Many leadership theorists and managers agree that the leadership role within a team is seldom the responsibility of one person. Rather, several individuals within the team may serve as leaders, both by formal assignment and informally. Leadership may shift, depending on whose expertise is the most relevant at the moment, such as one member of a marketing team having advanced expertise in using social media for product promotion.

There is a transition occurring from the old paradigm in which leadership resided in a person or role, to a new one in which leadership is a collective process that is spread throughout networks of people. A recent experiment conducted with both college students and working adults supported the usefulness of shared leadership. Participants in the study who experienced shared leadership showed good performance on the simulated decision-making tasks, and also high job satisfaction.

A key force driving collaborative leadership is the hyperconnected organizational world fostered by e-mail and social media, along with globalization. The collaborative leadership style is well suited to harness the power of this multitude of connections.