What is collaborative leadership? You know that important characteristics of collaborative leadership are: ___Insistence on collaborative problem-solving and decision-making. ___Maintenance of an open process. ___Leadership of a process, rather than of people. Why practice collaborative leadership? You know that advantages of collaborative leadership include: ___Buy-in. ___More involvement in implementation. ___Trust building. ___Elimination of turf issues. ___Access to more and better information and ideas. ___Better opportunity for substantive results.. ___Generation of new leadership. ___Community or organizational empowerment. ___Fundamental change for the better in the ways communities and organizations operate. You recognize some disadvantages of collaborative leadership: ___It's time-consuming. ___It demands the ability to face conflict directly ___It may mean trying to overcome resistance to the whole idea of collaborative leadership. ___It can lead to groups taking what seems to you to be the wrong path. ___It demands that leaders subordinate their egos. When is collaborative leadership appropriate? You practice collaborative leadership when: ___Problems are serious and complex, and both affect and require attention from a number of individuals and groups. ___There are a number of diverse stakeholders, or stakeholders with varied interests. ___Other attempts at solutions haven't worked. ___An issue affects a whole organization or a whole community. ___Inclusiveness and empowerment are goals of the process from the beginning. Who are real and potential collaborative leaders? You recognize collaborative leaders as people who: ___Have community credibility. ___Relate respectfully and easily to all groups in the community. ___Have good facilitation skills. ___Can act as catalysts for the collaborative process. ___Nurture new leadership. ___Have a commitment to the collaborative, open process. ___Focus on the good of the organization, collaborative or community as a whole. How do you practice collaborative leadership? You lead the process: ___You help the group set norms that it can live by, and that encourage respect, participation, and trust. ___You assure that everyone gets heard. ___You encourage and model inclusiveness. ___You help people make real connections with one another. ___You mediate conflicts and disputes. ___You help the group create and use mechanisms for soliciting ideas. ___You maintain collaborative problem-solving and decision-making. ___You push the group toward effectiveness by: ___You help the group choose initial projects that are doable, in order to build confidence and demonstrate collaborative success. ___You help the group identify and obtain the necessary resources to do the work. ___You insist on and protect an open process, ___You keep the group focused on what's best for the organization, collaborative, or community as a whole, rather than on individual interests. You recognize and use the leadership context: ___You know (or learn about) the community: Its history (including its history with the current issue). Its people and organizations and their relationships with one another. Its current situation. ___You understand the nature of the problem, including factors unique to the community. ___You understand potential barriers to collaboration, and how to overcome them. ___You know how open people are to change, and where you have to start in order to be successful. ___You motivate the group and keep them focused on the goals. ___You are realistic about what the group can take on at any given time. ___You are flexible in your dealings with people and ideas. ___You are inflexible in your protection of the inclusive, open, collaborative process. ___You forego the need to satisfy your ego. ___You encourage new ideas from others. ___You encourage new leadership from within the group. ___You step aside, temporarily or permanently, when appropriate.
