ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors consider three things that are fundamental to the issue of leadership in a collaborative model. They are the impact and influence of leaders on partnerships; new models of leadership emerging from within the partnership paradigm; and the role of partnership brokers in helping partners to navigate leadership issues effectively. The authors argue that leadership in a collaborative model requires a mix of pragmatism and idealism. Moreover, as leadership is often distributed within a partnership, it involves a range of individuals stepping up into leadership activities and stepping back when the needs of the partnership change. Partnership brokers are sometimes a partnership's initiators. Partnership brokers can provide support to partners to challenge poor leadership where it holds back the vision, values and operations of partners. Poor leadership can be manifested at the level of: behaviour; decisions and/or in the promulgation of strategies and systems that disable rather than enable the partnership.
