THE POWER OF COMMUNITY

In addition to setting various intentions and goals for the year ahead, I have chosen five words that act as beacons for how I wish to show up in the world and, from that, what I want to create.

My five words emerged quite effortlessly when I asked myself:

What is most important to me this year?

The five words that emerged were: Community, Health, Nature, Service and Creativity.

These words are as much my values, acting as a foundational reference point for where I want to put my energy, the daily routines I adopt and the actions I take. Indeed, if, in one day, my way of being and the doing that follows are in alignment with all of these, it will be a good day.

I am focusing on the first of these words right now: Community.

Community, for me, is about social connections and a sense of belonging. This can be expressed in both our personal and professional lives. In this, we can play two different roles: First, as a creator and facilitator of community and the connection that emerges as a result. Second, as a participant, beneficiary and contributor in the communities we are part of.

This week, I had the pleasure of hosting in my home the inaugural Coaching Master Mind, of which I am part with my fellow coaches Michael Haigh, Kate Jenkinson, Steph Durbin and Stephen Bradshaw.? This is a peer-to-peer container that will meet regularly to offer mutual support, sharing and challenge; we each bring different areas of expertise and specialisms in our coaching practices, and for me, it is a beautiful addition to my ‘team’. In this instance, we are cocreating as a community of equals, and I am excited about how I will grow and develop in this safe and inclusive space.

The Master Mind also addresses what I know many sole practitioners and small business owners experience: professional loneliness and social isolation. I recently ran a team development workshop. After the session, which was buzzing with ideas, we adjourned to the pub. After a pleasant hour of chatting with the warm and friendly team members, I took my leave. As I left, I experienced an acute melancholy for my former self as a team player in my former organisational life as a manager in the world of regeneration and development. I allowed myself to be with this feeling. In the following days, I recognised that in choosing to run my independent coaching practice, for all the joys and benefits it brings me, the cost is that I miss out on being part of a team and the connection and togetherness that it brings. But that is my choice. And rather than dwell on that, it added extra incentive to my doubling down on creating and being part of communities in my professional life.

This is where networking groups (formal and informal) and communities of practice can be so valuable for small business owners. Indeed, in the year ahead, I am about to embark on a new learning journey over the next nine months as I add David Drake's Narrative Coaching to my arsenal of approaches to helping my clients transform and move forward in life. The appeal of such a programme is as much about the social connections I will make along the way with my fellow coaches. In this instance, I am a participant and beneficiary.

In another area of my professional life, I will have the pleasure of facilitating several workshops this year as part of the Future of Greater Manchester Future Leaders programme in 2024. A significant component of the programme is the network and community that participants will also have access to on their leadership journey, offering the opportunity of kinship, peer support and access to the wisdom and experience of alums and mentors within the built environment and economic development ecosystem of Greater Manchester.

Indeed, whatever level we are at on our professional and leadership journey, giving back through mentoring and acting as a social connector to those a few steps behind us is how we can feel we are contributing to something bigger than ourselves. This offers us a sense of purposefulness and meaning. Indeed, on a psychological, emotional, and even spiritual level, human beings love the act of giving. This speaks to one of my other five ‘words’ for 2024 – that of Service, where we go above and beyond in offering our time and energy with no expectation of anything in return.

On the themes of both community and service, I have been touched and pleasantly surprised by my experience of the new street I moved to just before Christmas. Having friends on the street already was nice, and they quickly introduced us to the community WhatsApp group, which acts as a hub of helpful information, free stuff and the odd request.? Just before Christmas, I noticed that our local road sweeper had not only festively decorated his cart but was also dressed as Santa. We struck up a conversation, and he told me his story. He’s won awards in recognition as a community champion: he not only keeps our street clean, but he also looks out for people and puts the bins out for the less physically able. He’s as much a social worker, and when I told him what I do for a job, he regaled me with tales of how he coaches and counsels people when he sees them struggling.? He is a social glue for our community and will be sorely missed when he retires to Spain in a few years.

Final Thoughts

As part of my work as a coach, a consistent theme is that my clients want to feel like they are contributing to something bigger than themselves. This is where asking ourselves the bigger questions about life is relevant. Questions like:

What am I here for in life?

How can I contribute?

What difference do I want to make?

How do I want to be remembered?

For me, playing our part in our communities, personally and professionally, is a fundamental element of what makes a good life. And in our giving, we are also receiving.

Here are a few final questions for you to ponder:

?How important is community to you?

What roles do you play that you perhaps undervalue or underestimate?

Where are you lacking community that you could take action on?

?Thank you for reading.

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