Citation

Marcus LJ, Dorn BC, Henderson JM. Biosecur. Bioterror. 2006; 4(2): 128-134.

Affiliation

National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, Harvard School of Public Health and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. ljmarcus@hsph.harvard.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/bsp.2006.4.128

PMID

16792480

Abstract

Effective emergency preparedness and response requires leadership that can accomplish perceptive coordination and communication amongst diverse agencies and sectors. Nevertheless, operating within their specified scope of authority, preparedness leaders in characteristic bureaucratic fashion often serve to bolster the profile and import of their own organization, thereby creating a silo effect that interferes with effective systemwide planning and response. This article describes a strategy to overcome traditional silo thinking: "meta-leadership," overarching leadership that intentionally connects the purposes and work of different organizations or organizational units. Thinking and operating beyond their immediate scope of authority, meta-leaders provide guidance, direction, and momentum across organizational lines that develop into a shared course of action and a commonality of purpose among people and agencies that are doing what may appear to be very different work. Meta-leaders are able to imaginatively and effectively leverage system assets, information, and capacities, a particularly critical function for organizations with emergency preparedness responsibilities that are constrained by ingrained bureaucratic patterns of behavior.

Language: en