Internationally, in contexts of escalating globalisation, collaboration has increasingly been taken up as a social policy tool. Education has not been exempt from that uptake. In Aotearoa, this is most clearly evidenced in the implementation of Kāhui Ako | Communities of Learning. In this paper, I detail the ‘why’ of this global shift towards collaborative initiatives, engage with available research as to the limits and possibilities of their successful implementation, and consider the implications of collaboration for leadership. I then draw on theory to advance some practice priorities for realising the potential of such policy initiatives.