Rethinking Leadership: The Case for Polycentric Teams

By Brainerd Prince

As I teach the Integrated Communication for Engineering (ICE) course to first-year BTech students at Plaksha University , our recent focus has been on team formation and effective teamwork. We've explored the dynamics of how teams form, communicate, and work together, translating these concepts into practical skills. This experience has led me to reflect deeply on the nature of teams and leadership.

Leadership is often seen as the cornerstone of a successful team—much like the rudder that steers a ship. A team without a leader can drift aimlessly, while a team with a single, dominant leader might move swiftly but risk overlooking the complexities of its mission. These two extremes highlight the challenge of finding a balanced approach to leadership within teams.

This reflection brings me to the idea of a "polycentric team"—a team with multiple centers of power. Unlike traditional hierarchical or flat organizational structures, a polycentric team operates with several leaders, each responsible for different functions. The primary leader's role shifts from overarching command to managing, coordinating, and facilitating the team's collective efforts.

Therefore, this leads to a different style of working. There is cross-functionality at every level, to varying degrees. Minimum involvement in areas where one’s skill set and experience are low, maximum involvement in areas where one is accountable and responsible for providing leadership. Between these two extremes, every team member spends time on different functions so that the team as a whole can holistically deliver on its objectives and goals. This requires every vertical lead to be a true leader and, in their domain of work, hold the entire team accountable for their part and role in it.

By fostering a culture where leadership is distributed and every function is led by its most qualified member, the polycentric team model enables teams to deliver more effectively in today’s complex, specialized work environments.