My belief is that the stronger the leaders are within a community, the healthier and stronger that community is.
Places that have individuals who are willing to step out and make their place of employment better, lead in order to improve the community as a whole, and guide social, religious, and volunteer organizations are the places that vibrant and healthy communities emerge.
What can happen when there is a lack of community leadership?
Sometimes it is hard to understand why things matter until we envision the opposite. In the case of community leadership, a lack of willing and able leadership talent in your city, town, county or region may result in the following problems:
- Businesses, small and large, failing to do as well as they might
- Civic organizations without direction or energy; declining and perhaps dying
- Being less attractive to new residents, employers and other growth opportunities
- Fewer ad-hoc volunteer efforts sprouting
- Less vibrancy in shared community space
- Less innovation
- Less social action
- Greater isolation and polarization
We are seeing these problems occur in many places and across organizational boundaries. Organizations like Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Elks, volunteer fire departments, Grange, Masons, philanthropic fraternities and sororities all are facing potentially cataclysmic drops in membership. Religious organizations report the same decline in membership and attendance. Employers bemoan the lack of leadership talent. And the common theme from the 2016 election rhetoric is the prevailing belief that surely we can do better than this.
There are many reasons for these declining trends. There are more pulls on our time, both inside and outside work. Leading in our complex and chaotic world is more challenging than in the past. Virtual communities are supplanting older forms of face to face, elbow to elbow social connectedness.
Developing capable, community leaders
No matter the reasons, communities and the organizations within them can choose to rethink and retool existing practices to attract members, retain them through meaningful actions, and develop leaders for the 21st century. We can build organizations that leverage the emerging generational shift. To do so will require new thinking, strategies, and actions.
To learn about three strategies to “Pass the Torch”, to engage younger leaders, and to develop leadership in your community, register for our upcoming webinars.
Collaboration is critical in today’s world.
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