Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management ISSN: 2766-824X | Vol. 10, No. 2, 2023 266 The State of Shared Leadership Research Xiaosong Li Graduate School of Business, Graduate University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, 11000, Mongolia Abstract: Shared leadership is an emerging leadership style that emphasises collaboration, participation and sharing between leaders and team members. The purpose of this paper is to review the current state of research on shared leadership, including definitions, characteristics, influencing factors, and impacts on individuals and organisations. By reviewing and summarising and analysing the relevant literature, it can be found that shared leadership has positive effects in improving employee creativity, reducing employee stress and enhancing employee satisfaction. Future research should further explore the implementation mechanisms and ways of shared leadership, as well as the study of shared leadership in different cultural contexts. Keywords: Shared leadership, Co-operation, Participation, Sharing, Effects. 1. Introduction Leadership is one of the most important factors for organisational success, and traditional leadership styles usually emphasise the leader's authority and decision-making power, while neglecting the participation and cooperation of team members. However, in today's complex and changing organisational environments, this traditional style of leadership no longer meets the demand for leaders. Shared leadership, as a new leadership style that emphasises interaction, cooperation and sharing between leaders and team members, is considered to be better adapted to the current organisational environment. The purpose of this paper is to review the current state of research on shared leadership and its implications for individuals and organisations. 2. Definition and Characteristics of Shared Leadership Shared leadership is a style of leadership centred on collaboration, participation and sharing. Shared leaders establish an equal, open and supportive relationship with team members, encouraging them to share knowledge, opinions and resources and to participate in the decision-making process. Shared leadership focuses on interactions not only between team members, but also between the leader and team members, emphasising the building of trust, respect and emotional connections. Shared leadership has the following characteristics: first, shared leadership emphasises the equal relationship between the leader and team members. The leader is not only a commander, but also a co-operative partner. Second, shared leadership focuses on the participation and cooperation of team members. Leaders encourage team members to share their opinions, experiences, and knowledge, and to actively participate in the decision-making process. Third, shared leadership emphasises the sharing of resources. Leaders help team members obtain necessary resources and encourage sharing of resources among team members. Finally, shared leadership focuses on building trust and emotional connections. Building trust and emotional connections between leaders and team members can enhance team cohesion and cooperation. 3. Influencing Factors of Shared Leadership Internal team environment Common goals. Team members share the same understanding of the team's basic goals. Then they will take action to ensure that the work is focused on the collective goal. Many studies have proven that teams with a shared sense of mission and agreed-upon goals are more likely to be motivated, empowered, and loyal to the team and the work. When all members share a common goal and feel a high level of motivation, empowerment and commitment, there is a greater willingness to take on team leadership responsibilities. In addition, there is a common underlying goal and direction. Team members are more likely to establish their own goals and take actions that support other members, thus facilitating the emergence of employee goal orientation and leadership behaviours to better lead team activities as a collective. Social Support. Refers to the emotional and psychological support that team members provide to one another. Support within the team is felt through mutual encouragement and recognition of individual contributions and team achievements. In this environment, team members feel that their input is respected and appreciated. Team members actively participate in the team and feel emotionally supported, are more willing to collaborate and develop a sense of shared responsibility for team effectiveness. Employee Advice. This refers to the degree to which employees are involved and engaged in the process of achieving the team's goals, and the extent to which members have a voice. Voice, when linked to participation in decision- making and constructive discussion, increases members' commitment to important team decisions. Therefore, to create a high level of team-building climate where members can lead each other and actively help the team to achieve its goals, each individual's capabilities should be fully utilised in the process of achieving the organisation's goals. These three aspects interact and complement each other. Employees exercise more leadership when they actively advise and participate. When the team as a whole is focused on a common goal, team members are more likely to actively speak their minds ． Involve themselves in providing 267 leadership and responding to the leadership of others. Employees who feel recognition and support from within the organisation are more willing to share responsibilities, cooperate with each other and have more commitment to the achievement of the organisation's common goals. External Guidance for Teams By external mentoring, we mean the leaders of the organisational department to which the shared leadership team belongs. They do not directly lead the team, but only give guidance on the work.According to Hackman and Wageman. External team coaching, through interaction with the team, aims to help team members coordinate and use the team's collective resources appropriately according to the task in order to complete the team's task. Through supportive mentoring, external team leaders can facilitate the development of shared leadership in a number of ways. First, by providing encouragement, reinforcement, or timely rewards to members who demonstrate leadership skills, team members recognise that they have autonomy so that they will be happy to demonstrate leadership skills. Second, by providing encouragement and support, external coaching enhances employees' shared commitment to the team and its goals, which increases the likelihood that team members will offer individual suggestions. Third, making appropriate strategic recommendations to employees ensures that team members' activities are in line with job requirements. External leaders, under the right conditions, show members how best to manage their work and processes. The external leader's guidance is especially important for a team that lacks common goals, where members are not fully engaged, and where members are not able to provide social support to one another. Specifically, external leaders help employees build a collective commitment to the team and its work, facilitate alignment of team activities with the requirements of the work assignment, and promote member autonomy in their work. Such mentoring functions as a motivator and a provider of counselling so that teams that have not been able to fully develop shared leadership through the team's internal processes are better able to do so. External team coaching can also help team members recognise the differences in skills and abilities that exist between members and how they should integrate to meet the requirements of the team's mission. In this way, supportive mentoring outside the team can make shared leadership possible even if the team has not yet developed a high level of social support, common goals, and voice. 4. Effects of Shared Leadership Shared leadership has positive effects on both individuals and organisations. On an individual level, shared leadership can increase employee creativity. By encouraging employees to share ideas and resources, shared leadership can stimulate innovation and creativity. In addition, shared leadership can reduce employee stress. By sharing pressures and burdens with team members, shared leadership can alleviate employees' feelings of stress. On an organisational level, shared leadership can enhance employee satisfaction. By building supportive and positive relationships, shared leadership can increase employee identification and satisfaction with the organisation. 5. Prospects for Future Research Although shared leadership has received extensive attention and research, there are still some issues that need to be addressed. First, future research should further explore the implementation mechanisms and ways of shared leadership. Currently, there is still some ambiguity and uncertainty about how to implement shared leadership. Second, future research should consider the study of shared leadership in different cultural contexts. The implementation of shared leadership may be affected by different cultural contexts, so further research on the effects of shared leadership in different cultural contexts is needed. Finally, future research should pay more attention to the long-term effects of shared leadership. Currently, little is known about the long-term effects of shared leadership, and future research should focus on the effects of shared leadership on team performance and organisational performance. 6. Conclusion Shared leadership is an emerging leadership style that emphasises collaboration, participation and sharing between leaders and team members. By reviewing the current state of research on shared leadership, it can be found that shared leadership has a positive impact effect on improving employee creativity, reducing employee stress, and enhancing employee satisfaction. Future research should further explore the implementation mechanisms and ways of shared leadership, as well as the study of shared leadership in different cultural contexts. References [1] Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. 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