe environment
- Supporting autonomy
Transparency is key to employee trust and satisfaction. It also allows everyone involved to be on the same page.
A safe environment means that the employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas. Great ideas often come from the people doing the day-to-day work, because they are the most experienced at doing their job. They are also often the first to notice when something isn’t working correctly. When employees feel that their ideas are heard and welcomed, the team benefits from their observations.
Supporting autonomy means that employees need their freedom to make some of the decisions regarding their work. Not all companies will adopt a model like Gore-Tex’s, which lets employees choose which jobs to take. However, most of the businesses can benefit from giving more autonomy in selected areas.
For small businesses, shared leadership could be as simple as creating a meeting format in which employees talk about how ideas are different and where there is agreement, rather than arguing over whose idea is better.
This new way of managing may be as simple as giving people responsibility for things and making sure their supervisors are open to hearing the employees’ input on the subject.
It’s about to make sure managers have an open door and that those who take a risk and share an idea or alert managers to a problem don’t get punished for it.
Teams with the shared leadership have less conflicts, more consensuses, more trust, and more cohesions as the teams that do not have shared leadership.
Shared leadership has far-reaching benefits a members of the organization and the company as a whole. It increases employees engagement and job satisfaction. It allows the company to adapt to change more faster and come up with innovative new ideas.
Netmetech specialized as Business 2 Business and Business Developer and help companies build a predictable sales pipeline of 7-figure value within 3-6 months. Let us know How can we help you to grow your business – Book a Meeting
