This is a qualitative approach. Small business owners already wear so many different hats, and sometimes they are not delegating causes the businesses to fail. Also, wearing so many hats and trying to grow the company causes a disconnect between them and their employees. The small business owners (leaders) lack emotional intelligence. The employees began to get burned out because they saw no room to grow. After all, it is a small business; they feel as if they had no voice and no meaningful relationship with the leader. However, the pandemic forced many entrepreneurs to get creative, and most employed a shared leadership approach and are not aware of it. It also forced them to be emotionally intelligent leaders because they had to consider individuals working from home while having to be a teacher, wife, employees, etc. They also had to be more empathetic because people lost their loved ones and had to take care of them. By allowing the employees (followers/subordinates) to take on more responsibility in an area of their strengths, does this create more purpose in their job? Does it decrease turnover and burnout? As for the leaders, does this help elevate stress by delegating tasks to their team and allowing them to be more available to their staff, establishing emotional intelligence? Is shared leadership a model that can help small businesses be more sustainable and self-sufficient?
