Leadership Dimensions, the Critical Link for the Evolution of Collaboration

Abstract This article traces the history of one community's efforts to coordinate services to address family violence. The current mazeof organizations in communities is overwhelming to the professionals who work in them, the political leaders who authorize them, the foundations and United Ways who fund them, and, most assuredly, to the persons for whom the various organizations were established. A review of the literature on coordination and collaboration is included as well as a discussion of leadership challenges during the various stages in the evolutionary process to provide confidential, culturally sensitive, comprehensive, accountable, and user-friendly community social service systems.