Leadership in interprofessional collaboration - the case of childcare in Norway

This study addresses leadership in interprofessional collaboration in childcare services (residential care). The aim was to explore the managers' (n = 6) experiences and present their views on how they exercised leadership in the residential institutions as well as how they organized and facilitated collaboration with relevant professionals and service users. Data was collected through open interviews. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the interviews, and three categories emerged; "external responsibility", "sustaining communication" and "internal responsibility". The overarching concept was identified as "facilitating interaction processes and ensuring cohesion". The main findings were related to the managers' experiences of linked processes of leadership and collaboration, perceptions of the structures of communication, their responsibility as well as the interaction processes. The managers exercised leadership in terms of self-governance and co-governance, and used strategies, such as governing images and influencing the voluntary aspect of collaboration.