Why is it important for top executives to value and support shared leadership?

Shared leadership is the view that leadership is a role, not a position assigned to one person, such that people within the team and organization lead each other. Emerging views of leadership support the idea that leadership needs to be developed at all levels of an organization. In a recent study, only 8 percent of executives in large firms indicated their organizations had enough leadership. Effective leaders are responsible and their success may be determined, by their ability to teach and empower employees to take leadership roles. In increasingly dynamic, team-based organizations, an organization’s competitive success may be determined by employees’ ability to understand the business environment and take action consistent with organizational goals. Characteristics associated with leadership such as self-confidence, emotional intelligence, integrity are increasingly being used by organizations to select employees for positions at all levels within an organization (not just management and executive positions).

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