Leadership = Citizenship

This post continues our exploration of the Social Change Leadership Development Model.  For an overview of the model (and an explanation of what is meant by “social change”), please see the previous posts. 

As you can see in the figure below (source: http://www.leadershipstudy.net/ir-theoretical-model.html), the SCM is divided into three levels:  Individual, Group and Societal.  Today’s point on the journey is Citizenship.  Citizenship has many meanings and connotations but here is defined as working with others within one’s community, for the good of all.  A community is a group of people who have some defined trait or circumstance that binds them together, so you are likely a member of a variety of them:  The United States, your family, the University of Georgia, your field of study, your work group, and so on. This aspect of the SCM model is presented on the societal level but, as you can see by the community examples, citizenship also takes place on a limited micro level as well.  So, you may participate in citizenship in your community by taking part in a political rally with 200,000 other people in Washington DC to create some national reform or you may work with a group of three co-workers to create an awards and recognition program for your department or you may have a family meeting to discuss supporting mom’s sanity by picking up wet towels (or to discuss how to afford a lawyer for mom if the community fails and she finally snaps). 

The key trait linking citizenship to leadership is that they both involve working through others. Unless you’ve been cloned, you generally cannot lead a group consisting of just yourself, and citizenship is the same.  To be effective, the leader must be an engaged citizen of his or her community, whether that is at work, at home or elsewhere. 

Effective citizen leadership involves an understanding of several key concepts.

Social capital – Ever notice how you work better with those people you know a little better?  Most of us function better in systems in which we are not anonymous, in which we have some social capital.  Social capital is those activities, cultural norms, and other factors that lead community members to know and trust each other more, which in turn leads to greater effectiveness when that community comes together to act.   

Awareness of issues and community history – Knowing how the group has evolved (or devolved) over time and what issues are pertinent to them is critical to success.  Ever stepped on a figurative landmine because you didn’t know the history of the issue you were about to raise in a meeting?  If so, you know this process of getting in touch, and staying in touch, with the history of the group and its concerns is critical to effective leadership.

Empowerment – In any group, some feel empowered and others feel that they matter less.  Removing barriers to empowerment and actively involving all community members brings better ideas and more effective action to bear on any question or issue.

Empathy – Taking action and creating change virtually guarantee that opinions will clash.  This process can destroy a community or strengthen it, and one factor that supports the latter over the former is empathy, the ability to take the perspective of others.  Displaying empathy requires higher order cognitive development and is a key skill for all leaders.

Understanding of community development – An in-depth discussion of how communities develop is beyond the scope of this post but M. Scott Peck describes this well.  For social science types, this is similar to others’ description of group dynamics (e.g., Tuckman’s (1965) forming, storming, norming, performing).  Knowing that groups go through stages in their development – and how the leaders’ actions can push the group in one direction or other -- is critical to effective leadership.

Coalition-building – Many, if not most, problems beyond the scope of, “Where should we go for lunch?” are too large or complex for one group to solve.  In most cases, groups of diverse but like-minded individuals could benefit from creating coalitions to multiply their effectiveness.  Strategic and intelligent use of coalition-building magnifies leadership impact.

While citizenship may have connotations of voting or memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution in eighth grade civics class, it is a critical skill for leaders.

What communities are most important to you?

How have you worked within those communities to solve a problem or address an issue, whether it affected many people or few?

What could you do today to build more social capital, encourage empowerment and empathy of other community members, or build coalitions to increase effectiveness?