How Do You Define Collective Leadership?

Cultivating collective leadership is a fundamental building block of the Community Learning Exchange.  But what is collective leadership?

Maenette Benham at the University of Hawaii School of Hawaiian Knowledge defines collective leadership as:

…the result of a dynamic process that brings together a diverse community of people around a set of pressing issues in an effort to build broad-based knowledge and participation that leads to constructive change.

I offer a more elaborate definition based on the many powerful aspects we have seen in collective leadership working in communities across the U.S.

over the past decade.  Collective
leadership is:

…a diverse group of people working together in partnership to make a difference in their communities. It is based on the premise that needed leadership and answers emerge from the collective wisdom of a group.  It is highly relational where the group collectively holds the purpose, direction, and action in service of the change they have come together to affect.  They work across boundaries to cultivate trusting relationships capable of undoing the structures that perpetuate inequities.  Power is shared among people and organizations and the group works across positions and hierarchies.  They tap into wisdom from diverse sources, particularly from those who have been marginalized and previously left out of leadership.  They learn together, letting go of what no longer is effective in order to create an opening for something new and better to emerge. The group relies on both individual and collective skills. The work is embedded in and shaped by context and place.

What do you see as important elements or characteristics of collective leadership?
How do you define collective leadership in your own words?