An ILA Leadership Perspectives Webinar

How to Share Leadership and Followership

Presenters: Marc Hurwitz, Samantha Hurwitz, and Sharna Fabiano (Moderator)

Date: 14 April 2022

Visit Amazon or your favorite bookstore to buy the book on which this webinar is based.

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If everyone tries to lead all at the same time, organizations fail to achieve their aims. If only one person leads all the time, teams fail to maximize their potential. The best results happen when people know how to seamlessly move from leadership to followership, or followership to leadership, and have a shared understanding of who should lead at any given time.

Leadership at its best is shared amongst group members – no-one is the leader all the time. But how do you decide who should take the lead? What criteria should you use? Once it is decided who should lead, what strategies make the transition purposeful and effective?

In this webinar, we will motivate the need for shared leadership from both a research and practical perspective. Examples will be drawn from domains including human rights and social justice movements, sports, fiction, music, and even the behavior of non-human species. We explain the rules for sharing leadership as well as the 4C model for deciding who should lead and how different partnerships use this to support healthy team functioning.

As such, this webinar is useful in a variety of contexts. For example, if you teach leadership, it is important to be able to explain when someone should take up the leadership mantle or support someone else on the team to do the same. If you research leadership, then being able to identify who is leading and when is critical to understanding how outcomes relate to leadership processes. And if you are a leader, it is important to know when to step down and how to do it gracefully (and mentor others in the same).

Outcome of Attending

  • Learn the three basic rules for sharing leadership

  • Apply the C4 model to determine who should lead at any given time

  • Re-evaluate the role of leadership in the leadership process to make it more equitable and inclusive

  • Become a better ally

Speaker Information

Marc Hurwitz

Marc Hurwitz is FliP U’s Chief Insight Officer, and one interesting guy! He grew up as he says, “surrounded by rats in cages, bearded academics, strong female role models and psychedelic iconography,” as the son of parents who were hippies and PhD psychologists. Though he dreamed of being a theoretical physicist or one of the Beatles, his path in life keeps pulling him back to his love of learning and teaching others.

Marc has Masters degrees in math and physics, an MBA, and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience. He has been training leadership and followership for almost 20 years in private and public companies, government agencies, not-for-profits, and at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He’s always trying to help others learn and bring out the best in themselves. Marc is a full-time faculty member at the University of Waterloo, acts and directs community theatre, is a poet, and an avid pinball player. He co-authored the best-seller Leadership is Half the Story: A Fresh Look at Followership, Leadership, and Collaboration and co-edited New Directions for Student Leadership #167: Followership Education. Marc is a frequent presenter at ILA and former Chair of the followership member community.

Marc Hurwitz and Samantha Hurwitz

Sam Hurwitz is FliP U’s Chief Encouragement Officer, though, you could argue that she is one of the world’s chief encouragers, offering heartfelt encouragement to everyone she meets! Sam spent her childhood creating: costumes, surprise parties, science fair projects, speeches, stories and crafts. In high school, her assertiveness flourished as she organized sit-ins and petitioned for girls to be allowed to take wood shop instead of cooking. So naturally, Sam grew up to be an accountant.

But this oddly creative and assertive accountant soon discovered her true passion: developing people. Sam is a sought-after leadership and followership coach, consultant, and CPA with years of corporate and executive experience to boot! She enjoys helping people discover their “aha” and “ahhh” moments. Sam also co-authored the best-selling Leadership is Half the Story: A Fresh Look at Followership, Leadership, and Collaboration.

Sharna Fabiano

Moderator
Sharna Fabiano, Chair-Elect, ILA Followership Member Community