Tag Archive for: Shared leadership

This article was originally published in Portuguese in Líder Magazine, in the spring 2024 issue.

The online version was later published on the magazine’s website. The original article can be consulted here link.

According to Michael Porter, strategy is what will differentiate an organisation: it will provide it with a competitive advantage, create distinct value for the consumer, and allow the company to prosper and achieve superior profitability.

In the current context, strategy is increasingly a dynamic process that involves permanent interaction with a complex and ambiguous environment, evaluating threats, trends and opportunities. To drive this process, the organisation needs teams with the ability to anticipate the future and lead change.

The effectiveness of teams as a whole is, more than ever, essential for the success and sustainability of organisations. These cannot depend solely on the talent of a leader who has all the solutions and controls that others execute their decisions. It is necessary to invest in shared leadership teams because of their potential to achieve higher performance than teams with vertical leadership.

The development of teams with collective leadership skills is crucial for organisations to consistently and lastingly achieve a high level of performance and innovation. These skills allow the whole to create more value than the sum of the parts and for each member to assume responsibility for their contribution (individual leadership) and for the functioning of the entire team (collective leadership).

An effective team needs clarity and alignment around its purpose and vision for the future. Based on this clarity, work together to define the strategic axes that will allow you to achieve results and reflect on the culture, governance, processes and leadership necessary to support the execution of the strategy. The team reviews the best ways of working, the technical and behavioural competencies and the internal dynamics necessary to fulfill its purpose.

The internal environment of the team includes: a) a shared purpose, b) support among its members and c) voice—psychological safety and willingness to express oneself—elements that precede shared leadership. Trust is another vital element: it is built on integrity and credibility, and is developed through direct communication, clarification of expectations, keeping commitments and an environment of continuous learning. Coaching support is especially important when the team’s internal environment is less favourable.

We work in alliance with leadership teams, in a process that stimulates reflection and creativity from a systemic perspective. We help them clarify the purpose, vision and strategy, and lead the change towards a sustainable transformation of organisations, creating value for all stakeholders.

Authors: Fátima Ribeiro and Susana Azevedo