Week 1: Thinking about collaborative leadership

Introduction

This week of learning introduces you to the concept of ‘wicked problems’ and how collaborative leadership can be used to help solve them. You will explore what collaborative leadership is, how your organisation can use it to approach ‘wicked problems’ and the challenges you may face in your sector. You will be asked to consider who your organisation collaborates with and the reasons behind collaboration. Towards the end of the week, you will update your learning journal and take part in a short quiz.

By the end of your studies this week, you will be able to:

• describe some of the key characteristics of the voluntary sector that make collaborative leadership particularly appropriate

• offer an account which draws out different kinds of collaboration, and some of the possibilities and challenges of collaborative working

• relate that account to the current environment for voluntary organisations and to acting and leading within that context

• offer a critique of the account of collaborative leadership introduced in this week’s studies.