Collaborative and Transformational Leadership in the Environmental Realm

Abstract

The environmental sector is often characterized by ‘wicked' problems: problems that are ever-changing and difficult to define, have multiple causes and affected parties, and lack a clear solution. To explore scholars' suggestion that wicked problems necessitate leadership that is collaborative and transformational, this study analyses how community-based environmental leaders—those who emerge from community need and are propelled to address pressing environmental issues—discuss their leadership styles. Drawing on data gathered through narrative interviews with 12 leaders from diverse sectors in the San Francisco Bay Area (California, USA), we use a leadership typology to consider the role of collaborative, participatory, and transformational leadership styles. We found that the majority of leaders describe their work as collaborative and transformational, but that almost all respondents also discussed an equally transformational, but less than fully collaborative/participatory, style. Interviewees also described three kinds of leadership work suggested as key components of transformational and collaborative leadership: bridging difference, reframing discourse, and unleashing human energies. We reflect on these findings as they relate to recent work on participatory processes in environmental management; the importance of relationships, trust, and meaning in leadership; and the role of learning in environmental behaviour and management.