In life, we tend to involve ourselves with communities, either purposefully or accidentally. For example, we all have a national identity that we may or may not personally feel close to. Even if you may not know all your neighbors, you no doubt feel a sense of belonging and kinship to the area you’re from. It may be that you come from a particular school, or a workplace, a group community, a charitable drive, a sports team, or whoever else you feel connected to.
No matter what kind of community you serve, it’s healthy to contribute to it as much as you can. It’s often said that the health of the community is the health of the individual. For some, that might involve volunteering to help the homeless in their city, spending time assisting their local church, or whatever other public effort you find most essential.
Not only can your time, presence, and assistance be a fantastic boon for any community, but so can your visionary thinking or unique insight. It’s why diversity in teams is so important because the more perspectives are present, the more nuanced the conversion can become.
But how might you offer thought leadership to a community you care about? Let’s consider some worthwhile principles to keep in mind:
Know When to Promote & When to Criticize
As a member of a community, you care about, it’s important to be an advocate for everything it represents. Most people feel this way about gatherings they care about, be that their family or even a sports team.
However, sometimes it’s worthwhile to criticize those groups you love and feel an affinity to, or even identify yourself. This isn’t because you’re a contrarian or you want others to feel bad, but because you think the things you love should be held to a higher standard, knowing they’re capable of it.
For example, it might be that your family rarely has any together time now that your children are grown up, and so asking your family to spend time together is key. However, you can always criticize as long as it’s fair, properly partitioned, and appropriate. Perhaps the sports team you manage isn’t following your training dictates, or you feel as though your team isn’t synergizing well. When you can criticize, you can identify problems impartially and work to make the group better. That might involve integrating new BuildOps Field Service Management Software, double downing on training, or just having a sporting conversation with those you hope to help.
Removing Friction from Collaboration
Collaboration is a fun buzzword, especially loved by those running businesses, but really, it’s just a shorthand for working together. So, sometimes your thought leadership doesn’t have to be so innovative, it just has to work with the natural impulses of a team.
For example, removing friction from this process might mean giving those in your community a chance to properly talk to one another without judgment. Let’s say you run an addiction therapy counseling group. Most often, these sessions will take place in groups, and that can be helpful. Each member gets a chance to speak, and to speak without being judged for it.
While your team might not occupy the same position, this principle can be a fantastic means of improving communication. Family meetings, for example, can be properly conducted if each member who talks has to hold a particular teddy bear. The more people can communicate without misunderstanding or disagreements spilling over, the more a team can collaborate.
Orient In the Right Direction
The reason that leaders often earn more money in a commercial context is because they orient full teams in a particular direction, and they both share the credit or shoulder the blame depending on how they turns out.
Not being afraid to try a new direction can help establish you as a thought leader. What matters is not just having these ideas, but being able to sell them to your team. This means explaining your logic, being confident in your reasoning, and looking to a change as a means of bettering your standards. For example, a sports coach might try and take hold of a failing team and completely alter their training regimen. Perhaps instead of working them out so intensely, they might focus on sleep and great diets so the team can recover better between workout sessions.
If you can, orient your community in the direction you hope to see it grow. This can inspire you to integrate the standards and principles you’re most interested in.
Always Fuel with Passion
Being passionate about the craft, gathering, or cause behind your community is essential. Of course, sometimes the justification for passion is very easy to see – everyone cares about their family or would like to, and so this comes naturally.
Head chefs will often be the biggest advocates for their menu and learning new cooking techniques. This is a good principle to use for your own team, whatever form they take. Inspiring the children, you educate by letting your natural enthusiasm for the topic shine through, showing exactly why you love this practice, and letting their natural curiosity develop can be key.
For example, many people have fond memories of when they were children and their grandparent baked cookies with them, or showed them how to plant vegetables in the garden. Passion really can help others learn through osmosis, and in an entirely positive manner. It can seem like thought leadership needs to be about visionary thinking, constant vigilance, and discipline, but sometimes it’s just about thinking you can do something, and that you want to do so in accordance with that.
With this advice, you’re sure to offer thought leadership to the community you care about. You may be amazed to see just how effective this is, especially in a community that might require leadership, or those who stand up and take responsibility. With a little critical thought, collaboration, orientation, and passion, you’re sure to get the best out of that community in all ways.
