ABSTRACT
A principal who would share leadership must be sure that there is the foundational support from superiors and then stakeholders. As we have stated throughout this book, shared leadership is not the norm in American schools. Like any change, sharing leadership is likely to be misunderstood by many. Principals who share leadership are often perceived as shirking responsibilities. First, superiors must understand shared leadership and the goals for sharing. Then, it is often a smart thing to involved superiors in the development of processes and protocols for sharing. Understand that like the principal, superintendents and central office staff have positional power that may be impossible for stakeholders to get past and may be detrimental to developing shared leadership.
