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Encourage Service in the Community

INVOLVEMENT IN the community is an important element of leadership. Serving on a board or advisory committee will develop leadership in a number of ways. First, the person involved will need to practice influence, which is at the heart of leadership. Likewise, the experience will challenge the individual to quickly acclimate to the inner workings of a new organization, a variety of personalities, and even new roles. For instance, challenging individuals to work outside the scope of their “work” role can be stimulating and highly developmental. After all, boards are involved in many aspects of the organization—personnel, strategic planning, development/fund-raising, performance monitoring, and stakeholder engagement.

For those of you who work with younger, emerging leaders who may not be ready to serve at the board level, there are a number of opportunities in your community to get involved in organizations such as Toastmasters, Inc., Kiwanis, Rotary, or other emerging-leadership programs that target younger professionals.

We worked in one organization that encouraged its members to serve on various boards throughout the community. Doing so not only created positive community relations, but it built relationships, increased knowledge, and complemented the good work being done in the community. In another organization, part of everyone’s performance review included being assessed on their contributions to the community. Individuals were encouraged to play as small or large a part as they wanted—as long as they were contributing to a social entity other than the work organization. This process was given validity by aligning it with the performance review process.