The concept of ‘distributed leadership’ has become popular in recent years as an
alternative to models of leadership that concern themselves primarily with the
attributes and behaviours of individual ‘leaders’ (e.g. trait, situational , style and
transformational theories). This approach argues for a more systemic perspective,
whereby leadership responsibility is dissociated from formal organisational roles,
and the action and influence of people at all levels is recognised as integral to the
overall direction and functioning of the organisation. Spillane (2006) suggests
that a distributed perspective ‘puts leadership practice centre stage’ (p. 25) thereby
encouraging a shift in focus from the traits and characteristics of ‘leaders’ to the
shared activities and functions of ‘leadership’