What Is Collaborative Leadership? Model, Qualities & More

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” 

What is Collaborative leadership?

Collaborative leadership Definition – it is a leadership practice in which leaders, employees and team members work together in collaboration in order to attain the desired goal, which is totally opposite to the traditional top-down organizational model in which executives hold entire control.

Who is a collaborative leader?

A collaborative leader is one who follows a collaborative management style wherein he/she, rather than taking control over the entire plan, collaborates with the employees, take their advice and wants maximum involvement of employees/team members to work together towards a shared vision.

Collaborative Leadership model

This leadership model describes a way of managing people across functional and organizational boundaries to work together across various sectors.

Leader’s Tip
In order to take advantage of different viewpoints and propel group problem-solving, leaders should foster a culture of collaboration by promoting teamwork, active engagement, and open communication.

Collaborative leader Qualities

So, Here are some leadership traits:

1. Firstly, Emphasize transparency
2. Highly influence others
3. Creates clear shared purpose
4. Empower teamwork
5. Exercise restraint
6. Are empathetic
7. Encourage innovation
8. Carefully navigate interpersonal relationships
9. Lastly, Respect’s diversity

Collaborative leadership in various fields

• In education– Education is an example of a sector where teacher collaboration has been shown to boost student academic attainment.
• In healthcare– collaborative leadership in healthcare is critical in every company, but it is especially critical in health care. In a hospital context, good collaboration implies better patient experiences, fewer mistakes, higher efficiency, and so on.
• In Military– In the military, collaborative leadership can be disastrous if each of the officers is forced to work with their teams to choose a line of action. Hence, It’d be a massacre.”

5 Advantages & Disadvantages of collaborative Leadership

Advantages are:

1. Firstly, It helps develop future collaborative leaders
2. Creates a more interactive as well as engaging environment
3. Transparent style of leadership
4. Inculcates value of teamwork
5. Also, Promotes innovation

Disadvantages are:

1. It is time-consuming
2. May lead to conflict and disarray when leadership is poor
3. Some leaders may find it challenging to implement
4. May lead to confusion
5. Differences in views and opinions may even lead to conflict

How to become a Collaborative leader?

Leader’s Tip
Create a welcoming environment where all team members feel comfortable speaking out and contributing, and work together without fear of retaliation.

Leadership and effective collaboration are like lock and key. So, Both are incomplete without each other. So here are five qualities that you can indulge to be an effective collaborative leader.

1. Firstly, Articulate a clear vision
2. Secondly, Create an environment filled with trust and transparency
3. Thirdly, Lead by example
4. Do complete research before implementing any plan
5. And at last, Keep learning and encourage employees to do the same

Collaborative Leader Books

So, Here are Collaborative leadership books- 

• Collaborative Leadership: Six Influences That Matter Most by Peter M. DeWitt 
• The Collaborative Leader: The ultimate leadership challenge by Ian McDermott and  L Michael Hall  
• Collaborative Advantage: How collaboration beats competition as a strategy for success by Paul Skinner 
• Collaborative Leadership: How Citizens and Civic Leaders Can Make a Difference by David D. Chrislip and Carl E. Larson 

Check it out – 10 strong Leadership Qualities by Learn Transformation to stay Strong in VUCA World

Collaborative leadership course 

High-Performance Collaboration: Leadership, Teamwork, and Negotiation Created by North-western University and powered by Coursera

5 best leadership quotes

 At last,Here are some leadership lessons from some great leaders-

1. A good leaderis a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.” – John C. Maxwell
2. Leadershipis much more an art, a belief, a condition of the heart, than a set of things to do.” – Max De Pree
3. Leaderswalk a fine line between self-confidence and humility.” – Stanley McChrystal
4. Average leadersraise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar.” – Orrin Woodward
5. Leadershipis not just about giving energy… it’s unleashing other people’s energy.” – Paul Polman

FAQs

Key Takeaways

• Team members are invested in the transformation process because collaborative leaders give them a voice in decision making.
• Synergy and innovation: Working together boosts both, allowing the team to put its collective brainpower to work for a more effective transformation.
• Solid connections: Having solid connections both inside and outside of an organisation encourages teamwork, sharing of resources, and overall development.