[11] Though a relatively new phenomenon in the literature, the concept of shared leadership can actually be traced back several centuries.
In a 2002 paper, David Sally noted that shared leadership was present even in the early days of Republican Rome.
This structure of co-leadership was so effective that it extended from the lower levels of the Roman magistracy to the very top position, that of consul."
Leadership is conceived around a single individual – the leader – and how that person inspires, entices, commands, cajoles and controls followers.
In 1924, Mary Parker Follet wrote that "one should not only look to the designated leader, but one should let logic dictate to whom one should look for guidance" (as cited by Crainer, 2002, p. 72).
Current research suggest that shared leadership forms may imply significant advantages at individual-, team-, organizational- and societal levels.
[17] With the complexity and ambiguity of tasks that teams often experience, it is becoming more apparent that a single leader is unlikely to have all of the skills and traits to effectively perform the necessary leadership functions.
A host of scholars who have studied shared leadership found that in order for the dynamic to properly emerge, two preconditions must be met.
[26] The preconditions specified by Katz and Kahn (1978) tend to be met by leadership sharing in teams by the development of interpersonal alliances (measured by LMX-TEAM) between and among participants as several meta-analyses reported.
The three concepts are also drawn from a wide body of literature: The three dimensions are interrelated and mutually reinforcing, thereby "representing a high order construct.
"[30] Carson et al. summarize the interconnectivity of these three concepts in a concise narrative: When team members are able to speak up and get involved (voice), the likelihood that many of them will exercise leadership increases greatly.
The opportunity for voice also facilitates shared leadership by strengthening both a common sense of direction and the potential for positive interpersonal support in a team.
Thus, these three dimensions work together to create an internal team environment that is characterized by a shared understanding about purpose and goals, a sense of recognition and importance, and high levels of involvement, challenge, and cooperation.
[31] Scholars have also described the important role that external team leaders and support can have in the development of shared leadership.
[34] Through supportive coaching, external team managers can reinforce the development of shared leadership in a variety of ways.
[35] A second, more indirect, way that external coaching may positively encourage shared leadership is based on a functional approach.
This functional coaching can be redundant when teams have highly supportive internal environments and therefore are less critical to the overall development of shared leadership.
When interventions are necessary, however, such as when teams lack a strong shared purpose, the functional approach asserts that this kind of external influence may be particularly important.
[39] A meta-analysis by Nicolaides and colleagues (2014) found that one reason why shared leadership relates to performance is through increasing team confidence.
Conflicting thoughts on how shared leadership influences student engagement result in a variety of interpretations by researchers.
Sharing leadership also impacts how teachers interact with one another, whether they possess relationships where they reinforce one another or feel distant from the organization.
Leithwood and Mascall(2008) conclude that shared leadership eventually influences students' math achievement indirectly by effecting teacher motivation.
Camburn and Han's study (2009), however, does not present empirical evidence that shared leadership is associated with students' outcomes.