Collaborative Leadership

Among the abilities needed to lead campuses through internal, external, and everchanging complexities in the 21st-century global marketplace, collaboration has emerged as the paramount leadership competency in higher education. Collaborative leadership thrives in organizations where management is focused on actions that deliver results across traditional organizational boundaries. There is growing agreement that noncollaborative, top-down approaches to leadership are ineffective. When legislatures and boards of trustees seek top-down leadership, they generally fail to realize that it is often counterproductive given the complexity of higher education governance and does not align with research on effective organizational change. This entry provides an overview of collaborative leadership, then explores its evolution in higher education institutions and its benefits to students, faculty, and administration.