Making lasting changes in your community requires the commitment and expertise of community leaders. A project that depends on one or two charismatic leaders will neither reach its full potential nor be sustainable.

Collaborative leadership is a method, developed by Turning Point to guide a group of people to find solutions to complex problems and to encourage system change. Seven practices of collaborative leadership:

• Assess the environment - understand the context for change before you act

• Create clarity - define shared values and engage people in positive action 

• Build trust - create safe places for developing shared purpose and action

• Share power and influence - develop synergy of people, organizations, and communities to accomplish a shared vision.

• Develop people - realize and promote potential; give up ownership and control; maximize use of others' talents and resources; use coaching to create power; and build confidence by setting goals and receiving performance feedback

• Reflect - understand your own values, attitudes, and behaviors – how do they relate to your leadership style and their impact on others.

• Thinking about sustaining efforts from the beginning of the project

Lessons learned

• Provide community members with skills and opportunities to be effective leaders - example

• Identify a coordinator to pull it all together - example

• Find a balance between an active, dynamic coordinator and the need to share and develop new leadership - example

• Develop a sustainability plan

• Learn to deal with conflict effectively - example

Examples

Snohomish County Health District partnered with the City of Marysville (PDF 4.9 MB) and offers these valuable lessons on successful collaboration - examples

Sample tools and agendas

Collaborative Leadership Training agenda Session 1 (WORD 29 Kb)

Collaborative Leadership Training agenda Session 2  (WORD 35 Kb)

Sample agendas from leadership meetings-

• Draft agenda Dec 03, Mount Vernon  (WORD 28 Kb)

• Marysville leadership agenda (WORD 23 KB)

Resources

Turning Point – community based collaboration program

Technology of Participation – facilitation skills and training, The Institute of Cultural Affairs

The Community Toolbox – essential skills for building healthy communities

Pew Partnership for Civic Change – strategies for creating strong communities

Center for the Advancement of Collaborative Leadership Strategies in Health – practical tools and training

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