ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the evidence for the impact of shared leadership on team effectiveness and discusses how team coaching can facilitate the transition from a hierarchical to shared leadership model. Shared leadership is often contrasted with vertical leadership where the leader is positioned hierarchically the team and has formal authority over it. Shared leadership the presents a more dynamic model of leadership in teams where the traditional distinction between leader and follower is significantly reduced. Understanding leadership and its development in a team context is a key capability in team coaching. Several established models of team coaching have integrated the concept of leadership into their models of team coaching. Collectively, the development of specific leadership styles within teams presents an additional opportunity for effective team coaching that should complement and enhance more structural and process-orientated approaches. Supporting a team in their transition from hierarchical to shared leadership presents the team coach with some unique and specific challenges.
