1. Project Wisdom Shared Leadership
Go around and ask people to introduce themselves.
Name, where they are from, ask them to share a unique quality about their culture

2. What is Leadership? When you think of a leader what comes to mind?
Why?

3. Qualities for Leaders Responsible Trusting Open-minded Realistic
Forward-looking Imaginative
Encouraging Fun
Sharing Understanding
Reflective Appreciative
Accepting Enthusiastic
Energizing Serious
Non-judgmental Observant
Facilitating Creative
Visionary Task-oriented

4. Collective Qualities for Leadership: No one has it all, but all have them some
Responsible Trusting
Open-minded Realistic
Forward-looking Imaginative
Encouraging Fun
Sharing Understanding
Reflective Appreciative
Accepting Enthusiastic
Energizing Serious
Non-judgmental Observant
Facilitating Creative
Visionary Task-oriented

5. Behaviours Contrary to Shared Leadership
Self-oriented
Controlling or aggressive
Condescending
Arguing too much on a point
Rejecting ideas without considering them
Resisting stubbornly
Dominating
Ignoring relevant information, ideas and feelings
Seeking recognition
Withdrawal
Pairing up
Dependency
Adopted from Robert A. Gallagher, 2001; Shared Leadership, The Maintaining of Task and Relationship
Here are some behaviours that if fostered in a group can counteract difficult behaviors
Encouraging – A group member who is encouraging will be open and responsive to others. They will recognize the contributions of the members and will encourage others to see the value of other members work. Use comments such as "I think that’s a very useful idea. I can see how it will help us move forward."
Observant – An observant group member who has his/her hand on the pulse of the group, can test hunches about the mood of the group in an exploratory fashion. Validate other’s feelings by sharing their own. S/he will say: "I'm feeling frustrated. Where are the rest of you?"
Harmonizing – A harmonizing group member will suggest ways of accommodating differing views. Will help group members explore their disagreements. Will find and offer appropriate compromises solutions. This is the comment that you will often hear from this member; “I can see there are two strong views on this. Let's see if we can find a way to use the best of each."
Facilitating – This is a group member who invites all the group members including the less active members to contribute. E.g. - “I see that most of us have expressed our opinions. I am interested in what Gill and Jen think about it?"
Evaluative – This member helps the group to evaluate its progress, and when necessary establish standards which move the group forward, e.g. - "I think it would be helpful if we spent a few minutes at the end of each meeting commenting on our work together.“
Adopted from Robert A. Gallagher, 2001; Shared Leadership, The Maintaining of Task and Relationship
Keep in mind that these behaviours can be fostered and developed amongst the group members. They can also be practiced as a role play. Group members can decide to assume one of the above qualities during each meeting and facilitate the process of group decision making and shared leadership by demonstrating the behaviours. It is fun and educative and creates a group habit.

6. What is Shared Leadership?
It is a process where you build relationship that everyone feels involved;
It happens when goals of the group are defined collectively
The work to be done is identified by all
The responsibilities to get the work done are shared
The key to its success is communication

7. Shared leadership is a process of building relationships
Relationships that nurture and engage others to share responsibilities
To build relationships that get the work done, the members play certain roles. Some members are encouraging; they get people to open up and get involved. Some are harmonizing; they relieve tension and at the time of conflict let the group accommodate different views. Some motivate others to participate. Some bring the group back to its main purpose. In your group, examine the following list and see what kind of qualities the members contribute to these functions.
Providing support and encouragement
Facilitating communication
Evaluating the process
Setting goals
Improving the relationship
Managing conflict
Keeping the group focused
For example:
In a support group for women with breast cancer, members identified their qualities which contribute to the above functions.
Susanna provides support and encouragement by acknowledging everyone’s contribution no matter how small it is
Jackie manages conflict by bringing the areas of agreement to everyone's attention. She has a harmonizing effect.

8. In any Group….
There are TASKS that need to be done.
There are RELATIONSHIPS to be built and strengthen
There are NEEDS to be met,
Adopted from Robert A. Gallagher, 2001; Shared Leadership, The Maintaining of Task and Relationship
Everyone can take the lead to get the TASKS done, build RELATIONSHIP and address the NEEDS. This is shared leadership
The objective is to identify these three elements in any given group. This will provide an opportunity for the group members to discuss and examine the validity and usefulness of each of these elements in implementing a successful leadership model.
Tasks are the behaviors/activities that help the group to achieve its goals and objectives, - gets the work done.
Relationships are the behaviors of group members that glue the group together or cause the group to disintegrate,- makes the work fun.
Needs and Wants are a set of expectations by group members,-gives the work meaning.
Awareness by group members of these elements and their ability to identify them as facilitating or hindering the group’s work elements is a very important first step in establishing a shared leadership model.
Adopted from Robert A. Gallagher, 2001; Shared Leadership, The Maintaining of Task and Relationship
Case Study:
Abigail is a newly joined member of a smoke cessation group. The group has 14 members, 6 men and 8 women. Some of the members have been with the group since its initiation 4 years ago. Some have been with the group for more than a year, and some have recently joined. The group members’ age varies between They represent a diverse socio-economic group, but are not culturally diverse.
The group’s main objective is to provide support to those who intend to stop smoking cold turkey due to a severe smoke-related health issue. In addition, the group provides information and make presentations to interested groups and stakeholders. They play a strong advocacy role for the tobacco control laws. The group tries to use a shared leadership model. Hence, it strives to get people involved from the onset.
Identify tasks, relationships, and the needs and wants in this group. Be imaginative and creative.

