3 ways to be a stronger leader for your community

It's a fact. People have an innate need to belong. More specifically, people need to be part of a successful community with a vision and goals for the future as well as a reason for being today. And every great community has one thing in common: outstanding leadership. In the absence of leadership, people will naturally seek out a different community that satisfies their needs. This could be just one reason for the prevalence of online communities today.

As an outstanding leader however, you have a plan to make sure the people you serve in your community feel connected to your administration and know that you have an interest in making them closer members of the community....right? If you don't have a plan for the members of your community, let's start here with the foundation for how to do just that.

1. Measure: A good leader knows what to measure and how to measure it. In this case, you can consider how connected people are to your administration by counting how many people attend your town meetings, or how many people call or visit your municipal office and for what reasons. Consider taking a survey or just going out on the street and asking a random sampling of residents to name the mayor and councilmembers. Elizabeth Kline has some interesting things to say about sustainable communities from a green perspective. Read what she has to say about community metrics on her blog: Smart Communities Network.

2. Plan: What percentage of your budget to you commit to building relationships with your constituents and/or businesses? When you put funds in this area, you create an opportunity to inspire loyalty to your town reducing residential defection and increasing tax revenue. A comprehensive municipal marketing plan identifies the people you need to be in communication with, how frequently to reach out them and what to say.

3. Act: The time is now! Get started with steps one and two above, and set a deadline for getting things off the ground. Find a qualified vendor who can take you through this process and help you execute your plans for maximum results.

Be a better leader: stronger, smarter, friendlier. In doing this, you can generate a very real positive impact on your community's bottom line, no matter how you decide to define and measure it!