Introduction

Over the last two or three years I’ve spent time considering leadership and management models/styles that are compatible with leading teams of Community Development workers.

From these considerations I think I’ve reached a place where it all makes some sense.

Background

I have had a lengthy career in the public sector. I’ve worked in Commonwealth Government, State Government and, for the last 16 years in local government. It is from the perspective and experience of practising Community Development in the loal government context that I have reached my current understanding of leading and managing a Community Development team.

Pondering

After many years of leading teams I have reached the conclusion that my leadership practice must reflect my practice as a Community Development worker. That is, my practice as a leader or manager must be based on a grassroots community development approach reflecting an Assets Based Community Development theory of practice.

To be true to this practice leadersheip must be one based on relating to each member of my team and assessing what their individual strengths are how to maximise those strengths. My role is to grant them the space to develop those strengths and assets and to allow them to practice their work in the way they consider the most appropriate. This, of course takes time but seems to build long lasting commitment from members of the team as they are the masters of their own destiny and practice. Essentially, this is a relationship based approach.

I also need to mentor my team in good community development practice. This, again takes time. My aim is to bring out the best in them and to give them good training in what the practice of grassroots community development entails. Mentoring  is essential to leading the team.

Community Development is often a practice pursued by the solo worker or by small groups of workers. I need to give my team space  to develop their own way of operating. It is a personality driven pracitce. I may not work the same as the other team members but it is up to them to have integrity in their work.

I need to trust each person in the team. Trust that they will work in the interests of the community, they will work alongside community, they will partner and not direct the work. Community Development is always a Trust  job.

My aim is to give them a Vision or a Mission. The vision I have is to build community based on the assets and strnegths of that community. Find those people who are the connectors and work with them to build connection and community. Without a vision of place making and working with community to build community they will never succeed.

I need to listen to the team. probably the most challenging role but one I need to continually focus on.

Of course this approach brings certain challenges. It is a participative and cooperative approach to ledership. It is anything but micro managing, it is often seen as a passive approach of democratice approach, whereas I would see it as a partnership in building a community of community development workers to create better and stronger community. It is highly informed by a developmental psychology approach of valuing each person for where they are at in self awareness and self care but, given space can be a radically succesful way to create dynamic teams.

It is also informed by contemporary approaches to working with people. To quote Richard Branson "It is all about finding and hiring people smarter than you. Getting them to join your business. And giving them good work. Then getting out of their way. And trusting them. You have to get out of their way so you can focus on the bigger vision. That’s important. And here’s the amin thing…you must make them see their work as a mission."

I also hire people with passion. People come to community development often with life experience and a fire in the belly. To stifle this is the biggest crime. Stephen Covey once wrote: "If you can hire people whose passion intersects with the job, they won’t require any supervision at all. They will manage themselves better than anyone could manage them. Their fire comes from within, not from without. Their motivation is internal, not external."

Finally, to quote Theodore Roosevelt: "The best executive is the one who has enough sense to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it."

I’d appreciate other’s thoughts on leadership from a community building perspective.

This blog originally appeared at www.herdingtogether.com

In 2018 the International Association of Community Development (IACD) released International Standards for Community Development Practice. The release of the standards was the result of investigating the nature of Community Development work and examining what was common internationally between organisations, agencies and individuals across the globe. IACD hoped the standards would assist practitioners and support them in the work they are doing.

At the heart of the standards sits the IACD definition of Community Development: “Community Development is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes participative democracy, sustainable development, rights, economic opportunity, equality and social justice, through the organisation, education and empowerment of people within their communities, whether these be of locality, identity or interest, in urban and rural settings”. The definition has an emphasis on the values driving community development work and on the practice of community development.

