The Emergence of Shared Leadership in Innovation Labs

Abstract

Implementing innovation laboratories to leverage intrapreneurship are an increasingly popular organizational practice. A typical feature in these creative environments are semi-autonomous teams in which multiple members collectively exert leadership influence, thereby challenging traditional command-and-control conceptions of leadership. An extensive body of research on the team-centric concept of shared leadership has recognized the potential for pluralized leadership structures in enhancing team effectiveness; however, little empirical work has been conducted in organizational contexts in which creativity is key. This study set out to explore antecedents of shared leadership and its influence on team creativity in an innovation lab. Building on extant shared leadership and innovation research, we propose antecedents customary to creative teamwork, that is, experimental culture, task reflexivity, and voice. Multisource data were collected from 104 team members and 49 evaluations of 29 coaches nested in 21 teams working in a prototypical innovation lab. We identify factors specific to creative teamwork that facilitate the emergence of shared leadership by providing room for experimentation, encouraging team members to speak up in the creative process, and cultivating a reflective application of entrepreneurial thinking. We provide specific exemplary activities for innovation lab teams to increase levels of shared leadership.

Shared transformational leadership and emergent team processes: determinants of team viability and team satisfaction

“…While making these contributions to the shared leadership literature and the shared transformational leadership literature, in particular, this research has extended the findings of Wu et al (2021), who have shown evidence for the shared leadership-team viability relationship, the evidence for shared leadership-team effectiveness relationship (Rose et al, 2021) and the extant research on the benefits of shared leadership (Edelmann et al, 2020).…”

Complex Tasks, Delegation, and Flexibility: What Role for Engagement and Shared Leadership?

“…From the perspective of Rose et al (2021), the best team members can reflect on complex tasks in teamwork by adopting leadership behaviors appropriate to individual talent and situational demands. For Pearce (2004), tasks of high interdependence, complexity, and creativity are suitable for shared leadership.…”