Assigned Leadership vs. Emergent Leadership
Northouse (2010), discusses how some people are leaders because of their formal position within an organization, such as employees in upper management or executive leadership. Others are defined as leaders due to the way that group members respond to them. Leadership that relies primarily on occupying a position within an organization is assigned leadership; examples include: team leaders, managers, department heads and administrators.
On the other end, emergent leadership generally refers to an influential member of a collaborative group. No matter the title this person holds, they exhibit emergent leadership through their behavior. They may not be assigned to a particular position of leadership, but they emerge over a period of time. For example – let’s say you were assigned to work in a collaborative environment at work and assigned a task, deadlines and milestones. Your co-workers are working well in the beginning of the project, but morale decreases and tasks are left by the wayside. Seeing this, you jump at the opportunity to communicate with each group member, discussing the areas which need to be completed, generate small tasks and assignments so that the milestones can be reached more efficiently. This is an example of emergent leadership, when an individual displays positive behavior, which results in the completion of a particular goal.
Whether you are a manager, entrepreneur, enterpriser, organizer or business person – emerging and working in a collaborative environment for the purpose of completing goals and outcomes reflects positively upon your character and strengthens your bond as a team. This continual effort also benefits the organization by creating systems of efficiency and motivated behavior to get the job done.
Reference:
Northouse. P. G. (2010). Leadership theory and practice (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.