Chapter 7 The Community Development Approach to Leadership
"Community development is a process where people work together in their community to name the injustices and struggles, understand where they come form, and take action to make positive changes."
The power and influence of leadership goes from, at one extreme, absolute control such as in a rigid dictatorship either in groups or countries, to, at the other extreme, completely egalitarian societies in which all people are equal. In reality, leadership in most groups, organizations, communities and countries are somewhere in between; neither completely egalitarian nor a rigid hierarchy. Individuals do vary in skills and other personal characteristics. As a result of this heterogeneity, individuals react differently in groups. Some people because they are shy or other characteristics are reluctant to attempt to take on leadership roles. It is only with major stimulation and then with reluctance and usually for short duration that such individuals become leaders. In this country, we have always placed a high value on the rights of the individual. Thus, the closer a group, organization, society is to being egalitarian, the higher we value such a group. It is not considered to be appropriate for a person to say I am a leader, I have power. People who do so are labeled presumptuous and arrogant. For this reason, many people in voluntary organizations including communities are reluctant to step forward to be leaders or to be called leaders. About thirty-five years ago, a social movement that is based upon the egalitarian philosophy began to bring about change in communities. This movement included a strong belief in "empowerment." This empowerment was directly both at the individual and the local community. The process of encouraging people to take more action at the local community has come to be called "community development". Community development rest upon the assumption that the best way (and often the only good way) for improvement to come about is for the process to start at the grass roots. The comment is often heard that the more people who are involved in making decisions and taking action the better it is. The process of community development contrasts with economic development, another term which is often heard in communities. Economic development usually focuses on the addition of employment and other economic activities in a community. A small group or elite such as business members and bankers will take much of the action in economic development. Both are types of "development" and both involve leadership, but they are sharply contrasted in the types and amount of individual involvement and distribution of benefits. The two types of development illustrate two different ways of viewing and describing leadership. Community development has two basic goals: first, to improve the quality of life of all members of the community and, second, to involve all members of the community in the process. It is believed that this can best be accomplished by raising the knowledge level of all members of the community through better education for both youth and adults. The community development process normally starts with some type of information gathering either through surveys, focus groups or other techniques. The focus of this collection is often on the needs of the community. People are asked what they like about their community and what they think should be improved. A secondary purpose of the data collection is to get numerous people involved in the process of community decision-making. After the basic data are collected, the process will continue through several steps in which some consensus is developed of the most important community needs. Based upon this consensus, plans for implementation of community improvements are made. A professional change agent such as university extension agents or other public workers often starts the initial steps in the community development process. If the process is to succeed the involvement of community members in leadership activities must begin in the early stages and become prominent quickly. However, this is often difficult to do especially in small rural communities where there are shortages of people who have the skills and motivation to take on leadership. As a result, many communities start training programs to broaden the leadership base. Most state extension services have one or more leadership training programs to "empower" people in local communities to become leaders. In Missouri, "Excel" is one such program. The training programs usually include some sessions on skill building such as speaking, but others are directed toward current events and may include trips to state and national capitals or other places designed to broaden the vision of the participants. The objectives are to increase the knowledge and to increase the self-confidence of the participants. The community development movement has become international in scope. The process is being used currently in third world countries as well as in other industrial countries beyond the U.S. Many international agencies such as the U.S. AID and World Bank have adopted the basic philosophy and methodology as part of their international aid programs. The utilization of the community development approach in cultures with different philosophies concerning the roles of various individuals creates some challenges for the effective use of the community development approach. In sum, the community development approach is an excellent means of developing leaders as well as promoting change in communities and other informal groups in the United States, especially in areas where citizen participation has deep cultural roots. The general approach of involving people more in the decision-making has been adopted under different names in industry. There are several current business-oriented books that emphasize the importance of group decision-making even at the lowest levels. [back] [table of contents] [rex campbell] copyright © University of Missouri |