The Three Things Your Rural Community Needs For Success - February 2, 2024

A young nation is confronted with a challenge for which it finds a successful response. It then grows and prospers. But as time passes, the nature of the challenge changes. And if a nation continues to make the same, once-successful response to the new challenge, it inevitably suffers a decline and eventual failure.

-Arnold Toynbee, British historian and philosopher

Change is coming fast, and rural communities face massive challenges. Many rural communities are losing people, jobs, and hope for the future. Many communities await the perfect solution or the right time to act. You don't have the luxury of waiting for the ideal time or solution. Now is the time to take action and create the future you want. While each community is unique and requires different community and economic development solutions, there are three critical areas that every community should focus on. These three elements hold most distressed communities back, and all three components are within a community's control.

What are the three elements holding many communities back?

A. A shrinking and aging population;

B. Lack of resources;

C. Substandard workforce;

D. Lack of good jobs; or

E. None of the above.

The three vital factors holding many communities back are a -

• Lack of vision and an action plan.
• Lack of leadership education and development.

• Lack of collaboration - both internal and external.

Let's take a look at these three critical elements for community development success.

Vital Element #1 - Community Vision + Action Plan

Community Vision

Create a vision of who you want to be, and then live into that picture as if it were already true.?

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

It may sound cliche, but your community must create a compelling vision for the future. Your community's future doesn't have to look like your present, but it will if you don't create a vision. A clear and compelling vision is your community's vehicle for a brighter future. A good vision can be a magnet that brings leaders and residents together to change your community. Here are the six (6) critical elements that your community's vision must have:

1. Inclusive - Your vision must include the input of many and help many people if you want the support of many.
2. Expandable - As your community grows, your vision must have room to expand. Make sure your vision is flexible and adaptable to respond to emerging opportunities.
3. Create a great responsibility - The more significant the vision, the greater the responsibility it creates for your leaders. You should strive to create a vision large enough and bold enough to develop considerable responsibility for those executing it.
4. Constantly scanning - Your vision must always look for pain points and opportunities. Your vision should always see where it can add value for your residents.
5. Simple and straightforward - Your vision must be simple and easily understood. Simple is always better, but simple can be challenging. You must work hard to develop a simple and easy-to-communicate vision.
6. Realistically Bold - Your vision should cause a strong emotional reaction in your leaders and residents while being realistic. Without excitement and passion, you will struggle to have the support and momentum you need to realize your community's vision. Always strive for a "realistically bold" community vision!

Creating and constantly updating your community's vision is vital to your community's success. Without a clear and compelling vision, your community will continue to be stuck in the present with little hope for the future. Spend the time to create a community vision that creates excitement and hope for the future!

Action Plan

Vision without action is just a dream, action without vision just passes the time, and vision with action can change the world.

-Nelson Mandela

Here are the fundamentals of an effective strategic action plan for community and economic development:

• Keep it concise. Focus on vital community issues and propose actionable solutions. Avoid lengthy plans that can be hard to implement.
• Make it flexible. You want to double down on plan elements that work and scrap or change pieces that don't yield results.
• Think big picture but with shorter-term horizons. It's okay to think about what you want your community to look like in 15-20 years, but avoid making strategic plans with long time horizons. You won't create the momentum you need, and too much will change if your plan includes too many long-term initiatives. Think one to three years out. People often overestimate what they can do in one year but grossly underestimate what they can accomplish in three years.
• Make your plan actionable. Your strategic plan isn't a suggestion. It is a roadmap for your community's future. Assign elements to particular people or organizations and include a schedule for task completion.
• Constantly monitor and analyze the results you are getting.
• Celebrate your wins!

Vital Element #2 - Leadership Education & Development

A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be ready to take the helm.

-Henrik Ibsen

The success of your community depends on your leadership. Community development success depends more on the quantity and location of your leaders than the quality of your leaders. A thriving community is constantly engaging, educating, and recruiting community leaders. The more you have, the better. Communities must think of leadership differently than they have in the past. For generations, leadership has come from a core group that has designed and driven development initiatives. In the future, you will need leadership from a broad and diverse group. A community leader is anybody involved in work that changes your community. Communities must work constantly to educate their existing leaders and engage and develop leaders throughout the community.

Vital Element #3 - Collaboration - Internal/External

Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

-Henry Ford

Internal collaboration

Internal collaboration is one area where rural communities should have a massive advantage. Rural communities are typically smaller and composed of fewer people and organizations. Use this to your advantage and bring as many people as possible into the fold on vital community issues. Be intentional and leave the segmented problem-solving approach in the past. Embrace collaborative problem-solving and invite input from different people and organizations. Look at problems differently and work together across organizations. One of the most critical areas of collaboration is the partnership between your education system and the business community. These sectors should be in lock-step with one another.

External collaboration

Improving your community starts with you, but you also need partners. Look for other communities in your region that think like you and partner with them. You can do more together than you can by yourself. Also, look for partners at the state and federal levels. Please don't depend on your state or federal government to give you your direction, but allow them to support your efforts wherever possible.

Always remember that complex community problems require the work of many people!

Conclusion

You can create the future you want for your community. You can create a place your kids and grandkids want to call home. But you must bet on yourself and constantly work at the three critical elements for community success - Vision + Plan/Leadership/Collaboration.

Take Action

Please contact us to learn more about how our?Rural Development System?can help your community develop these three vital elements and create a future full of opportunities and hope.

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