By Shared Leadership we mean…
A community of equals, facilitated by a team leader who:
- share a common vision and agree to common values
- make decisions collectively
- share responsibility for the outcome of decisions
- allocate tasks and portfolios based on giftedness and expertise
- work to create a learning community
thus modeling an alternative view of power and requiring high levels of trust, group accountability, communication, personal competence and personal initiative.
We understand that this is not a model of leadership that is recognized or fully understood by other organizations. We believe that we can be at the forefront of demonstrating that this model can and does work; therefore, this will be the model in all levels of team leadership and management for NextLEVEL Leadership, including the Empowering Communities in other regions and nations.
General Guidelines for all NLL teams using the shared leadership model:
- The Team Leader will be appointed from within the team and by the team, based on giftedness and expertise.
- The Team Leader position will be reviewed annually by the team to ensure the needs of the team and the organization are being met (we will use 360 degree evaluations) and may be rotated according to the needs of the team.
- Decisions do not always need total consensus. However, once the decision has been made the entire team will agree to support the decision.
- Decisions within the individual portfolio used for the purpose of carrying out the overall team directives will not require team input unless requested.
- The team will invite individuals to join the team based on giftedness, expertise and shared DNA
- Particular roles and functions and length of term for new members will be decided upon by the team
- The Team will function as a learning community - not solely as a task group with a project focus
- All members of the team will have equal responsibility for making the decisions of the team and for the outcomes of those decisions
- The team leader is to ensure that decisions are made with full input and full ownership of the whole team