When I think of the effective community leaders I’ve met what stands out to me is that no one image fits them all. Sure, I remember instances of long standing, charismatic city councilors leading the charge for a new initiative. But I’ve got just as many stories of soft spoken, unheralded volunteers making a difference in their communities. The traditional image of the lone hero with all the answers is not what drives change in most places. You’ve got to know what you need in a leader to really get things done based on your community’s unique situation.
I’m not alone in this assertion. Research, like that of Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, points to how leadership has evolved over time and how the most effective leaders have core qualities like inspiring a shared vision and empowering other people to take action. And while communities will still have traditional strong leaders the most successful will learn how to share leadership, the Centre for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL) suggests. As CIEL says this means recognizing “that everyone is a leader in some respect.”
In order to embrace the power of shared leadership we’ve got to learn how to creatively leverage the different talents and skills that people offer. Take the example of the outdoor library classroom we heard about on a recent CommunityMatters call. The Richfield Branch Library in Akron, OH was able to create a wonderful space because it drew on the passion of a librarian and the skills of a local gardening club. Tools like capacity inventories are helpful for getting people to see what they can contribute to a local effort.
Much of community leadership is recognizing the big and small contributions of all people in making their city or town a better place. Drew Dudley talks about this as “everyday leadership.” In this funny video, Drew shares what he calls one story of the “lollipop moment”, which speaks to how we all need to do a better job at acknowledging how leadership shows up in everyday life. Perhaps the biggest challenge of community leadership is to understand what kind of leaders your town needs based on your unique local context.
Many organizations have ways of assessing a community’s current conditions, like CIEL’s Community Life Cycles Matrix or the Harwood Institute’s Community Rhythms, which can be helpful starting points for figuring out what the best next steps are for your town.
If you do community work in small towns or big cities you know that we are up against myriad challenges and the more people that we can inspire to become civically involved, the better. The good news is that leaders can be cultivated through a variety of development programs. As Vince Lombardi once said, “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work.”
If you are ready to take on greater leadership in your community – or are looking for ways to inspire others to do so then our February 13th webinar is for you. We’ll be hosting a special 75-minute webinar where you’ll hear from Milan Wall, Co-Director of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development. Milan will describe characteristics of effective local leaders, roles and responsibilities for community action, and tips for recruiting and growing new leaders in a changing world. Milan has over 40 years of experience in contending with the challenges of small town change and is a respected leader in the community development field. He’ll give participants practical guidance through a thoughtful and interactive call experience.
Get ready to lead the way in 2014 by registering for the webinar today!
