10 leadership practices which empower communities
Enfield Council’s Grace Murray shares ten pointers for community-powered leadership.
According to John Kotter in his seminal book, What Leaders Really Do, “leaders prepare organisations for change and help them cope as they struggle through it”. For public sector organisations who want to become more community-led in how they work, a true phase shift is needed from the market and state paradigms which have dominated until now. This radical transition begs the question – what sort of leadership do we need to transition into being community-powered public services?
For the past year, I have been exploring the link between leadership and community power in local authorities and this is what I’ve learnt from the wisdom of others. What does it mean to be a ‘community-powered leader’? What behaviours facilitate the radical empowerment of local communities? I’ve summed up the best of multiple conversations with ‘community-powered leaders’ in my local authority and beyond into 10 practices. If it’s true, as John Maxwell says, that “everyone is a leader because everyone influences someone”, then these small pointers might be a useful start for us all to become more empowering of communities in whatever role we find ourselves.
1. ‘We’ vs ‘us and them’
Adopting a language of ‘we do together’ rewires how we think about working with residents and flattens this implicit power hierarchy
The language of ‘you said, we did’ has been helpful for services to demonstrate how they are responding to resident input and feedback. The problem is, it often produces a paradoxical ‘us and them’ logic dividing residents into one camp, and professionals in the other. Adopting a language of ‘we do together’ rewires how we think about working with residents and flattens this implicit power hierarchy. It acknowledges everyone as an expert, whether through their professional experience, or the wisdom gifted from their life circumstances. Choosing to say ‘we’ also creates a fertile learning environment for creativity, idea sharing and problem solving.
2. Present in the day-to-day
Community-powered leaders are present on the ground and in the day-to-day. This means rolling up your sleeves, getting stuck in and taking the time to really get to know local people. But why is this? Simply, leaders who are present and grounded are those best placed to respond to emergent challenges, have greater trust among residents, and are better aware of the challenges or obstacles of transitioning to a community-led model. This immersive and engaged way of working is best combined with routines to refocus on the bigger picture, be that reflective practice, or knowledge-sharing across locations and services.
3. Coming your fuller self to work
When community-powered leaders allow space for emotions, bringing some of their joys, strengths, interests and experiences, this can deeply enrich their community and work culture
When we show up to work bringing more of our whole selves, it is possible to create safe spaces for others to come exactly as they are. This means allowing ourselves to be multifaceted, unique humans, who are honest in how our personal lives inevitably affect us at work. Of course, this requires the hard work of emotional regulation, social intelligence, and good boundaries. But it’s still worth saying that when community-powered leaders allow space for emotions, bringing some of their joys, strengths, interests and experiences, this can deeply enrich their community and work culture. This is a helpful counter to ‘neutral’ professional environments which are often coded as white, cisgender and heterosexual, where it is easier for some of us to fit in and belong rather than others.
4. Having fun and being kind in difficult times
There’s a tendency when things get difficult to clench our teeth, buckle down and focus on the serious stuff. But what if there was a different way of doing things? In conversations with community-powered leaders, something magical seems to work when we prioritise kindness and fun in the toughest of times. This doesn’t mean slacking off, or ignoring the issues at hand, but it does mean finding pockets of ease and joy in the craziest of situations.
5. Humble posture
Robert Greenleaf coined the term ‘servant leader’ to describe a non-traditional way of leading which focuses on the growth and wellbeing of people and communities as opposed to the accumulation and exercise of power. Community-powered leaders often tend to be people who serve others with humility, focusing on empowering and facilitating local people to take ownership and participate more meaningfully in their neighbourhoods. A humble posture also means staying professionally curious about what we don’t know, or where we might be making assumptions about a community, situation or problem. Or for any Ted Lasso fans, “be curious, not judgemental”.
6. Relationships matter
Building strong relationships has often been seen in leadership theory as a strategic means to the end. But when it comes to empowering local communities, relationships aren’t just the means to an end, they are the end themselves. As the Relationships Project puts it, when you centre and prioritise healthy relationships, the outcomes flow:
“Strong relationships are not a frilly accessory in a happy neighborhood, a thriving school, an effective health service, a flourishing business, or a strong and cohesive society. They are the making of it all.” – Relationships Project
An Enfield where no one feels lonely
In Enfield’s Community Hubs, we have been using weekly tea and toast sessions to build social connections in the community in a safe and fun way.
When tea and toast help people to feel better about themselves and more connected to their neighbours, social capital grows as participants own the space, contributing mugs, food, money and more. It also has amazing outcomes for mental and physical wellbeing, alongside increasing preventative health interventions rather than costly reactive service spend.
We are finding that this relationship-building works well as we become united under a common-vision. For us, we want to create an Enfield where no one has to feel lonely.
7. Don’t take the (sole) credit
In many outcomes-driven environments, there is a pressure constantly to be evidencing impact and the difference our work makes. Although thinking about impact matters, true power sharing can happen when we don’t take sole credit for successful projects and outcomes in our communities and service areas. When we joint share success for projects and outcomes in our communities, we are able to recognise the beautiful and important contributions made by different stakeholders.
8. Clear expectations and boundaries
Community-powered leaders who are most successful are clear and transparent with expectations of what can be achieved in a certain project, service or partnership. Instead of overpromising to then underdeliver, radical transparency (even if it’s bad news) can be essential in building trust with communities. This means committing to a defined vision of community empowerment, and clearly communicating that with residents.
9. Generosity returns generosity
Community power relies on local people wanting to take a more active role in their communities and in service decision making. People have to want to get involved. In times of strain on council resources where eligibility criteria can be high to receive help, creative generosity as council officers can help create a space where people feel appreciated and valued, and so want to share in the community.
Ripple effects
In Community Hubs, we see every day how even a little generosity with our time and attention can return even more generosity.
In Alina*s own words, ‘I want to give back to the community because I have received so much.’
Alina now volunteers in the Hubs service, saying ‘If I can make just one person a day feel the way I did when I came [to the Hubs], I’ll be happy.’
10. We are all leaders
Finally, we can all help in empowering communities to play a more active role in decision-making and local services. True, this may require permission at strategic levels to find a new way to relate to residents. But we are all leaders in our own workplaces – and the ripple effect of our ideas and practices has the potential to change local services in small and big ways, even if it is simply tweaking a small way in which our teams function. So get practising!
Preparing to lead through permacrisis
Want to be part of a cohort of forward-thinking local authority chief executives and senior leaders with vision for how their innovative leadership can transform public services? Join our Radical Leaders overnight event on 19-20 September in London. Find out more and apply for a place.
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