Collective leadership

“Leadership is not defined by the exercise of power but by the capacity to increase the sense of power among those led. The most essential work of the leader is to create more leaders.”

Mary Parker Follett

Writing in 1924, Mary Parker Follett in her book The Creative Experience set out a definition that accords with Collective Leadership — a form of leadership that “appreciates and engages with the whole system, including the behavioural and relational aspects, and where openness, learning and willingness to take collective action are at the core.”

It recognises that different styles and models of leadership are appropriate in dealing with different problems and issues. Crucially, leadership is not to do with job titles or structures but about culture and working practices — one of those practices being an understanding of when to apply different leadership models.

In January 2018, Collective Leadership for Scotland was launched as a Government initiative with the emphasis on “learning and building capacity for leadership which appreciates and engages with the whole system, including the behavioural and relational aspects, and where openness, learning and willingness to take collective action are at the core”.

Old models of leadership that centred on ‘hero leaders’ are no longer fit for purpose — we require models that are adaptive and collaborative in which everyone has the confidence and skills to take leadership in dealing with problems that confront them.

These principles of leadership are also evident in the business sector. At Spotify managers focus on ’servant leadership’ with an emphasis on coaching, mentorship, and eliminating barriers, rather than ‘command and control’. Netflix encourages staff to “make wise decisions despite ambiguity” and emphasises the need to do so based on “long-term, not near term” thinking.

Research published in 2019 by MIT researchers Deborah Ancona, Elaine Backman and Kate Isaacs identify three distinct types of leaders:

• Entrepreneurial leaders, typically concentrated at lower levels of an organisation, create value for customers with new products and services; collectively, they move the organisation into unexplored territory.
• Enabling leaders, in the middle of the organisation, make sure the entrepreneurs have the resources and information they need.
• Architecting leaders, near the top, keep an eye on the whole game board, monitoring culture, high-level strategy, and structure.

Collective Leadership Scotland is a collaborative initiative to develop and support the workforce across public service organisations in Scotland, such as Creative Scotland, providing a range of development and training opportunities.

Collective Leadership is summarised in the visualisation below and there is a dedicated website: https://collectiveleadershipscotland.com/

Find out more

Five Elements of Collective Leadership Cassandra O’Neill and Monica Brinkerhoff February 1, 2018 https://nonprofitquarterly.org/five-elements-collective-leadership/

Developing collective leadership for healthcare — https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/default/files/field/field_publication_file/developing-collective-leadership-kingsfund-may14.pdf

How can we build capacity for Collective Leadership for Scotland? — https:// workforcescotland.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/how-can-we-build-capacity-for-collective- leadership-in-scotland.pdf

What Works in Public Service Leadership: Exploring the Potential — Scotland — literature review — http://whatworksscotland.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/WWSPublicServiceLeadershipExploringThePotential.pdf
Project Lift — leadership development — https://www.projectlift.scot/our-elements/leadership- development/