Leadership in Collaborative Governance: The Case of HIV/AIDS Health Services Planning Council in South Florida

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study uses the case of Broward County’s HIV/AIDS Health Services Planning Council to highlight the likely leadership contributions in collaborative governance for core medical and support services to target populations as a conduit to care and treatment. The study relies on an in-depth interview of Council members including leaders to generate relevant data for interpretation purposes. The data are subjected to thematic analysis to help derive insights from participants’ experiences relative to leadership efforts in collaborative governance. The results accentuate formal and informal leadership contributions in shared understanding, trust building, commitment to process, institutional design, communication, conflict resolution, empowerment, system context, and allocation priorities with attendant facilitation benefits and challenges. The findings point to the irreplaceable role of leadership in collaborative governance in areas such as antecedent/initial conditions, collaborative process, and the consequential outputs and/or outcomes for the benefits of target populations and society at large. It appears the tragedy of HIV/AIDS epidemic unexpectedly fosters alternative leadership approaches which is usually facilitative in nature as part of a governance regime and enables collective multi-stakeholder engagements for viable and sustainable solutions while embracing associated challenges.