Boundary spanning leadership: an essential praxis within social care

Lisa Smith and Dez Holmes

Chapter 10 in Research Handbook on Leadership in Social Work and Social Care, 2025, pp 127-138 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter offers an introduction to boundary spanning as a leadership construct, drawing on the relevant literature to articulate boundary spanning leadership as an essential praxis within contemporary social care. Located in an English context, the chapter identifies that there are some distinct boundaries within social care – most obviously between children and families and adult services; between ‘provider’ organisations (those organisations providing care and support who are commissioned by the Local Authority) and the Local Authority; and between commissioners and practitioners. There is also an important interface and a boundary for social care with health, at a delivery and a strategic level, that integrated health and care systems attempt to span. Housing and social care also have distinct but overlapping boundaries, and spanning these is important as communities are best served when services are connected to create more coherent support. These multiple and intersecting boundaries are demonstrated with a fictionalised case study illustrating the complexities within a local social care ecosystem. The perspectives of people with lived experience are used to demonstrate the benefits of boundary spanning leadership to people who draw on care and support. The case will be made for a strong relationship between the core tenets of social care and the key components of boundary spanning leadership. Through demonstrating the link between practice and leadership, it is proposed that many social care professionals are naturally skilled boundary spanners. As such, boundary spanning is not just an essential leadership practice, it is arguably also an intrinsic quality to many aspirant or serving social care leaders.

Keywords: Leadership; Social care; Boundary spanning; Systems; Integration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035314485
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