Programme overview
Introduction:
Collaborative leadership training on leading across silos and partner organisations is a five-day course for managers and initiative leads who deliver shared outcomes across departments, functions and partner bodies, ending with a Collaboration Charter and Cross-Boundary Governance Plan for a case initiative. Joint initiatives often stall because each unit guards its own targets, nobody owns the shared result and decisions loop between sponsors who hold different authority. Nominees already lead work that depends on people they do not manage, and the course is taught through case studies of real cross-boundary initiatives. CoreConcept Training Center delivers this course on collaborative leadership.
Course Objectives:
- Map the interdependencies, stakeholders and power relations behind a cross-boundary initiative before committing resources
- Agree shared goals and a joint accountability matrix that link each unit's contribution to the common result
- Build trust and a shared vocabulary between departments and partner bodies that work to different priorities
- Apply decision protocols and light facilitation moves that let peers with unequal authority reach decisions they will act on
- Diagnose collaboration breakdown, power imbalance and turf conflict, and select an intervention that restores joint progress
- Prepare a Collaboration Charter and Cross-Boundary Governance Plan that sponsors from every participating unit can endorse
Target Audience:
- Managers accountable for results that depend on other departments or functions they do not control
- Initiative and transformation leads coordinating work across business units and shared services
- Heads of units that deliver joint services or programmes with external partner organisations
- Managers representing their function on steering groups, working groups and joint task forces
- Public, private and non-profit managers leading multi-agency or cross-sector initiatives
Course Outline:
Day 1: Collaborative Leadership Foundations and the Cross-Boundary Landscape
- Collaborative Versus Hierarchical Leadership Contrast and Control Sharing
- Archer and Cameron Boundary-Spanning Leadership Practices Review
- Silo Symptoms Diagnostic Across Departments and Partner Bodies
- Interdependency Mapping with Pooled, Sequential and Reciprocal Links
- Collaboration Readiness Assessment for a Shared Initiative
Day 2: Collaborative Governance Models and Shared Purpose
- Ansell and Gash Collaborative Governance Model Starting Conditions
- Institutional Design Choices for Cross-Boundary Initiatives
- Stakeholder Interest and Influence Grid for Partner Organisations
- Shared Goal Statement and Common Outcome Definition Canvas
- Joint Accountability Matrix for Shared Results and Contributions
Day 3: Trust, Dialogue and Collaborative Decision-Making
- Trust Building Cycle Through Small Wins and Reciprocity
- Shared Vocabulary Glossary for Mixed-Function Initiatives
- Cross-Boundary Decision Protocol with Escalation and Tie-Break Rules
- Transparent Decision Log and Rationale Sharing Practice
- Light Facilitation Moves for Leaders in Joint Meetings
Day 4: Power, Conflict and Collaboration Breakdown
- Power Asymmetry Analysis Between Lead and Partner Units
- Interest-Based Negotiation for Competing Unit Targets
- Collaboration Health Pulse and Early Warning Indicators
- Free-Riding, Turf Protection and Blame Pattern Interventions
- Stalled Initiative Recovery Plan with Reset Conversations
Day 5: Case Study Practice and the Collaboration Charter
- Case Initiative Interdependency and Stakeholder Map Review
- Case Shared Goals, Joint Accountability and Decision Protocol Drafting
- Case Governance Forum Design with Steering and Working Groups
- Sustaining Collaboration Through Review Cadence and Leadership Handover
- Collaboration Charter and Cross-Boundary Governance Plan Completion
Skills You Will Gain:
- Interdependency Mapping
- Boundary Spanning
- Shared Goal Setting
- Cross-Boundary Trust Building
- Collaborative Decision Design
- Power Asymmetry Management
- Collaborative Governance Design
Why Attend This Course:
- Deliver a Collaboration Charter and Cross-Boundary Governance Plan to the sponsors and steering group of a joint initiative
- Decide which forum, decision protocol and escalation route a shared decision belongs to when no single unit holds authority
- Avoid duplicated effort, stalled decisions and blame cycles that arise when shared results have no joint owner
- Pass interdependency maps, accountability matrices and health pulse templates on to colleagues leading other joint initiatives
Conclusion:
Back at work, the participant gives the sponsors of a joint initiative a Collaboration Charter and Cross-Boundary Governance Plan that set out shared goals, joint accountability, decision protocols and the forums through which partner units steer the work. Sponsors use it to confirm who decides what, how disputes escalate and how each unit's contribution is recognised. After the first quarter of use, the unit should review the collaboration health pulse, the decision log and whether escalations were resolved within the agreed forums.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
What should participants know before a collaborative leadership course on leading across silos?
Participants should already lead or represent their unit in work that depends on other departments or partner bodies. Bringing an outline of a current joint initiative, its sponsors and its main frictions helps them apply the case work directly.
How does collaborative leadership across silos differ from a course on leading a cross-functional team?
It addresses leadership between units and organisations rather than inside one team. Team courses cover team design, roles and development, while this course covers interdependencies, shared goals, power between units and the governance that holds a multi-party initiative together.
Why does collaborative leadership across partner organisations need a shared governance arrangement?
Because no single unit holds authority over the whole result. A shared governance arrangement sets which forum decides what, how disputes escalate and how contributions are tracked, so decisions stop looping between sponsors and the initiative keeps moving.
What do participants take back from collaborative leadership training on leading across silos?
Participants take back a Collaboration Charter and Cross-Boundary Governance Plan for a case initiative, together with interdependency maps, a joint accountability matrix, a decision protocol and a collaboration health pulse they can adapt to initiatives in their own organisation.