Improving Innovation Outcomes Through Boundary Spanning
Boundary Spanning for Social Capital
Collaborative leadership is about delivering results across boundaries, whether it’s a formal contract or an informal agreement between two parties to work together toward a common goal. In collaboration, leaders have to learn to share control, and to trust a partner to deliver.
Example: Parks and Wildlife Finland – Nationalparks.fi
•Cooperate with tourist industry in destination management and promotion of nature conservation
• 650 tourism business partners in national parks;
• Work with travel operators to manage sites
•Sustainable travel certification of businesses
•Promote job creation and economic growth
Boundary Spanning Organizations: At the Forefront of Innovation in Partnerships Across Sectors
Boundary-spanning organizations work as catalysts; bringing together a number of key participants from the innovation ecosystem such as researchers, entrepreneurs, government, business services providers, funders, or policy specialists.
Boundary spanning organizations are interdisciplinary and cross-functional, and are expert at facilitating the knowledge flows and trust building which enable innovation in PPPs.
They actually function more as networks than traditional hierarchies. By mobilizing previously unconnected people, these intermediary organizations facilitate the development of bonding, bridging and linking networks, which are so important to innovation.
CPCIL and the Canadian Parks Council are examples of boundary spanning organizations.