Journal of science and medicine in sport
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Comparative Study
Leading together towards a stronger 'us': An experimental test of the effectiveness of the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) in basketball teams.
Leadership has been suggested to be a key factor in gaining a competitive advantage as a team, with shared leadership being a better predictor of team functioning than vertical leadership. Although the benefits of shared leadership are well-documented, evidence about how to implement a shared leadership structure remains sparse. This leaves coaches with three key challenges: (1) identifying the best leaders; (2) defining what roles those leaders should fulfill; and (3) developing their leadership skills. Solutions to these challenges have been proposed in the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) - a leadership development program that seeks to implement an effective structure of shared leadership within sports teams. ⋯ The present study provides encouraging evidence that, by implementing a structure of shared leadership and by promoting athlete leaders' identity leadership skills, the 5RS program is able to improve the team's functioning and the well-being of its members.