Collaborative Leadership: 3 Pros of a Team Leadership Model

Collaborative leadership is an alternative organization model that provides a wider distribution of information and responsibility than traditional, top-down management. In collaborative work spaces, executives and department heads work in diverse teams with open dialogue and constructive exercises to solve complex problems.

Collaborative leadership styles often have these three characteristics in common:

1. 1. Open communication: Collaborative environments establish multiple lines of open communication and information-sharing in a judgement-free ecosystem. Leaders validate team members and their contributions. Direct reports feel comfortable to voice their thoughts and opinions without fear of retaliation. Each member of the team (regardless of status) provides and receives constructive feedback to learn and grow as a group.
2. 2. Shared goals: It is essential each member feels a sense of ownership in the work they’re doing to meet shared goals. The collaborative leader is responsible for clearly defining these group goals and outlining steps the group must take to achieve them. When employees understand their value to the team, it makes less glamorous duties, such as administrative tasks or budgeting, more meaningful purposes in the grand scope of the organization’s mission. A project management team can now use the entire collective knowledge of its members to meet deadlines and exceed shared objectives.
   
3. 3. Teamwork: The most important characteristic of a collaborative leadership model is teamwork. This shift from a small group of elite decision-makers to organized pods of diverse specialists produces more creative and diverse solutions to complex problems. A collaborative leadership approach can lead to more evenly distributed responsibilities and better balanced workflows.

A collaborative leadership model has some advantages in comparison to traditional leadership models.

1. 1. Productive working environment: In a collaborative environment, managers shift their focus from fulfilling a supervisory role to becoming a hands-on mentor for their team. This increased interaction between collaborative leaders and their direct reports can improve real-time communication. It can also increase a manager’s awareness of successes and roadblocks. Furthermore, direct reports have the advantage of a mentor to guide them through challenges as they occur.
   
2. 2. High level of team engagement: When team members understand how their accomplishments and hard work benefit the whole organization, they are more likely to work toward a shared purpose. With less focus on hierarchies, a collaborative culture can create an environment where cross-functional teams are free to share information and build trust. In recent years, online platforms have increased the viability of remote work by providing online spaces conducive for interactive teamwork. In some cases, these services replaced physical offices and decision-making silos, which previously limited new leadership development for employees outside the executive leadership team.
   
3. 3. Diversity of perspectives and skills: Effective leaders in a collaborative working model organize collaborative teams with diverse demographics and competencies. This produces more perspectives and more solutions than one person with a singular point of view could otherwise provide. The team is then free to use its collective intelligence to develop solutions and overcome obstacles.

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