About Distributed Leadership

A distributed perspective on leadership serves as an alternative to accounts that equate leadership with the gallant acts of one or more leaders in an organization. A distributed leadership perspective moves beyond the Superman and Wonder Woman view on school leadership.  It is about more than accounting for all the leaders in a school and counting up their various actions to arrive at some more comprehensive account of leadership.   Moving beyond the principal or head teacher to include other potential leaders is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg from a distributed perspective.

A distributed perspective is first and foremost about leadership practice.  Further, it frames leadership practice in a very particular way; it sees leadership practice as a product of the interactions of school leaders, followers, and their situation.  Leadership practice is co-performed in interactions of leaders, followers, and aspects of the situation such as tools and routines.

Too frequently, discussions of distributed leadership end prematurely with an acknowledgement that multiple individuals take responsibility for leadership.  Though essential, the leader plus aspect is not sufficient from the distributed perspective.  Exploring the interactions among leaders, followers, and their situation is paramount from a distributed perspective.  It is essential to think about leadership in terms of the collective.


Last Updated: 2005-09-17 10:24:06