Chapter 12

The Meaning of Leadership

 Leadership Media
The formation and implementation of collaborative
agendas is led by three media:
 Structure
 Processes
 Participants

 Structure influence process designs and what participants

can do.
 Processes influence the structures that emerge and who
can influence the agenda.
 Participants influence the design of both structure and
process.
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 Leadership Media
 Leadership through structure:
 The structure of a collaboration is taken to be the organizations and
individuals associated with it and the structural inter-connections
between them.
 Structure is seen as a “complex medium of control which is
continually produced and recreated in interaction and yet shapes
that interaction”.
 Leadership and structure are similar concepts, with much of the
influence of a leader being depend upon the way that organization
structure affects the potential for relational leadership
 Structure affects the way people act but does not prevent deliberate
action
 The development of structures normally emerge out of the practical
reality of the tasks that they tackle
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 Leadership Media
 Leadership through structure:
 Structures play an important leadership role because they determine:
 Who may have an influence on shaping a partnership agenda
 Who may have power to act
 What resources may be tapped

 Given that collaborative structures play such an important role in shaping

and implementing the direction of the partnership, it is significant that
they are often not within the control of members of the collaboration
(they are imposed structures by policy makers, funders, etc.).

 The imposed structures can be intrusive determining:

 Which organizations are involved
 How they make be organized
 Which organization will take the lead.

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 Leadership Media
 Leadership through process:
 The processes integral to a collaboration also plays significant role in
shaping and implementing a partnership’s agenda.
 Process refers to formal and informal instruments such as:
 Committees
 Workshops
 Seminars
 Telephone, fax, email, etc.
 Via these processes the collaboration’s communication takes place.
 The way in which and the frequency by which members communicate
are the obvious components of processes.
 Some processes encourage members to share information and develop
common understanding of issues, whereas others hinder active
communication  Processes may empower (or not) potential members
to have access to debate concerning the partnership’s agenda.

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 Leadership Media
 Leadership through participants:
 Participants play a powerful leadership role in influencing the agenda.
 Participants include:
 Individuals
 Groups
 Organizations

 Any participant who has the power and know-how to influence the
partnership agenda may take the lead.

 The notion of a leader with a hierarchical power over the followers

does apply in collaborations  the potential for exercising “decisive
control” by virtue of formal position is reduced. There are participants
who are acknowledged by others to have an authority to lead reference
their position in the partnership structure (positional leaders)
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 Leadership Media
 Leadership through participants:
 Many types of positional leaders may be identified:
 A “lead organization” that can be the organization that convened the collaboration
in the first place, or a “host organization” which houses the collaboration physically
and administratively. Individuals within the “lead organization” enact leadership
and gain greater authority to do so through working “on behalf of the lead”
organization
 A management committee, board or steering group comprising individuals
representing organizations associated with the collaboration. Many collaborations
appoint a member of one of the participating organizations to the individual
positional leader role of the committee, board or group. This position affects the
facility for other group members to enact their leadership roles. A dominant
“leader” has the positional power to influence strongly their decisions, whereas a
weak one may leave them directionless.
 Researchers, facilitators or consultants may be commissioned as well to help
members of the collaboration to manage their collective working processes or
provide other support. Their role is regarded as being explicitly neutral to the
collaborative agenda., yet any intervention is likely to have an effect on the
direction of the collaboration 7