Collectivistic Leadership Approaches: Putting the “We” in Leadership Science and Practice

TLDR

The paper introduces and defines a collectivistic leadership concept, framing it as a “we” approach that contrasts with traditional individualistic models. It outlines five collectivistic leadership models—team, network, shared, complexity, and collective—detailing their theoretical foundations and distinguishing features. The authors synthesize key constructs, empirical findings, and practical implications across the five models, highlighting common themes and proposing future research directions for collectivistic leadership science and practice.

Abstract

We introduce the notion of “we” or collectivistic leadership. A general collectivistic approach to leadership is developed and contrasted with traditional and contemporary approaches to leadership. An overview of five collectivistic leadership approaches—team, network, shared, complexity, and collective leadership—is then presented. Key notions, constructs, and levels of analysis; the role of a focal leader; operationalizations and empirical results; and implications for leadership development, assessment, and practice of each approach are summarized. Common themes across, and our perspective on, the approaches and future directions for collectivistic leadership science and practice are discussed.