"We want to create a way of working as a whole community, agencies and us together, that creates hope and optimism"
Georgie Thompson, Ruapotaka Marae, Tamaki
Leadership
Leadership Comes from Every Corner of the Community
"You depend on people and their creativity, To give them freedom is a powerful stimulation"
Pa Tuterangi Ariki Sir Thomas Davis

Leadership comes from any and every corner of the community. Like communities themselves, leadership comes in all shapes and sizes, and from individuals and groups. Leadership ability and practice is vital for communities to lead their own development.

Alfred Ngaro worked with Mary-Jane Rivers to set up the Inspiring Communities Exchange and will be focusing (part-time) on supporting leadership in communities from April 2009.

Alfred is a New Zealand born Cook Islander married to Mokauina with four children, three boys and one daughter. In this article, Alfred discusses leadership, and the leadership issues raised at the Auckland Inspiring Communities workshop, held in March '09 and attended by some 80 people.

I made time with my family to watch a movie about a father trying to protect his sons from reliving his experiences of the brutal and harsh realities of war. His failure to succeed at this saw his sons drawn towards their sense of conviction. The father was forced to face his deepest fears in this valley of despair. In the darkness the father was still enough to hear the cause of concern from his sons and their willingness to fight for the rights of others.

The call for leadership demands that we find the truth within ourselves. .

'I kitea mai ei te turanga mou: Mei tei 'akari, roto te reka i te puru.'
Discovering the preeminent foundation: Like a coconut to get to the core, husk away the unessential
Jon Tikivanotau Jonassen

The oldest son pleaded to his father to 'stay the course,'. In other words stay focused, don't lose heart, keep your optimism. The movie was dramatic. Our everyday lives aren't always that dramatic. But the same need to discover what we believe in and stay focused on may be just as important to ensure our streets, neighbourhoods or communities are safe, active, vibrant and thriving. And when we do this we are leading.

"If you bring the appropriate people together in constructive ways with credible information they will create authentic visions and strategies for addressing the shared concerns of ... communities.
David Chrislip from Skillful Means talking about collaborative leadership.

There are lots of different ways of being a leader and leadership development is ongoing. Sometimes our most challenging times as leaders come not so much from without but from within. So personal support as well as professional development is important. Resilience in leadership comes from our personal growth.

How do we grow this resilience and our capacity for leadership? How important is leadership? What are the best ways of growing and supporting leadership? These are core questions for ensuring durable, dynamic and adaptable communities, and a key question for Inspiring Communities. That's when training, tools, practice, peer support mentoring and tips on leadership such as: negotiating skills, strategic planning, mobilising, and reframing can be very helpful.

These are the questions we asked 80 people at the Auckland, Inspiring Communities workshop held on 27 March. Here is a summary of responses and suggestions.

Helping change attitudes and support leadership. There is a tall poppy syndrome. Instead we need to acknowledge leaders as important and help people step up:

  • Small community groups to identify leaders and support these people
  • Redefine leadership to include community-based leaders as well as business leaders and government managers
  • Good positive media coverage that can help people realise that they can lead together in their communities.
  • Developing a robust national network to help people realise what's possible
  • Stop talking about emerging leaders and support the leaders who are already operating

Increasing access to tools and support

  • Such as peer and individual mentoring, buddying, coaching, courses, workshops, knowledge, ideas and examples, tool kits, a website with ideas

Developing and supporting varieties of leadership

  • Creating community models for leadership development
  • Supporting leadership development opportunities that are connected to what is happening on the ground in communities of place
  • Learning from and supporting cross-boundary, collaborative leadership - helping communities and organisations work collaboratively
  • Shared and partnering leadership to avoid silo-based leadership development
  • Understanding the essence of leadership and what leadership in community looks like in practice
Alfred can be contacted This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
 

Access Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges by Otto altScharmer

In the  spirit of Albert Einstein, Otto Scharmer suggests that a new collective leadership capacity is needed to meet the complex social, environmental and economic challenges we face today. According to Scharmer, "we know a great deal about what leaders do and how they do it. But we know very little about the inner place, the source from which they operate."

This inner place is of pivotal importance, as it can have powerful effects on the outcome of any action or decision of a leader's, and it is explored in Scharmer's 'Theory U' model, and its Five Movements.
Read more...
 

An interiew with two leaders

"If we are serious about social change in New Zealand, it is the communities and neighbourhoods that have the capability, and this needs nurturing."

Murray Edridge

The article that follows is the summary of an interview by Jenny Blagdon with David Hanna, Director of Wesley Community Action and Murray Edridge, Chief Executive of Barnardos. In this conversation, Jenny, David and Murray discussed:

  • Why community-led development is important
  • Why community of place in particular is important
  • The challenges this raises for Wesley Community Action and BarnadosDavid Hanna
  • The points of 'liftoff' being employed
  • Approaches being used to get people to where they're happy to 'let go'
  • Handbrakes
  • Whether it is time to dive deeper, or pull back, and
  • The indicators of whether CLD has become embedded
Read more...
 
Leadership

Leadership comes from any and every corner of the community. Like communities themselves, leadership comes in all shapes and sizes, and from individuals and groups. Leadership ability and practice is vital for communities to lead their own development.

Alfred Ngaro is convening the leadership development work of Inspiring Communities.

Alfred has been a leader in the Tamaki, East Auckland community for over 18 years. In 2008 he joined Mary-Jane Rivers in getting The Exchange off the ground planning to focus on leadership development, on a part-time basis. Unexpectedly, from July 2008 until March 2009 his leadership contribution was needed for 'brokering' and encouraging Tamaki community involvement in the Tamaki Transformation programme announced by government in May 2009. Inspiring Communities supported Alfred's role.

We were thrilled when in August 2009 Alfred was awarded a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award for his long standing contribution to Tamaki and his involvement in the Tamaki Transformation Programme.

Since March 2009, Alfred has been able to give his attention to looking at ways of supporting leadership in communities for community-led development to flourish.

Alfred says:

There are lots of different ways of being a leader and leadership development is ongoing. Sometimes our most challenging times as leaders come not so much from without but from within. So personal support, as well as professional development, is important. Resilience in leadership comes from our personal growth.

How do we grow this resilience and our capacity for leadership? How important is leadership? What are the best ways of growing and supporting leadership? These are core questions for ensuring durable, dynamic and adaptable communities, and a key question for Inspiring Communities.

Inspiring Communities asked these questions of the 80 people participating in the Auckland, workshop of 27 March. Below is a summary of responses and suggestions.

Helping change attitudes and support leadership. There is a tall poppy syndrome. We need to acknowledge leaders as important and help people step up to the leadership mark through:

  • Redefining leadership to include community-based leaders as well as business leaders and government managers
  • Good positive media coverage that helps people realise they can lead together in their communities
  • Developing a robust national network to help people realise what's possible
  • Stop talking about emerging leaders and support the leaders who are already operating

Increasing access to tools and support such as:

  • Peer and individual mentoring, and buddying
  • Coaching, courses, workshops,
  • Ideas, examples and tool kits
  • A website with ideas, information, examples, handy hints

Developing and supporting varieties of leadership:

  • Creating community models for leadership development
  • Supporting leadership development opportunities that are connected to what is happening on the ground in communities of place
  • Learning from and supporting cross-boundary, collaborative leadership - helping communities and organisations work collaboratively
  • Shared and partnering leadership to avoid silo-based leadership
  • Understanding the essence of leadership and what leadership in community looks like in practice

Alfred can be contacted through: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it