The purpose of this sourcebook is to explore the intersection of adult learning and collaborative leadership. With the notable exception of Clover, Butterwick, and Collins’ (2016) compilation titled Women, Adult Education, and Leadership in Canada, little has been written about the possibilities for learning when adults engage in collaborative approaches to leadership. Drawing from scholarship related both to collaborative leadership (e.g., Chrislip, 2002; Chrislip & Larson, 1994; Crevani, Lindgren, & Packendorff, 2007) and to adult education and learning, this sourcebook weaves theory with practice by showcasing real-life examples of collaborative leadership.

The term leadership is, as Grint (2005) suggested, an essentially contested concept, with a plethora of literature written in its name yet very little agreement about what leadership means. Although the traditional idea of an individual, charismatic, often male, heroic leader (Carlyle, 1841) remains a popular stereotype, current scholarship and practice tell us that leadership takes many forms, with an increasing focus on collaboration (Raelin, 2016). By attending to the adult learning that takes place through more collaborative approaches to leadership, this collection draws upon scholars who understand leadership as emergent (Scharmer, 2007), distributed (Bolden, Petrov, & Gosling, 2009), democratic (Shields, 2009), transformational (Norris, Barnett, Basom & Yerkes, 2002), and compassionate in uncertain times (Wheatley, 2006, 2005). This sourcebook looks beyond position-based individual leadership to capture how people learn through the diverse actions, processes, and strategies collaborative leaders employ to bring about change. The authors in this sourcebook are seeking ways to understand not only how leadership is enacted among individuals but also how it is expressed in collective ways of thinking, doing, being, knowing, and learning.

Collaborative leadership settings offer insights into a range of topics of continued relevance to adult educators. For example, when groups of adults take initiative to learn what is needed to accomplish the task at hand, this can offer insight into self-directed learning (Knowles, 1975). When this collaborative learning becomes a natural part of one's leadership practice and way of being in the world, this can offer insights into lifelong learning (Sutherland & Crowther, 2006) or informal and incidental learning (Foley, 1999). The authors in this sourcebook offer a depth of understanding about learning in collaborative leadership settings.

Chapter 1 begins with Virginia McKendry's use of ensemble leadership and generative learning theories to make sense of an Indigenous speaker series formed to foster intercultural partnerships at a Canadian university. McKendry argues that ensemble leadership is a key element in designing the generative learning adult learners need in an era of ambiguity.

In Chapter 2, Darlene Clover, Catherine Etmanski, and Rachel Reimer continue to lay some foundational concepts by building on Clover and McGregor's (2016) work related to feminist leadership. Clover, Etmanski, and Reimer focus on effective collaborative leadership strategies drawn from women-centered social movements while being careful not to assume that biological sex determines propensity toward collaboration. As the authors suggest, when leaders integrate critical self-reflection into their practice, this demonstrates reflective learning and connects with feminist approaches to adult learning. This chapter demonstrates the merits of drawing upon multiple people and perspectives to foster positive change in the face of neoliberal, patriarchal, colonial, and capitalist ideologies.

In Chapter 3, Ken Otter and Doug Paxton shift the focus to a case study that explores the journey of an executive leadership team seeking to become more collaborative, innovative, and adaptive in their approach to organizational leadership, by using a values-based collaborative leadership program. The executive team's journey shows the emergence of another stream of coleadership that Denis, Langley, and Sergi (2012) called “producing leadership through interaction” (p. 4). The journey of the executive team and their interactions over time offer a window into the possibilities of learning through coleadership.

In Chapter 4, Bryan Webber and Jenna Forster examine how transformative learning concepts can support the development of emerging leaders in the digital age. Today's younger leaders are experiencing a significant shift in how members of society communicate and connect, which has implications for effective collaborative leadership. Strategies for supporting these leaders’ learning are articulated, along with the role of leadership educators who are working with these emerging leaders. Webber and Forster conclude that opportunities exist to integrate the digital age (and its global context) with experiential, adult learning to support leadership development for this new generation of leaders. Their insights offer guidance to adult educators who are educating these emerging leaders.

Given the complex nature of twenty-first-century global challenges related to health, poverty, and education (among others), in Chapter 5, Eliane Ubalijoro contends that new partnership models can give rise to the innovation needed to address these challenges. These partnerships can allow each partner to increase their capacity by leveraging outside strengths. Making use of literature from the field of social movement learning, Ubalijoro documents several examples of leaders working across disciplines and in global networks to achieve humanitarian outcomes.

Using embodied approaches to knowledge cocreation and leadership, as well as learning through the arts, in Chapter 6, Kathy Bishop, Will Weigler, Tracey Lloyd, and David Beare draw upon their practical experiences within community-based, secondary school, and university settings to explore fostering collaborative leadership through playbuilding. Across each of their contexts, the authors recognize how collaborative leaders are working between the spaces of rules and no rules, structure and freedom, conflict and creativity, and complex social interaction skills and art-making skills. They highlight the importance of structure (via such things as teaching performance language skills, creating a curriculum based on inclusion, control, and relations, and/or being aware of shifting roles within the work) for enabling collaborative leadership.

In Chapter 7, Beth Page and Rhonda Margolis recognize that when leaders intentionally learn from their experiences, this expands insight into experiential learning (Kolb, 1984; Kolb & Kolb, 2017). Page and Margolis also acknowledge that collaborative leadership presents epistemological considerations in terms of social constructivist approaches to knowledge cocreation in adult learning classrooms (Berger & Luckmann, 1967; Gergen, 2000). Furthermore, they invite educators to consider the possibilities that, when learners feel heard; when their experiences, knowledge, and intuition are affirmed; and when they know their voice matters, the result is the joy of cocreating collaborative leadership and learning environments.

In Chapter 8, our closing chapter, Randee Lipson Lawrence provides a synthesis and analysis, integrating the theories and thematic connections from the discussions of collaborative leadership throughout the volume and addressing implications for adult education.

Making explicit the important but often overlooked link between collaborative leadership and adult learning is a key objective of this collection. As coeditors, we were particularly interested in collaborative leadership because of our own experiences working together in multiple environments. Though conditions for collaboration are not always ideal (see, for example, Kahane, 2017), in working together, we have found that not only did our productivity increase, so too did the enjoyment of our work. We hope readers will experience similar synergy in their own collaborative leadership efforts and will glean new insights from the chapters that make up this volume.

Catherine Etmanski
Kathy Bishop
M. Beth Page
Editors

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