Leading and following together — leading leadership and leading leaders

This short paper raises the question of ‘how can a leadership development centre provide leadership for established and experienced leaders in the care sector?’ Leadership development needs to attract and retain the commitment and interest of existing senior leaders, while at the same time providing a development experience and a direction that is clear and progressive. The National Skills Academy for Social Care intends to support the development of a stronger leadership voice for the social care sector and this paper sets out a partnership approach between the Academy and leaders from across the private, not‐for‐profit and statutory elements of the sector. The notion of ‘leading leadership’ is discussed and a way of working that both leads and follows is outlined, together with detail of the Academy's planned leadership development activity.