“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members,” writes Coretta Scott King. One important aspect of leadership is developing and sustaining a powerful community of people who all hold the same mission, vision, and values. Nurturing this type of community takes strategic planning and specific action. Utilizing a specific system for community building helps create a clearer sense of purpose and more strategic actions. Below is a process for developing community and creating common expectations:
- Discussing the Ideal Community: Working in small groups, the team discusses what their ideal community looks like, sounds like, and feels like. In those groups, each individual should share the various ideas that create their ideal community. The process allows all people to collaborate and voice how they view a true community. The group should write these down on a shared document.
- Expectations of the Leaders: The small groups should also outline and document what they expect of the leaders in the community. Ideas like clear communication, quality feedback, trust, support, and visibility often emerge as common themes. These discussions give clear insight to how the leadership team should lead and what everyone needs from them to be successful.
- Expectations of Team Members: Another aspect of this process revolves around what the people in the community expect of each other. Ideas like high expectations, support, following rules, positivity, and pride in their work often develop as common themes. Organizations that collaborate to set clear expectations for their team members create a sense of ownership for everyone.
- Organizing the Themes: After people in the community discuss the community expectations, the leadership team can gather the information and develop clear, specific, and common themes. The themes developed now become the standard expectations for all people in the community.
- Develop a Plan: The leadership team can use the themes to create an improvement plan, display the expectations, and utilize them for further community building work. Even though the teams created clear expectations and an ideal community, the leadership team must continue to nurture the community through an actionable plan.
The process of creating community and developing shared expectations helps everyone understand what it looks like, feels like, and sounds like. The collaborative discussions allow people to clearly think through a highly effective community and hold each other accountable when challenges arise. Through a detailed action plan, the leadership team continues to nurture and sustain a highly effective community focused on core beliefs and standards.
What is your process for building and sustaining a positive community?