Great Help on Building Community

One of the ten characteristics of servant-leaders is "building community." Larry Spears, CEO of the Greenleaf Center, describes building community this way: "The servant-leader senses that much has been lost in recent human history as a result of the shift from local communities to large institutions as the primary shaper of human lives. This awareness causes the servant-leader to seek to identify some means for building community among those who work within a given institution. Servant-leadership suggests that true community can be created among those who work in businesses and other institutions. Greenleaf said, 'All that is needed to rebuild community as a viable life form for large numbers of people is for enough servant-leaders to show the way, not by mass movements, but by each servant-leader demonstrating his or her unlimited liability for a quite specific community-related group.'"

If you want to build community in your organization, school, or business, a helpful source -- a virtual toolbox -- is The Community Toolbox from the University of Kansas. Check it out for practical advice and strategies about everything from how to hold successful meetings to strategic planning for solving problems.