Collaborative Leadership: How Citizens and Civic Leaders Can Make a Difference [Hardcover]

"Collaborative Leadership is an extremely useful book. Collaboration is a hot topic of the day, but very few people understand the kind of leadership that will bring it about." --John W. Gardner, Miriam and Peter Haas Centennial Professor of Public Service, Stanford University

"Successfully addressing today's complex public issues requires a new partnership between citizens and governments." --The Honorable Federico Pena, U.S. Secretary of Transportation

Creating civic will by engaging citizens on the toughest public problems helps break legislative and bureaucratic gridlock and restores trust in public institutions. This book shows you how to do it.
--The Honorable Federico Pena, U.S. Secretary of Transportation

The leaders who are most effective in addressing public issues are those who have the credibility to bring together the right people to create visions and solve problems. Drawing on their extensive research, as well as on the advice and guidance of the leading scholars and practitioners in the field, David Chrislip and Carl Larson show how elected officials and other civic leaders can generate the civic will to break through legislative and bureaucratic gridlock, deal with complex issues, and engage frustrated and angry citizens. They also describe how to design, initiate, and sustain a constructive, collaborative process. This groundbreaking book provides insight and answers to the major challenges facing communities today.

Drawing on their extensive research--which includes six in-depth case studies and 46 additional studies of successful community collaborations--the authors provide insight and answers to the major challenges facing communities today. They describe how to design, initiate, and sustain a constructive, collaborative process; and they show that the leaders who are most effective in addressing public issues are those who have the credibility to bring together the right people to create visions and solve problems.

As American society becomes increasingly diverse and public issues more complex, the traditional community problem-solving methods have come up short. Working together successfully today requires a profound shift in our conception of how change is created, and an equally profound shift in our conception of leadership. Collaborative Leadership is designed to help citizens and civic leaders bring together diverse community members in efforts that lead to real, measurable change in the lives of communities. Drawing on their extensive research—which included six in-depth case studies and forty-six additional studies of successful community collaborations—as well as on the advice and guidance of the leading scholars and practitioners in the field, David D. Chrislip and Carl E. Larson provide insight and answers to the major challenges facing communities today. They tell how to deal with complex issues; how to engage frustrated and angry citizens; and how elected officials and other civic leaders can generate the civic will to break through legislative and bureaucratic gridlock. The authors describe how to design, initiate, and sustain a constructive, collaborative process. And they show that the leaders who are most effective in addressing public issues are those who have the credibility to bring together the right people to create visions and solve problems.

As American society becomes increasingly diverse and public issues more complex, the traditional community problem-solving methods have come up short. Working together successfully today requires a profound shift in our conception of how change is created, and an equally profound shift in our conception of leadership. Collaborative Leadership is designed to help citizens and civic leaders bring together diverse community members in efforts that lead to real, measurable change in the lives of communities.

DAVID D. CHRISLIP is a senior associate of the National Civic League and former vice president of research and development for the American Leadership Forum. CARL E. LARSON is professor of human communication studies and past dean of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Denver.