9. A person who leads without leading….
Accepts responsibility and stands behind it
Is fair and open-minded with others
Fosters trust in each other
Helps others to develop their skills and abilities
Emphasizes effective communication that supports dialogue and encourages active listening
Encourages curiosity
Meets mistakes with understanding
Recognizes the value of people's contributions
Shares knowledge and expertise with others
Takes time to be reflective

10. Leadership is about Bringing the best out of everyone
Setting common goals
Outlining the group’s activities
Sharing the workload
Developing guidelines for group discussion
Finding external supports when needed
Finding ways to maintain energy
Setting boundaries which make it easy to work together
Bringing the best out of everyone
All of these items should be identified in the group. By discussing these points, the group members gradually take ownership of the work.

11. How do you bring the best out of everyone?
BUT
How do you bring the best out of everyone?

12. Then: Do to others as you wish done to you
Did you liked to be ignored
Did you like to stand awkward in the corner
Did you like not know what is happening
Did you like to feel everyone has their own clique
Did you like not to know rules of the group
Did you like to feel inconsequential

13. In a friendly group people know:
What is group’s goal
What is their personal goal for joining
What do they have in common as group members
Things they can do/offer as a group
Things they cannot do/offer as a group
Engage the group members in responding to all of the above points. This practice will identify the group’s identity for the members. It also brings the members closer to understanding themselves in the group of which they have chosen to be a part.
Case Study
A social worker in a support group for abused women is gradually delegating her responsibilities to the group members. Her intention is to move the group from a professionally- supported group to a member-led group. This is due to the changing atmosphere in her agency, lack of funding and a positive move towards self-sufficiency. She is aware that some women in the group are more committed and attuned to group work. However, she feels that for the group to sustain itself, all the members need to take ownership. She starts to move the group to a shared leadership model by asking the group the above questions. In a simple exercise of going through the above points, group members gradually create an identity and a vision for their group.

14. Outline of Group Activities
Our group meets:
Things that need to be done to reach our goal :
Group activities during meetings:
Group activities between meetings:
Regular ways for participants to give feedback and make suggestions are:
Responding to these points moves the group towards a concrete way of looking at actual tasks within any given group. Along with the #11, slide it also enables the group to develop an identity which they can package in a brochure or flyer to describe their group and recruit new members.

15. Sharing the Workload Identify the things that need to be done
Identify the skills needed to get them done
Ask people to match themselves with the tasks
Use a method to assign some of the unpopular tasks
Rotate the unpopular tasks between the members
When the group members identify the tasks and in detail identify the steps to get them done, there will be certain unpopular tasks which will be. One way to get them done is to draw the names or use a game which makes the unpleasant, pleasant. However, make sure that tasks will rotate and everyone will have a chance to do some of theunpopular tasks

16. How to Know you Have Successfully Shared the Leadership
Work is getting done
Group members have accepted responsibilities
They are working in groups or individually but see the connection
Group members are not disappearing
They are bringing new people
There is more involvement and ownership by the group members
New ideas for the group are flourishing
Group does not rely on one or a few members anymore
You can evaluate the success of the shared leadership at three different levels
Task Level: Are the group’s goals and objectives met? Are the tasks getting done?
Relationship level: Is the group coherent enough to function on its own, or does it rely on one person? Do people work together? Do they encourage each other, or are they critical of each other?
Needs and want: Are individual members happy with the group? How is the retention rate? How does the group rejuvenate itself?
You do not need a sophisticated test to measure these. It can be as easy as checking at the end of the meeting by asking these questions.
What has been done and what needs to be done?
Do they see the tasks as relevant to the objectives of the group?
If things are not done, what should the members do to get it done?
What would be the one thing that the members would change about the group?
Have their expectation of the group been met?
What did they like most about the meeting?
What did they not like about the meeting?
The evaluation can be done anonymously by asking members to write their answers down and place them in a box.
It can also be done as a group reflection.

17. How often do the group members share in:
Planning often/ not often Setting goal often /not often
Organizing meetings often /not often Making decisions often /not often
Diagnosing problem often /not often Finding solutions often /not often
Providing help often/ not often Building skills often/ not often
Encouraging others often/ not often Team building often /not often
Helping out often/ not often Getting help often /not often
Showing patience often /not often Being role model often/ not often
Studies have been done to measure shared leadership in working teams. These studies are usually based on different leadership theories, all utilizing various sophisticated statistical analysis. We are not suggesting that you need to do this in your group. However, using this scale on this slide, group members can measure themselves in a very simple way to see their progress towards the shared leadership model. You can ask your group members to do it for themselves at the end of each session and identify their progress. You can also use it to collectively evaluate your group on a regular basis.
Good luck and have fun sharing the leadership of your group