ABSTRACT
The practice view of leadership rejects notions of individual influence and control, and a linear and monolithic approach in favor of collective engagement, divergence, intersubjectivity, and ambiguity. What is apparent from the emerging discussions within the nascent but developing leadership-as-practice (L-A-P) literature is that it still dwells within the historical context of the organization and its teams of people. Injecting a critical voice that can inform more reflexive and collaborative practices may be one way of encouraging a leadership-as-practice approach that turns away from the demands of coordination and control towards relational and inter-subjective practices. L-A-P scholars are advised to pay heed to gendered accounts of leadership and to recognize the importance of inclusivity, polyvocality, and diversity in leadership studies. A subjectivist, post-structural perspective shows how depictions of leadership are thoroughly embedded in relationships and experiences, in local context. Such relational and inter-subjective approaches provide greater opportunities to encourage deeper insights by examining interpersonal dynamics, which open up unconscious motivations.
