Metadata
- Author: Lindy Greer, Francesca Gino, Robert I. Sutton
- Full Title:: You Need Two Leadership Gears
- Category:: 🗞️Articles
- URL:: https://hbr.org/2023/03/you-need-two-leadership-gears
- Finished date:: 2023-02-25
Highlights
That’s what we found in our study of 258 virtual teams that were competing to develop ideas for a new start-up. We ran that competition with help from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which provided the funding for the prizes. Leading venture capitalists judged the teams’ performance. We discovered that teams that routinely shifted between “one person clearly takes the lead” and “we all participate equally” outperformed those that operated in just one of those modes. (View Highlight)
In another study we conducted a randomized experiment with 150 temporary teams made up of senior executives from a wide range of companies. The leaders of 50 teams maintained a traditional hierarchy, the leaders of another 50 created a flat hierarchy, and those heading the remaining 50 alternated between the two (View Highlight)
Here again the teams that alternated modes performed much better than the others, making objectively superior decisions. (View Highlight)
And when it’s time to end the discussion, make a decision, and act, skilled leaders signal that they’re taking charge again. (View Highlight)