Implementation of Shared Leadership in Organizations and Sports Teams

Throughout history, leadership has been seen as one of the most important determinants of team effectiveness. In the last decade, a radical shift has occurred away from the traditional emphasis on vertical leadership (i.e., where the leader is positioned hierarchically above the team) towards the idea that leadership should be shared, such that leadership not only emanates from the formal leader, but also from team members. Unfortunately, to date, the evidence on how to translate these theoretical principles on shared leadership into practice is sparse.

In the present project, we aim to provide an answer on three important questions when implementing shared leadership: (1) Which leadership roles should be fulfilled in organizations?; (2) How can we identify the best leaders within the team on each of these roles?; and (3) How can we further develop the leadership potential of the appointed leaders? To answer these questions, we will bring together our experience in the sports setting (i.e., with respect to the implementation of a shared leadership approach) with the acquired knowledge in the organizational context (i.e., with respect to leadership development), and additional expertise with respect to visual data analysis (i.e., to visualize the leadership structure). Building upon the results, this project aims to optimize and commercialize two products, namely the Shared Leadership Mapping (i.e., to map the leadership structure in the team and identify the key leaders) and the 5R Shared Leadership Program (i.e., to further develop the leadership potential in the team).