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# Benefits of collective leadership

A first benefit of collective leadership is that it enables – at least in specific contexts – and enhances problem-solving to increase organisational learning, that is to say the ability for organisations to create and accumulate knowledge. This leads McHugh, Yammarino, Dionne, Serban, Sayama and Chatterjee (2016, p. 218) to argue that collective leadership would be better for learning than individuals working separately in a hierarchical organisation as it allows organisational members to bring different, complementary and plural expertise to the team.

A second benefit of collective leadership is that it seems to be the most effective way to think about working in teams (Paunova, 2015). Where there is a dynamic and relatively egalitarian process with strong bonds between members, teams seem to work more effectively.

Watch the following TedTalk video from 13:31 to 24:40 minutes – feel free to watch the entire video although this is not necessary.

Video 3 Design – a question of creative and collective leadership

In this video, Professor Steven Kyffin discusses how collective leadership can contribute to creative invention. Collective leadership focuses on gathering people (stakeholders) with different knowledge and working together in creating value and solving pressing challenges. The success of this team depends on the leadership within the entire group rather than the skills of an individual member.

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