Positive Futures

Peter Kenyon discusses 8 actions for effective community and economic development.

Introduction

"All the historic evidence indicates that significant community development only takes place when local community people are committed to investing themselves and their resources in the effort. That's why you can't develop communities from the top down, or from the outside in"

(John McKnight, John Kretzmann, Mapping Community Capacity) 'Destiny is not a matter of chance, It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, It is a thing to be achieved' (William Jennings Bryan)

Today, I would like to focus on what I see as eight actions that build such attitudes and behaviours, and thus effective community and economic development.

I. Foster a positive and self-reliant 'CAN DO' spirit and attitude.

It is great to see communities beginning to develop strategies that build positive attitudes and behaviours. Examples:

The Can Canterbury Campaign in New Zealand had the following aim:

ii The Positive Carnarvon Campaign adopted the following objectives:

iii. Here in Queensland, the communities of Landsborough and Caloundra have incorporated specific strategies targeting mindset as part of their business development plans.

Build community capacity.

• focussing on healthy and sustainable community behaviours
• investing in local leadership development
• fostering diverse, but inclusive citizen involvement
• encouraging youth participation
• committing

Characteristics of a Healthy Community

Healthy

• Optimism, hope and 'we are in this together'
• 'We can do it'
• Value intangibles of vision, values
• Consensus building
• Collaboration
• Focus on the future
• Interdependence
• Broad community participation
• Leadership renewal
• Think and act in long term
• Listening
• Reconciliation
• Win-win solutions
• Politics of substance
• Patience
• Diversity
• Challenge ideas
• Problem solvers

Unhealthy

• Cynicism
• 'Nothing works'
• Emphasis only on tangibles
• Polarisation
• Confrontation
• Debate the past
• Parochialism
• Few do everything
• Same old faces
• Short term thinking
• Attacking
• Holding grudges
• Win-lose solutions
• Politics of personality
• Frustration
• Exclusion
• Challenge people
• Blockers and blamers

Communities can often be compared to an Australian football match where 20,000 people who need the exercise watch 36 players who do not. (Peter Kenyon) "The most critical factor in determining the growth or decline of rural communities is leadership, the most critical investment to ensure the future of rural America is leadership education" (Glen Pulver, Professor Emeritus, Rural Development, University of Wisconsin, Madison)

III. Develop a comprehensive strategic community economic development agenda.

• shared vision
• realistic objectives
• regular achievements
• short, medium and long term plans
• clear marketable identity
• an appropriate development organisation/ group

  "The seedlings of twenty-first century life are sprouting all around us if we have the wit to identify them" (John Gardner) "Communities need social glue - a means for social cohesion, a way to bring people together to define the common good, create joint plans, and identify strategies that benefit a wide range of organisations and people in the community... in addition to the physical infrastructure that supports the daily life and work in roads, subways, sewers, electricity, communication systems - communities need a social infrastructure, an infrastructure for collaboration to solve problems and create the future .." (Rosabeth Moss Kanter "World Class - Thriving Locally in the Global Economy")

  IV. Recognise the importance of local business vitality through actions of appreciation and support.

  Evidence overwhelmingly shows that existing businesses are responsible for the following positive effects in a local economy: Creating between 60-80% of new jobs, providing most of the investment for new community economic initiatives. Generating most ideas for new business, opportunity, and acting as a major attraction for outside businesses to relocate or establish within the community. Thus it is vital that communities implement strategies and actions to strengthen its business base. The Business Retention and Expansion Program is one such strategy -a number of Queensland communities are exploring its implementation (see Appendix H for details).

  V. Become a best practice culture.

  Communities are recognising the need to strengthen their community through actions that highlight best practice in terms of- Customer service Physical appearance, and Residents and local businesses acting as positive ambassadors for the community. Identifying, organising and rewarding such actions are vital.

  VI. Be opportunity obsessive.

  It is important for communities to become learning and searching places by:
• Encouraging a never ending search for appropriate development options and action.
• Fostering local idea generation
• Becoming a smart consumer of outside resources "A limited awareness of the full range of economic possibility usually leads to a limited development agenda composed largely of the latest fads with minimal critical review of the opportunities" (Ron Schaffer) "In the fields of opportunity, it's ploughing time again " (Neil Young)

  VII. Forge partnerships with neighbouring communities for collaboration and peer learning.

  Community collaboration and peer learning/sharing is essential. One of the best examples of a strategy that encourages such actions is the Community Builders Initiative (See appendix I). Such a program is currently being piloted in Queensland within the Mackay region. "The reason that astronomers around the world cooperate so well together is that you cannot stand in one place and see the entire sky. We can apply the same principle to communities, organisations and departments (Unknown) "

  VIII. Maintain enthusiasm, passion, hope, involvement, belief and expectation.

  These intangibles need to characterise a rural community and its leadership. In the end these attitudes are what will ignite and maintain community optimism, participation and determination. "The first and last task of leadership is to maintain hope" (John Gardner) "Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world. It beats money and power and influence" (Henry Chester) The words of Anita Roddick, the founder of the international business "The Body Shop" are not just applicable to business, but also to communities: "If I had to nominate a driving force in my life, I'd plump for passion every time. My passionate belief is that business can be fun, it can be conducted with love and a powerful force for good" "To me, what is wonderful about the Body Shop is that we still don't know the rules. Instead, we have a basic understanding that to run this business you don't have to know anything. Skill is not the answer, neither is money. What you need is optimism, humanism, enthusiasm, intuition, curiosity, love humour, magic andfun and that secret ingredient - euphoria. None of this appears on the curriculum of any business school"

  Conclusion

  In conclusion the following story and two quotes can summarise my thoughts. A man found an eagle's egg and placed it under a brooding hen. The eagle hatched with the chickens and grew to be like them. He clucked and cackled, scratched the earth for worms, flapped his wings and managed to fly a few feet in the air. Years passed. One day the eagle, now grown old saw a magnificent bird above him in the sky; it glided in graceful majesty against the powerful wind, with scarcely a movement of its golden wings. Spellbound the eagle asked "who's that?" "That's the king of the birds, the eagle" said his neighbour. "He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth - we're chickens". So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was. "whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon, must inevitably come to pass" (Paul Meyer) "Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has". (Margaret Mead)