Lack of leadership is often mentioned by local people as an obstacle to community development, particularly in declining rural communities and decaying inner city neighborhoods. The term “leadership” has become a code word for the social aspects of community development. In depressed communities, there is often a sense of the inevitability of decline. All the leaders have left.

This approach assumes that leadership is an innate individual characteristic. Our work suggests that leadership can be a community characteristic, based on the presence of entrepreneurial social infrastructure (Flora and Flora 1993).

Across the United States and in Canada, in Europe and in Africa, Asia and Latin America, there are a large number of leadership programs. All of these have interesting commonalities and original contributions to building communities as well as increasing individual social mobility. These programs are differentially effective, depending on context and measurement of effectiveness.

Is effectiveness based on what happens in the community? Are more talents of local people used? Is there more communication? Is there more local initiative? Are there healthier ecosystems? Are people who were previously poor now able to make ends meet? Do they have more assets? Or is effectiveness based on what happens to the individuals who undergo leadership training? Is that training a vehicle to exit their depressed communities? Do those who participate increase their own assets and economic position, often by leaving the community?

Community leadership development based on leadership principles derived from studies in formal organizations can be misleading and ineffectual (Pigg 1999). Community leadership is not a stand-alone characteristic of an individual, but an emergent property that comes from interactions at the community level (Pigg 1999).

Leadership development training, using this framework, is based on relationships and interaction rather than leader behavior. As a result, effective community leadership development programs stress interactions among a diverse group of community members toward collective goals.

Community Field and Community Leadership Development

The community field is defined by Wilkinson (1991) as a process of interrelated actions through which residents express their common interest in the local society (p. 2). Community leadership development builds interactions among community members and imparts skills and support to continue those interactions to achieve collectively defined goals.

The vast majority of leadership development programs are based around organizations, which Wilkinson conceptualizes as social fields, which are interactions based on specific interests. Organizations have clear boundaries, formal authority structures and roles, and power derived from position.

Much organizational leadership development is based on social fields or communities of interest that may or may not be locality based. The work by Senge (2000 and 1994) focuses on interactions within organizations as a basis for collective leadership. Robert W. Terry’s work (1993) incorporates notions of power, vision and ethics into leadership development. The leadership curriculum Leadership: Sustaining Action on Community and Organizational Issues (Hein et al. 1993) built on his model. In our evaluation of the applications of that curriculum, we found it more effective in organizational than in community settings.

The North Central Regional Center for Rural Development is facilitating a group of extension educators implementing leadership development. We are also identifying and analyzing leadership development programs and curricula to determine what kinds of leadership development work best in different circumstances. As part of this research, we are looking at measures of community readiness, including initial levels of social and human capital.

Our initial analysis of community-based leadership development shows it to be a critical input for community development. It is a critical part of building and maintaining community capacity to respond to and anticipate the constant changes in the nation and the world that alter local community opportunities.

But leadership must be invested in. Broad-based leadership that is participatory, transparent, accountable and effective is the basis of sustainable communities. And, as we have found in our analysis of effective community-based development efforts, it often requires outside facilitation and support.

References

Flora, Cornelia Butler and Jan L. Flora. 1993. “Entrepreneurial Social Infrastructure: A Necessary Ingredient.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 529:48-58.

Hein, Clair et al. 1993. Leadership: Sustaining Action on Community and Organizational Issues. Ames, IA: North Central Regional Center for Rural Development.

Pigg, Kenneth E. 1999. “Community Leadership and Community Theory: A Practical Synthesis.” Journal of the Community Development Society 30:196-212.

Senge, Peter et al. 2000. Schools that Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents and Everyone Who Cares about Education. New York: Doubleday.

Senge, Peter M. 1994. The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook : Strategies And Tools For Building A Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday.

Terry, Robert W. 1993. Authentic Leadership: Courage in Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Wilkinson, Kenneth P. 1991. The Community in Rural America. New York: Greenwood Press.