From intra-organizational to inter-organizational leadership

This chapter takes a closer look at the shift from the exclusive focus on intra-organizational leadership characterizing the public governance orthodoxy to a more encompassing focus on the inter-organizational leadership practiced in networks and partnerships in which a plethora of public and private actors aim to produce public value outcomes. First, it unravels the limitations of the co-called managerial revolution that advocated for a stronger and more proactive public leadership without ever really questioning the intra-organizational focus of public leaders. Next, it examines the discovery of wicked and turbulent problems and the need for collaborative governance that cuts across organizational and sectorial boundaries. These discussions pave the way for a new focus on inter-organizational leadership aiming to metagovern collaborative governance arenas based on distributional, horizontal and integrative leadership. The overview of these and other forms of inter-organizational leadership is followed by discussion of the inherent dilemmas and the attempt to cope with them. The conclusion sets an agenda for future research in inter-organizational leadership.