The standards are contained in eight theme areas:

1. Putting values into practice: Understand the values, processes and outcomes of community development, and apply these to practice in all the other key areas. (This theme surrounds understanding what community development is, what is at its core values are, what its outcomes can be and supporting others involved in the practice of community development)
2. Engaging with communities: Understand and engage with communities, building and maintaining relationships with individuals and groups. (To me, this is central to all good practice knowing in detail the community a practitioner is working in and create strong relationships.)
3. Participatory planning: Develop and support collaborative working and community participation. (Often an area that can be left out by large organisations, particularly government authorities. This is about capacity building for people to work together to direct their own future)
4. Organising for change: Enable communities to take collective action, increase their influence and if appropriate their ability to access, manage and control resources and services. (This follows on closely to participatory planning and involves supporting people through the process of change and growing empowerment)
5. Learning for change: Support people and organisations to learn together and to raise understanding, confidence and the skills needed for social change. (Another step in empowerment is an increase in skills to change, the skills to put the participatory planning into practice)
6. Promoting diversity and inclusion: Design and deliver practices, policies, structures and programmes that recognise and respect diversity and promote inclusion.(Recognising diversity and being inclusive. Even though this is one that shouldn’t need to be stated we are not yet at the place where recognition of diversity and inclusive work practices are central for every worker and organisation)
7. Building leadership and infrastructure: Facilitate and support organisational development and infrastructure for community development, promoting and providing empowering leadership. (Developing community leadership that is democratic and promotes participatory processes is central to creating lasting community change)
8. Developing and improving policy and practice: Develop, evaluate and inform practice and policy for community development, using participatory evaluation to inform and improve strategic and operational practice. (One of my favourite topics – evaluation but use participatory approaches and encourage communities to monitor and evaluate their progress. Above all maintain critical reflection and evaluation of your own work.)

This is a very brief summary. Most of the above is directly from the International Standards with my comments about each theme in brackets.

The themes provide a great support and guidance for the work I do in Community Development and assist me in keeping my practice true. One of the really good things about them is they can be used in a many contexts. Their use in planning both projects and strategies is immediately apparent on reading them. They can be used in worker development, development of policy and in promoting the profession of Community Development.

Full details about the standards can be found at the IACD website (www.IACDglobal.org).

This blog originally appeared at www.herdingtogether.com

I haven’t always been a runner. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t so long ago that going for a run was the last thing on my mind. Now I regularly run 5kms two or three times a week.

When I first started it was daunting. I could only run a short distance before I was out of breath and had to stop. To help me I downloaded a phone app so I could gradually work up to 5kms. It took time and was hard work, both physically and mentally. My muscles hurt, my mind told me I couldn’t do it and I felt out of place. But over time my muscles have adjusted and my body works as one unit. My mind can still be an obstacle but not in the way it used to be. I now feel totally comfortable around other runners.
Before I go for a run I prepare myself. I decide when I’m going out, choose what I’m going to wear and plan my route. It changes on a regular basis. Sometimes I plan something different as the next challenge or just to get myself out of a rut.

There are so many parallels to Community Building.

Although, we are social beings it takes a bit of focus to be a community builder. Like starting a running regime it can be daunting. Where do you start? What do you want to do? You might be able to see the problems or what you want to achieve but getting there is the hard thing. But like running it is about taking it in small segments. Distribute a flyer, call a meeting, talk about what you want to achieve with others, read about what others have done. It is a creative process and sometimes you just need to build those creative muscles up. At first you might feel like you are stumbling or that you have bitten off more than you can chew but overtime you will find that you make connections with others who want to see the same things happen. Just do the small things first. Plant a garden on the nature strip/verge, start a facebook page, have a few neighbours over for a BBQ.

Like running the creative ideas, small activities, meeting others, working together all starts to fall into place. The “collective body” starts working together. And like planning a run you start to plan what you want to do what you want to achieve, plan some challenging activities and before you know it you are starting to build a community.

This blog originally appeared at www.herdingtogether.com

Introduction

For over a decade I worked in leadership positions in Local Government. This was a challenging, rewarding and often frustrating experience. Over that time I learnt a great deal about leadership, I made mistakes and tried to learn from them. What follows is a brief summary of some of the things I managed to learn through that time of leadership. I hope you find this of some use.

The Challenge of Leadership

Many people come to leadership by rising through the ranks and then being successful in gaining a leadership role. This is a very challenging situation. To go from being a colleague to a boss is a major transition and comes with difficulties. There are rivalries, team members can find it hard to follow direction from someone that they were on a level footing with up until recently. It can be a time of stumbling and uncertainty. At times you will hear this being jokingly referred to as “promoted above his capabilities.” And it can certainly feel like this. But keep battling away and you will move through this stage to a position of greater confidence in your abilities.

