Tribes to Togethering: a transpirational approach to thinking about place-based leadership

Abstract

Drawing on over twenty years of working in leadership roles within the field of early intervention and prevention and place-based leadership, experience suggests that the capacities required by leaders can never be reduced to one simple suite of qualities, behaviours, skills or roles. The lived experience suggests that instead leaders within central governance organisations such as the Facilitating Partner Organisation in the Australian Government’s Communities for Children or a backbone organisation of a Collective Impact movement, require more than one style of leadership, set of skills, or the perspective of a single professional qualification. There needs to be a multi-faceted approach to leadership (Weaver, 2018). Moreover, place-based leadership supporting early intervention and prevention programs of collective action, reside within the entanglement of the lead agency, children, families, communities, practitioners, non-government organisations, government agencies and business, in conjunction with place. The role of a place-based leader is one of ethical engagement that is aware, open and responsive to the leaderful movements of the community in the mobilisation of collective action.