How to... be a collaborative leader

We live in an interconnected world. In business, we see organisations relying ever more closely on partners to deliver key elements of their services to customers, while large portions of our national infrastructure are being rebuilt through public-private partnerships.

These issues place great reliance on leaders to work collaboratively and to share control effectively. This is not a skill-set that comes naturally to most people in senior roles, but collaborative leadership can be developed in any organisation – and in any leader.
 

Language does not simply reflect what is going on in organisational life: it also influences what people think and what they do

Linda Holbeche, director of the Holbeche Partnership and visiting professor of HRM/OD at Cass Business School