Leading without a crown: a journey into horizontal leadership
Posted on: 28 January 2025 in 2025
Alys Kay, Senior Researcher Developer, looks at the benefits and challenges of adopting a horizontal leadership model.
Leading without a crown: a journey into horizontal leadership
In the second of our ‘How-to’ series, Alys Kay, Senior Researcher Developer, looks at the benefits and challenges of adopting a horizontal leadership model and reflects on the experiences and perceptions shared with her as part of a series of sector wide interviews with colleagues across a range of different roles within and beyond the HEI sector.
"Will they listen to me? I don’t know these people. Do I dare say anything?"
These were the initial concerns of a professional services lead transitioning from a hierarchical university structure to a horizontal leadership model within a research collaboration. Reflecting on the shift, they shared:
"It’s not quite imposter syndrome, but that type of thing. My concerns were, will they respect my view? Will they listen to me? And how do I navigate working horizontally in the project while working vertically in my other role?"
Over time, they found the structure transformative. “It’s almost like everyone’s view is as equal as everybody else’s. There are opinions, but there aren’t egos. People are passionate about their views, not about being right, and that creates an open, collaborative environment.”
What is horizontal leadership?
Horizontal leadership is a collaborative and distributed approach to leadership that emphasises shared responsibility, mutual accountability, and leveraging the collective expertise of a team. Unlike traditional hierarchical models, where decision-making and authority rest primarily with a single individual or small group, horizontal leadership distributes leadership roles across team members based on their skills, experience, and situational relevance.
It’s leadership without a crown—focused on empowering individuals, not elevating a single figure.
This model fosters inclusivity, enhances adaptability, and encourages innovation by ensuring that leadership is not confined to positional authority but emerges organically within the team.
Positive perspectives on horizontal leadership
A number of interviewees felt that horizontal leadership can fosters inclusivity by valuing contributions based on expertise rather than hierarchy.
Key benefits observed:
- Collaboration over competition
“It’s not about who’s in charge—it’s about what’s best for the project.”
(Early Career Researcher, interdisciplinary team)
- Dynamic leadership
“In a traditional setup, decisions might come from someone far removed from the work. Here, the right people lead at the right time.”
(Professional services lead, large-scale research project)
- Flexibility
“The fluidity enables agility. We need to hit our deliverables, but how we get there can be flexible.”
(Senior academic, interdisciplinary collaboration)
Challenges of horizontal leadership
Horizontal leadership isn’t without its challenges. Here’s a selection of some of the challenges highlighted in the interviews.
- Balancing voices
“The danger of an entirely flat structure is you still have a hierarchy, but it’s a hierarchy of personality rather than rank.”
(Professional services lead, large-scale research project)
- Managing expectations
“You can empower people, but the danger is they then think everything they want will happen. That’s not always possible.”
(Senior academic, interdisciplinary collaboration)
- Navigating accountability
“Ultimately, someone has to go, yes or no. The challenge is balancing horizontal collaboration with the reality of vertical accountability.”
(Professional services lead, large-scale research project)
The key to success
For horizontal leadership to succeed, facilitation, coordination, and psychological safety are vital.
"Facilitation isn’t about directing—it’s about creating the right environment for voices to be heard."
(Project Manager, Interdisciplinary Research Centre)
Empathy is equally important: “A fully empathetic leader understands the differences in their team and ensures everyone feels heard.”
(Senior academic, interdisciplinary collaboration)
Reflection questions
If you are considering or working in a horizontal leadership model, reflect on the following:
- How can I create spaces where quieter voices are heard and valued?
- What steps can I take to balance empowerment with managing expectations?
- How can I build trust and psychological safety in my team?
- How might I adapt my leadership style to support both reflective thinkers and action-oriented team members?
As a final thought, I think horizontal leadership has the potential to redefine what it means to lead, shifting from authority to collaboration.
The interviews provide a nuanced perspective on the practices of team-led research, offering a glimpse into both the opportunities and challenges of horizontal leadership. Participants described the shift from traditional hierarchical structures as both empowering and demanding, requiring them to navigate new dynamics of shared responsibility and collaboration. This model fosters inclusivity by emphasising expertise over rank and enabling flexible, situation-specific leadership. At the same time, it highlights tensions around balancing voices, managing expectations, and maintaining accountability within a less rigid framework.
What emerges from these interviews is neither a simplistic endorsement of horizontal leadership nor a critique of its limitations but rather a reflection on its complexity. Success in this model depends on intentional facilitation, the cultivation of psychological safety, and the ability to balance empowerment with realistic boundaries. These findings suggest that horizontal leadership is not a one-size-fits-all solution but a dynamic approach that requires adaptability, empathy, and a willingness to engage with ambiguity. In this way, it provides valuable insights for those seeking to innovate leadership practices in team-led research contexts.
One professional services lead summed this up perfectly:
"If I hadn’t been on these projects, my management and leadership style would probably have been different.
“Leadership isn’t about being in charge—it’s about knowing when to step forward and when to step back.”
All the insights and feedback were gained from qualitative interviews carried out by Alys in Summer 2024. During the interviews, Alys created an open, honest and transparent environment. To protect the anonymity of participants, no names have been attributed to quotes. These voices provide a rich understanding of the lived experiences and perspectives that shape team-led research practices and are invaluable to the success of the Thrive project.
The next article in the 'How-to' series - The Art of Facilitation: creating space for collective leadership, will be out in February 2025.
Keywords: thrive, research, leadership, get-involved, collaboration.