The MIT Sloan School has come up with a model of Distributed Leadership. I first learnt this during my university years where I participated in Science & Technology Leadership Association (STeLA). This leadership framework is one that I adhere to and have been practicing in my life since I first learned about it.
An important part of the Distributed Leadership model is that it recognises that a leader can never be ‘complete’. They suggest that the concept of a ‘complete leader’ is myth that is idealised by many human leaders, but one that remains as a utopian ideal. In practice, human leaders would reach the point of mental and spiritual exhaustion if they try to walk in the shoes of the mythical ‘complete leader’ for too long.
A leader who is ‘complete’ is one that is able to competently exercise the four signatures of leadership at any given time. The four signatures here are as described by this HBR article as;
- Sensemaking: understanding the context in which a company and its people operate
- Relating: building relationships within and across organisations
- Visioning: creating a compelling picture of the future
- Inventing: developing new ways to achieve the vision
I think it would be great if I myself was able to command all four capabilities skilfully. But my own experience, and the researchers at MIT too, would suggest that those thoughts are to remain as dreams in my head. What MIT’s research suggests is a more realistic and achievable approach to leadership.
The Distributed Leadership model proposes that the four capabilities of leadership ought not sit within a single individual leadership, at which is would confidently crumble. The model proposes that the four capabilities should be dynamically shared among ‘incomplete leaders’ within the team or organisation. Members of the teams have a role to play in leading the team.
In the case of a team that has the traditional alpha leader at the front, that alpha leader needs to recognise that he or she is humanly incapable of governing all four leadership capabilities all the time. The alpha leader needs to learn to let go and allow the rest of the team to help carry that leadership responsibility or responsibilities.
The focus should NOT be on the responsibilities of the ‘leader’, which the expression assumes a single individual leadership. Instead, the focus here should be on the responsibilities of ‘leadership’, which is directed to the whole team or organisation.
Leadership is a distributed capability. We all share it.
Ruiz