On the flip side, very few people seem to come to leadership as trained leaders. When they do they may find a difficulty in leading a team of specialists who may voice a concern the leader doesn’t really understand their roles. This is a challenge in itself. As a leader you need to ahve enough knowledge of the work a person does without really having the qualification to undertake their roles.

Provide a Vision

The leader has a distinct role in providing and communicating a vision of where they would like to see the team be in the future. Without such a vision the team will flounder. To misquote the Bible “without a vision the people are lost”. A true statement.

The trick is to have a vision and to bring the team along with you. My approach to this is to always work with the team to develop a shared vision and mission. This is a collaborative approach borrowing heavily from Appreciative Inquiry. It is much easier to move a team forward if the vision is developed and shared by all members of the team.

The alternative is a top down approach i.e. provide the vision yourself and work to convince each team member to come along with you. This is a much harder path to tread, but unfortunately it seems to be the path many organisations take.

Management is Not Leadership

In a leadership role you may be called a Manager, Supervisor, Coordinator or Team Leader. It is important to remember that Management and leadership are two different things. Management implies keeping tabs on things, keeping things under control, meeting targets and benchmarks, often without rocking the boat too much. Leadership is much different. it is about vision, direction, taking control of the situation, advocacy, building cohesion, being there for your team while still being able to maintain the corporate direction. management is passive and reactionary while leadership is a proactive action role.

Micro-Management is not Leadership

The enemy of leadership is Micro-Management. Taking tight and close control of the work and actions of individual team members is a poor strategy that only breeds contempt and is a good way to lose staff. Every staff member who leaves costs your organisation thousands in recruitment and training, let alone the loss of irreplaceable historical knowledge.

If you feel team member is not performing there are a number of other things you can do before resorting to the poor strategy of micro management. Training and mentoring are good options. And, at times, this might even mean you may have to adjust your own expectations and demands as they may be counter productive to developing a strong and close team who are kicking goals.

Support your Team

Supporting your team is essential. Your role as a leader is to lead them in a direction, towards a vision and support them through the process. While you are doing this you need to remember you are dealing with flesh and blood people who will require you to be there to support them, nurture them at times and even be there to catch them when they fall. This can mean a whole range of actions. As a leader you should attend their events, activities i.e. take an interest in what they are working on without taking the focus off them and their work. They are the professionals but they need to know you care about the work they are doing.

There will be times when they will need your support to help them through some of their personal matters. Often this is understanding they may need time away from work to deal with personal matters, non invasive support if they need external help or some consideration of their circumstances.

Lead by Stepping Back

Effective leadership often means stepping back. You will have a team of professional workers who know what they are doing. Your role is to provide the support for this to happen. Remove bureaucratic barriers where possible, give them space to do their work and provide training when needed. Regardless of how qualified someone is or how skilled we can all elarn something new. Ongoing training is essential.

Give your team space to do their jobs. Trust their professionalism and only intervene when it is necessary. They are the experts. You are the gatekeeper.

Not all leaders are the Same

Not all leaders are the same. Everyone will have their own style. Lead with your style. Trust yourself.

Likewise not all team members are the same. People are all different. They are at different stages of intellectual and psychological development. Work with each person, assess where they are at and provide the support they need to be great workers.

The two T’s – Trust and Transparency

The two most improtant words in leadership are trust and transparency. You have an important function in trusting your team to do their jobs. If you don’t trust them they won’t trust you. Trust is also a fragile beast. Once it has been broken it is so hard to rebuild. This requires a leader to be sensitive in dealings with team members and keep their matters confidential. Alongside of this is transparency. All your actions should be consistently transparent. It should be crystal clear what you are doing and where you are leading your team. My experience is that there is often very little that needs to be kept undercover. Aim for transparency. This is an ethical responsibility.

Professional ethics vs Organisational Direction

This is a tough one. There may be times when your professional ethics are at loggerheads with the direction of your organisation. This can particularly be the case if you are operating from a Community Development ethical base and working from the grassroots up. Many organisations operate from the top down. This may place you in an ethical conflict. If this happens you have the choice to remain and fight the system or leave. Sometimes leaving is the best option. Other times mainaining the rage is the way to go. It is your decision but always act ethically as a leader.

Conclusion

That just about covers all I wanted to say. There is so much that could be said. I’m interested in your comments on leadership. Let me know your view and help add to this discussion.

This blog was originally published at www.herdingtogether.com