Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: While collaborative science is becoming the norm in ecology, many ecologists participating in collaborations are less aware of the body of research that studies the processes by which collaborative teams organize and communicate. Here, we discuss how we successfully used a shared leadership model in the Dry Rivers Research Coordination Network. We discuss how this model promoted our success in different stages of the project, using the Tuckman model of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Shared leadership in the forming phase helped us recruit a diverse membership from different scientific disciplines. In the storming and norming phases, shared leadership was especially useful in ensuring that all voices were heard in establishing group norms that promoted adhesion among and investment by RCN members. Shared leadership in the performing phase was crucial in providing opportunities for early career members to lead projects, and in the adjourning phase we reflected upon our entire collaboration to identify that shared leadership was crucial to our success, generating the thesis for this commentary. It is our hope that others may find this discussion of our experience in implementing a shared leadership model useful in developing their own fruitful collaborations. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Source: Functional Ecology
Authors: Daniel C. Allen, Amy J. Burgin, Erin C. Seybold, Walter K. Dodds, Michelle H. Busch, Anna Bergstrom, Corey A. Krabbenhoft, Kate S. Boersma, James C. Stegen, Julian D. Olden, Carla L. Atkinson, C. Nathan Jones, Thibault Datry, Sarah E. Godsey, Arial J. Shogren, Annika W. Walters, Stephen Plont, Richard H. Walker, Margaret Shanafield, Meryl C. Mims, Adam N. Price, Chelsea R. Smith, Yaqi You, Michael T. Bogan, Ryan M. Burrows, Mathis L. Messager, Rachel Stubbington, Margaret A. Zimmer
Institutions: Pennsylvania State University, Iowa State University, University of Kansas, Kansas Geological Survey, Kansas State University, Boise State University, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, University of San Diego, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Washington State University, University of Washington, University of Alabama, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Fonctionnement des hydrosystèmes, Idaho State University, University of Wyoming, United States Geological Survey, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Flinders University, Virginia Tech, US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, University of Arizona, The University of Melbourne, Nottingham Trent University, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,000
Awards: G4566861226, G8074514378
OpenAlex ID: W4412515387