Leadership
In the past, leadership was a status, a title, a person, an individual. In decentralized organizations, leadership is a dynamic an emergent group property in which people flexibly lead one another, they are selectively using their skills and expertize based on the evolving needs and context of the organization. sharing responsibility to perform specific leadership behaviour, to achieve group and organizational goals.
Leadership is related to influence.
The quality of leadership needs to be nurtured in individuals, peers in open networks.
Functions of leadership
- People leadership: caring for one another, well-being, open to input
- Change leadership: set directions, vision for change
- Task leadership: setting clear expectations, setting clear responsibilities, path to contributions, ex. onboarding
All these become distributed in decentralized organizations.
Enablers of leadership functions
- Shared purpose
- Social support
- Voice: influence direction
It becomes important how people are appreciated in a network. Also, imagination is important, how people see the new emerging things, paradigm shift.
Lenses to see leadership in decentralized organizations
- helping the group navigate
- influencing the direction
- providing the framework and the vision
- not created by position or pay
Indicators of role of leadership
- the feel of being trusted - followership
- the feel of being competent
- the feel of making progress, advancing a shared agenda
To enable leadership it requires
- Shared purpose
- Social support
- Voice: influence direction