It takes more than passion to be a true leader. Listening and loyalty are also important. In this post, Delquanda Turner sheds light on what six qualities she sees in those she feels are practicing true leadership. In the Grow section, additional perspectives on leadership, for those working for non-profits and community organizations, are offered.
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Delquanda S. Turner
True Leaders: What sets them apart? As a Community Planning Manager for the Juvenile Welfare Board in Central Florida, I’ve personally observed six qualities which I feel represent true leadership. Non-profits and community organizations with True Leaders fulfill their Mission and ably serve their communities too.
Those six leadership qualities are:
The ability to go beyond just leading staff members. In order to move a community forward for positive change, simply managing your office staff isn’t enough. A leader needs to lead the community as well. Some managers are exceptional in guiding those they lead in the office, but fall short outside the office. In-the-community leadership skills are an essential part of being a true leader. The skills to lead staff and community members are very different.
Avoid placing your own expectations on a community. To do this you must meet the community where they are. Because individual communities are different, a true leader needs to be prepared to meet them where they are. Leaders who aren’t willing or able to discern the distinct nature of individual communities and neighborhoods will not, I’ve found, be very successful.
Be a good listener. True leadership in the community starts with listening. How can you lead and truly empower someone if you aren’t hearing what they are saying? Those who listen carefully, and who understand nonverbal communications, will excel as leaders in the organizations they work (or volunteer) for.
Be able to talk real talk to those in the community. At times you’ll need to take off your work badge, talk real talk, and interact with community members as an individual. As I expressed in my mid-January conversation with the Your Outcomes Well team, I’ve had to take off my work badge at times. Unreal talk simply wasn’t going to work.
Passion is so very important. Most leaders have an obvious passion for what they do. True leaders have a deep-seated passion for what they offer and give to others. Frankly, if you don’t have a passion for what you do, why are you doing it?
Be loyal and dedicated. The dedication and loyalty of a leader, to both their Mission and the Community, is an essential quality of True Leadership. True leaders stay in the race with those in the community. As well, they regularly update them on new services and programs which may help them. Some leaders aren’t good updaters; some leaders are, truth be told, loyal only to their organization’s Mission. To put it simply, a true leader brings the community with them, instead of allowing them to lag behind.
LEARN
- A true leader meets folks where they’re at.
- Such leaders do not impose your own will on them. They actively listen!
- More than anything else, bring passion to the table.
- Leading in the community is not the same as leading in the office.
- Seek the greater good for the Community.
GROW
The Unique Qualities of a Community Leader?
What’s unique to the Community Leader as opposed to a Leader in general? It is we think, in large part, leadership style which makes them different. More specifically, it’s Authoritative (Dictatorial) leadership vs. Paternalistic (or Collaborative) leadership. The differences are reflected well in this infographic:
It may say Boss vs. Leader, but we think it really takes into account the qualities of a Community Leader vs. an authoritative Boss. As Delquanda Turner expresses so well above, there are key differences that can boost or cripple a Leader. Those who acknowledge and accept the leader-boosting qualities Turner shared will be seen as true leaders.
It got us to thinking of possibly one of the most well-known Community Leaders in recent times, Barack Obama. President Obama got his start 30 years ago as a Chicago community organizer. It seems prescient to ask what qualities made him so good at community organizing and, as well, one the best political campaigners in the modern era.
Loretta Augustine-Herron, a community leader from the South Side of Chicago, worked with the then young, 24-year old man, Barack Obama. She remembers a few things about him.
At first glance, she said: “Oh my God” – because of his youth and the fact that he didn’t actually know much about the job. Yet despite her concerns, she felt Obama was very effective. He seemed to work some sort of magic on the leaders. Augustine-Herron remarked: “He had a sensitivity I have never seen in anybody else to this day”. He understood their pain and “the women [he interacted with] were sold”. While he didn’t have experience, he had an unmistakable “sensitivity which allowed us to believe that he could do the job”.
While working as a community organizer, Obama went on to conduct multiple individual interviews in the community. Those face-to-face sessions, at their essence, sought to find out the answers to the following questions: “What’s happened to this person in his or her life? Where are they going? Why are they going there? What are they really passionate about?”
In his time as a community organizer, Obama demonstrated Understanding, Sensitivity, Passion, and Dedication for the people in the community.
- To sum it all up, and to build on the True Leadership qualities Delquanda Turner shared above, Dr. Sarah Elaine Eaton offers a helpful perspective. An educational leader and researcher, Dr. Eaton penned an article entitled “10 Characteristics of Community Leaders”.
Here are her 10 characteristics:
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Maximize Individual’s Strengths
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Balance the needs of your leadership group
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Work as a Team
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Mobilize Others
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Pitch In
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Practice Stewardship
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Be accountable to the Community
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Think Forward
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Recruit and Mentor New Leaders
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Walk Beside, Don’t Lead from Above
The community leader is unique and different.
- Is there another quality that you feel is essential to being a true leader? (Feel free to share your thought in the Comments section below)
Delquanda Turner has helped clarify and identify the habits which the best community leaders practice. While your non-profit and community work may not be a springboard for a top political office (like Obama), you can surely achieve the true leadership which Turner defines in this post.
Photo credit (Six): Darwin Bell/flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
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Awesome!!