Mark Rogers, CEO of the Leadership Centre, opened by sharing some of the Centre’s recent success and inviting attendees to contribute to the upcoming events (more below). For the day’s session – ‘The power in community; a re-imagined future’- participants were encouraged to:
- Consider leading in, not of, communities – not to see ourselves (and others) as distinct from the community but as part of it.
- To ‘own’ the change – change and improvement isn’t ‘out there’ and shouldn’t be assigned to ‘someone else’.
- Develop a network of change-makers – united around a common set of values, how much more effective could we be?
Our excellent panel (made up of Professor Donna Hall, Joe Hannett, Claire Spencer and Immy Kaur) expertly challenged people’s current understanding and beliefs around the power relationships that exist with and within community. Each of our four contributors shared their experience of working with / for / in communities – snapshots including: what ‘community’ means, current approaches that are working and what it could look like if we truly acted in the interests of all.
‘Your job isn’t to simply move out of the way, it is to support the transition of understanding and power to the people capable of making change happen’. – Immy Kaur
Following our panel’s discussion, the attendees grappled with some of the provocations that were raised. In line with the framing at the beginning of the session, those present were given the chance to explore the questions with people who they may not ordinarily interact with – this is where we believe significant progress can be made! Further to developing (and challenging!) their own schema, it is hoped that people will have established connections with whom they can collaborate with for a different future. A few examples of the provocations that were discussed in groups:
- What would it look like if we changed from ‘public service’ to ‘public empowerment’?
- What is our leadership role in facilitating connections that are seen to be valuable from a community perspective rather than from a policy perspective?
- How can leaders be encouraged and supported to learn about the places, people and systems they serve?
We will be sharing more details of our upcoming events in the near future. Should you wish to hear more about this or any other event, or indeed to contribute to the Leadership Centre’s network in any way, do get in touch!