Leadership behaviors for successful university-community collaborations tochange curricula

Purpose. What constitutes effective leadership in a collaborative effort to achieve enduring curricular and student career changes! This question was investigated as part of a larger evaluation of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation 's Community Partnership Health Professions Education, a five-year initiati ve involving projects at seven sites. The goal was to produce more primary care health providers by making enduring curricular change. Method. Data were collected from participants with respect to predictors of project success and leaders' use of 16 behaviors via telephone interviews, mailed surveys, and focus groups. Focus groups also gathered project leade rs' views of skills and knowledge necessary for effective leadership. Results. Leadership strategies associated with positive outcomes were: cons istent leader; use of multiple cognitive frames, especially a human resourc e frame; use of a broad range of leadership behaviors, particularly partici pative governance and cultural influence; and a majority of community repre sentatives on the partnership board. The primary leader, compared with a le adership team, is most influential in achieving positive outcomes. Conclusion. Effective leaders use a broad array of behaviors, but particula rly emphasize the use of participative governance and culture/value-influen cing behaviors. In addition, the more frequent use of these behaviors compa red with the use of organizational power behaviors is important. It is help ful to perceive the project from a human-relations frame and at least one o ther frame. Using a leadership team can be helpful, especially in building coalitions, but the importance of the primary leader's behaviors to project outcomes is striking.