Community members can improve their livelihood in meaningful ways through community development. (Syme & Ritterman, 2009). Community leadership helps develop and nurture grassroots innovations that improve the quality of life of the community members through active engagement toward common goals (Martiskainen, 2017). Evidence shows that community leaders effectively support, foster, and enable community development (Kirk & Shutte, 2004). The following questions are key to uncover the need of a community and lead changes.
- Are you interested in your community improving?
- What should improve in your community?
- In what way can you contribute to these changes or improvements in your community?
- Is there someone already leading these changes?
What does community leadership mean?
Community leadership is different from the traditional understanding of leadership because community leaders are representatives who ask, persuade, and influence followers (Sullivan, 2007). Community leadership is less hierarchical (Onyx and Leonard, 2011) and often based on volunteer action (Zanbar and Itzhaky, 2013), involving the creation of social capital (Riley, 2012) and improving community members' lives.
Community leaders are usually informal, local, non-elected, and non-exclusive leaders (Bénit-Gbaffou and Katsaura, 2014). Usually, more than one leader in the community takes voluntary responsibility toward common goals or leading changes. Community leaders must be part of the community in which their leadership operates. Community leadership can exist in various sectors, including health, education, security, and community member emotional support.
How can you start a community care network?
The AARP organization developed a guidebook to help community members to initiate a local care network. The essential seven initial steps are summarized below:
- Learn about your community and its needs. Meet and talk with your neighbors every chance you have to learn about their current situations. You might collect ideas to improve your community. Also, ask whether people would like to meet and discuss developing caring community teams. A survey might be a helpful option to collect ideas and opinions.
- Find collaborative team leaders. Recognize the main things people want and decide on a few teams to cover those things. Organize those who want to help into those teams and identify someone who can be the team leader.
- Engage team leaders and the whole community. Once you have identified teams, hold a get-together to discuss how the teams might implement some easy ideas generated from the survey results. Please encourage them to find an effective communication method to keep connected and keep the community informed.
- Offer help and invite your neighbors to join various projects. Be sure to tell them whom to contact if they need a hand. Even if specific needs are not apparent, you can start planning a community project like establishing a safety or emergency protocol.
- Start helping. Organize a team to cover specific community needs; if the project exceeds the capacity of your teams, ask additional community members to lend a hand. Usually, people are willing to help for special causes. Be sure to make all those requests in a way that is comfortable for the person you are helping.
- Build on what you started. Reflect with your teams and community about how you reached the goal or fulfilled the need. Ask for honest and constructive feedback. Keep your community constantly connected through social meetings and events.
- Inspire others to create more caring communities. You can also be a mentor to others on their leadership pathways.
Becoming a community leader.
Few people are born leaders. Usually, individuals learn how to lead over time. Some of the ways a person can learn to lead are by:
- Immersion into practice
- Observing other leaders
- Having a mentor
- Reading, taking leadership classes, or training.
Common Qualities Displayed by Good Community Leaders.
The role of a community leader is not to fix all the community's problems but rather to work together with the community members. Community leaders mobilize and guide others, facilitate the problem-solving and decision-making processes, and innovate to benefit the community itself.
The following qualities are the most common qualities displayed by successful community leaders. These qualities were summarized from the community toolbox (2021):
Integrity: To trust you, people need to know that you act according to what you say and are reliable. If people trust you, they will likely follow and collaborate with you on your initiatives and projects.
Courage: Leadership constantly involves challenges, where taking risks and showing others the appropriate path is crucial. Challenge yourself to speak the truth - even when it is not popular.
Commitment: Commit to a task when you sign up for it, no matter how hard it could be. If you need to, find help to complete it or find strategies to make it more doable. Your commitment can be a positive model for your community members.
Care about others: People will follow and respect you when you care and raise your concerns about community members and local issues. The greater your ability to care about others, the more confidence and collaboration you will receive from community members.
Creativity and flexibility: Be prepared for change, develop alternative plans and new solutions.
References
Bénit‐Gbaffou, C., & Katsaura, O. (2014). Community Leadership and the Construction of Political Legitimacy: Unpacking Bourdieu's 'Political Capital' in Post‐Apartheid Johannesburg.International Journal of Urban and Regional Research,38(5), 1807-1832.
Kirk, P., & Shutte, A. M. (2004). Community leadership development.Community Development Journal,39(3), 234-251.
Martiskainen, M. (2017). The role of community leadership in the development of grassroots innovations.Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions,22, 78-89.
Onyx, J., & Leonard, R. J. (2011). Complex systems leadership in emergent community projects.Community Development Journal,46(4), 493-510.
Syme, S. L., & Ritterman, M. L. (2009). The importance of community development for health and well-being.Community Development Investment Review,5(3), 1-13.
Sullivan, H. (2007). 'Interpreting' community 'leadership' in English local government.Policy & Politics,35(1), 141-161.
Zanbar, L., & Itzhaky, H. (2013). Community activists' competence: The contributing factors.Journal of Community Psychology,41(2), 249-263.
Resources
AARP- How to Build A Caring Community Network (PDF)
The community toolbox - Section 1. Learning How to Be a Community Leader
