The co-leadership of transformational leadership : a discource analysis

This paper brings the co-leadership and transformational leadership theories together. Co-leadership is described as two (or more) leaders in vertically contiguous positions who share the responsibilities of leadership (Heenan & Bennis, 1999). Here we conduct a small preliminary analysis to explore this phenomenon, focusing on four leaders in one New Zealand company who are regarded by other members of their organisation as transformational. With the use of discourse analysis, we explore an interaction with their followers guided by Berson and Avolio’s (2004) analysis of the communication behaviour associated with transformational leadership - careful listener, careful transmitter, and open communicator.