Professor Richard Holliman, The Open University. Credit: Michael Francis.

In our final report to Research Councils UK on the Open University’s Public Engagement with Research Catalyst I argued that ‘engaged leadership’ could be described as a paradox (Holliman et al., 2015):

“Over the course of my career I’ve witnessed the emergence of engagement as a concept in search of a clear definition. A range of factors, including policy changes, technology, and the practices of engaged research, introduced the idea of the ‘dialogic turn’ (Davies, 2013) where ‘bottom up’ and contextual approaches have been championed as potential solutions to questions of trust, openness, transparency and democracy (Irwin, 2008).

What’s fairly consistent in these arguments, if not necessarily in the practical implementation of them, is that ‘top down’, imposed solutions are generally problematic and ultimately self-defeating. In this context it’s possible to argue that the concept of engaged leadership is a paradox.”
(Holliman et al., 2015, pp. 12-13)

You can read the report to see how I resolved my instincts for engagement with a need to direct and deliver change across a complex institution.

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