5 Ways To Be a Better Community Leader 

By Phyllis Smith

The June Women Inspiring Women (WIW) networking call featured Tina Hein, Chair of the Holliston Massachusetts Select Board. She shared her journey to her current role and led a motivating discussion about how to share our talents with our local communities. She told us that she believes that leadership should represent what the community cares about. This led me to think about my own leadership styles within my own volunteer commitments. Do I embody the values of the organizations where I am giving my time? Do I feel appreciated? Do I feel like I am bringing my best self? Are there ways I could be more engaged so to drive other’s own engagements? Upon reflection, I have developed a checklist I can use to improve my community leadership. 

  1. Greet everyone on my volunteer team warmly and be kind all day long
  2. Believe in what I am doing
  3. Contribute in whatever way I can
  4. Develop resilience and persistence to get through the tough times
  5. Provide guidance, feedback, gratitude, and updates to my team 
 
Tina Hein WIW Photo

Remember the importance of a warm greeting and demonstrating kindness

I wrote in my blog about networking about the importance of a warm welcome. On the latest WIW call, we talked about how to build the strength of our community by bringing in more people into it, especially women. It is so important once you have established your role as a leader in your community to build a support system. In order to do that, you have to treat people fairly and be kind. The difference between being a boss at a company and being a volunteer leader is your “workers” are not being paid. That means the environment and the actual work they are doing has to be their own reward. Being a friendly and welcoming person and making sure the people volunteering for you are motivated is a key piece of being a good community leader. We all have examples of how there is a ripple effect when you help people. You often see the person you help go on to help someone else. 

 

volunteers embracing

Believe in what you are doing – do what you love and love what you do 

Volunteering helps you discover where your passions lie. When I show up to help and I feel like I’m not appreciated or the work seems in vain or meaningless I probably won’t return. However, when I am helping create something with purpose or beauty, I am willing to move mountains to help again and again. All organizations have values, whether stated or implied, and I want to make sure my values align with the values of the organization. Tina shared with us her belief that grounding yourself in local successes allows you to see positive elements in the larger world. Something we could all use!

Find your sweet spot (see chart below). It’s not all stuffing envelopes!

As I build out a volunteer roster for an upcoming event, I keep in mind that not everyone wants to be handson. There are so many ways to volunteer for the organization which moves your soul. Tina shared a chart of all the different ways you can contribute. Knowing these categories can help you decide what type of volunteer position might suit you—not everyone is available for direct service (upper right) but maybe you have time to do some online work such as data entry or making phone calls. I am currently engaged in Capacity Building: we had a run of members leave our local land conservation group after Covid due to a variety of factors so now we need to build up our base of contributors. When I interact with people in my local communities, I share the successes of my organization and make sure people know about the fun events coming up.

CommunityService Chart

Be prepared for some rough patches

Tina also rightly pointed out that being a community leader isn’t always easy—it has some similar pitfalls as any other leadership position but also has a few specific to community service. She shared the slide below to have us review some of them. Being prepared for issues arising due to the nature of the service and the work helps to avoid burnout and disillusionment. Getting in touch with your Why will help you stay motivated. What drew you to this organization? Can you help change it from the inside out if it is in trouble? Remember to share even small successes with your team.

keepinmind

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Focusing on clear and frequent communication is another common theme between general leadership best practices and community service. My example of this is when I reach out to my volunteer team, I make sure to give them plenty of notice for their arrival times, duties, tentative end times, the fun aspects (lunch!) and anything else they might encounter. I also check in with them regularly during the event to make sure they haven’t run into any snags and then – this is the most important – I send them a sincere thank you. I also make sure to do a shoutout for the volunteers when I send the event update to the larger community. Communicating before, during, and after an event builds community and a sense of accountability.

In Community Service or with any kind of service, including working in a paid career, being in touch with your core values drives your success. I would suggest getting out there and finding where you can contribute to your community. Then the fun and fulfillment begin! Thank you, Tina Hein and the Women Inspiring Women network, for reminding me about new opportunities to reconnect with what motivates me as I interact with my world. 

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