Module Catalog →
Module Catalog →
Leadership is stretched over leaders, followers, and the situation.
James P. Spillane, the Olin Professor at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy, developed distributed leadership theory through close empirical study of school leadership practice — showing how leadership is 'stretched over' leaders, followers, and the situation, carried as much by routines and tools as by people.
From school-leadership research, Spillane showed leadership practice is 'stretched over' people and situations — tools, routines, and artifacts carry leadership as much as individuals do.
The era: Distributed & Complex — Distributed, dispersed, interdependent, embedded in interaction; leadership as learning; global competencies; combine all theories.
Leadership is stretched over leaders, followers, and the situation.
Where this work feeds the Open Sky frameworks.
Fellow travelers on these threads:
Follow the practice: watch how routines, tools, and artifacts carry leadership.
Design artifacts — agendas, dashboards, rituals — that lead when you're absent.