Section 1
Leadership Development Introduction
Building a sense of community has been high on the list of important issues in community development as was summarized in a previous section. Self-development approaches are key to successes in community development but often are unique to local circumstances. At the same time, they are accomplished through local support and collaboration by many players supported by community leaders.
Leadership is provided by individuals and organizations involving residents from many sectors. Distributed leadership includes networks and associations that offer opportunities and encourage participation from diverse local groups, and this leadership model is important in creating a healthy community. Opportunities to lead often arise unexpectedly but specific practices and principles can foster leadership growth.
Solid and well-informed leadership is crucial to successful community building and was stressed throughout community development discussions in previous sections. Developing local leaders is a complex, time-consuming process that is not always well-understood. Community Development has actively contributed to these discussions with several representative articles addressing these topics. Articles in this section illustrate how the leadership development concepts evolved.
Green, Flora, Flora, and Schmidt (1990) report on a national survey of local self-development strategies, their types, and how they affect overall economic development. This article is one of the early systematic examinations of how community groups took charge in trying to supplement traditional business attraction efforts. Contacts were made with 600 key informants in 46 states, and surveys generated 105 verified local self-development projects. The self-development projects complemented other industrial and business attraction programs underway in the community.
Identified projects engaged many groups in the communities as well as assistance from external groups such as state, Federal, and regional agencies. The efforts included tourism and cultural activities, business retention and expansion, locally controlled industrial development projects, and historic renovation and preservation efforts. Of special interest is that they elicited disproportionate involvement by farmer and farm organizations as well as other private groups not always directly involved in development efforts.
The projects generated positive employment returns with a high percentage of the positions obtained by residents in the area which is less common in traditional industrial or business recruiting efforts. At the same time, however, the self-development projects typically generated fewer jobs than business recruiting programs. Nevertheless, the higher proportion of employment benefits to residents can make these projects useful in building community capacity and leadership along with economic viability. The authors cite the importance of involvement by nonprofit organizations in local self-development projects.
Snavely and Beck (1993) analyzed the potential roles that nonprofit corporations play in promoting community development efforts. First, they provide essential services used as inputs in businesses but these services also offer other jobs and incomes that contribute directly to economic development. Second, they provide cultural amenities and other programs that improve local quality of life making the area a more attractive place to live. Third, they assemble groups of people from across the community in a setting where they can network and interact in decision-making processes, many involving development issues.
Thus, given the importance of community development as a prerequisite to economic development, engaging nonprofits is an essential, but sometimes overlooked, task. Nonprofit agencies that provide access to health care or social services are especially important in improving quality of life that attracts both business investment and new residents. In areas with blighted conditions or limited opportunities for private investment, these third-sector agencies provide services that otherwise might be unavailable some of which are used by businesses in daily operations.
Effective leadership is essential to successful community development as has been documented by many authors. Robinson (1994), for example, presents ten basic principles of leadership in community development organizations based on many years of working with these agencies. He makes several especially important points. Leadership potential exists within most organizations but it must be identified and developed. This point is crucial in trying to create a pluralistic leadership scenario. Some groups have not played leadership roles in past decisions so those with leadership potential must be encouraged to step forward, be trained on appropriate skills, and then be encouraged to pursue collective agendas.
Equally, or even more, important is that these newly formed leaders must be supported and guided to minimize discouragement or failure. They are more likely to succeed when they have participated in creating an action agenda. This experience not only motivates their actions but also allows them to incorporate past experiences and see more clearly how the actions or results affect others in the community. In other words, leaders from previously underrepresented groups can have a contagion effect that stimulates others to take leadership roles on issues in which they have interest. Nearly everyone has expertise on some issue, and it is important to identify and engage this potential while working on community development items.
There are many misconceptions about effective leadership models, and democratic leadership is not always the most effective approach, especially in situations involving considerable disagreement and discord among some groups. A strong leader with the ability to direct the actions may be needed to achieve the best outcomes for the community. During the process, however, leadership opportunities arise and new leaders can emerge when they are encouraged and the development of leadership capacity and credibility is important in the overall community development process.
Growth in leadership occurs most often in an appropriate atmosphere and structure. This indicates that flexibility in approaches is important when working through the development process. Likewise, there must be adequate encouragement for those who step up to leadership positions, along with protections that minimize possibilities of failure. Broad-based leadership, as described previously, greatly enhances community development.
The political sector is important in community development decisions where many local groups and agencies are involved. Election to political positions gives individuals credibility, acceptance, and control over important decisions. At the same time, they must gain trust and acceptance in discussions of important issues within a community. This need can cause residents to become better informed and interested in positive outcomes.
The importance of effectively engaging residents in local decision-making processes in meaningful ways is well-recognized. Less well-understood, however, are the perceptions by hard-to-reach residents regarding how community change decisions are made and their effectiveness. Brown and Baker (2019) examined attitudes of minority residents in a neighborhood of approximately 5,000 residents regarding key factors involved in bringing about positive community change. They used a semi-structured focus group setting where residents could react to a neighborhood development plan and then identify five themes considered important to bringing about significant changes.
The first them...
