We apply an alternative approach to leadership, which is Shared Leadership (SL) based upon Social Exchange Theory to advocate team-based operations with shared leadership responsibilities.

Conger and Pearce (2003: 1) describe this model as ‘a dynamic interactive influence process among individuals in groups for which the objective is to lead one another to the achievement of group or organisational goals or both’.

This means that at any one point in time, the person leading is the one with the skills and ability to meet the requirements of the job at hand.  Therefore, leadership in this form is described as 'the spreading of leadership' (Hoch and Dulebohn (2017: 4).  

We develop an understanding of each other's knowledge, skills and abilities (Clarke, 2018) which enables everyone to increase our capacity for leadership and harness our extensive interactions within the team.

We have trust each other as members of our team to lead others in their practice and decision-making.  We use a wide range of leadership behaviours over time and these roles are frequently undertaken by multiple team members.