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Winning Communities: The Big Picture

November 13, 2012 By

The Winning Communities Big Picture involves big players from each aspect of a community. We strive to create partnerships among Winning Communities, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS), the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, community leaders, elected officials and businesses. These partnerships ultimately lead to better communication in order to accomplish similar goals.

The NCAA has been in the news lately and not always with positive stories. Working with Winning Communities is one way the NCAA can improve its reputation in the media and generate positive news stories. The NCAA strives to emphasize the student in the student-athlete, and I’d like to take that one step further by underlining student leader over athlete.

In places without a college or university, I look to the National Federation of High Schools to step in and provide those student leaders to improve the community. We give them great, practical responsibility as leaders of a public process developing a Community Vision/Action Plan. They learn valuable skills as they work with community leaders as peers during the process.

The “Big Picture” also involves using the resources of leadership centers, such as the Greenleaf Center. These centers can hone in on specific skills that help student athletes develop into leaders within the community. Watch this video to learn more about their instrumental role in making this a successful project.

The process could not be successful without the help of elected officials, businesses and community leaders. These individuals bring the expertise needed to teach student leaders the valuable skills they will take away from the project. It is also important for the individuals to gain a sense of community unity from the project. With the addition of leaders in different fields and industries, the process is guaranteed to represent the different aspects of the community.

Is this something that can make a difference in your community? We think it can! Feel free to contact Winning Communities if you think we can help :)

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Filed Under: Community, Community Projects, Greenleaf Center, Leadership, NCAA, NFHS, teamwork, Vision Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Pooling your Community Resources for Greater Impact

November 11, 2010 By

Many of you have probably heard of Pepsi’s recent community-giving project called the Pepsi Refresh Project, which allows organizations or individuals to submit a request for funding their community project. A nationwide vote determines four monthly winners with grants of up to $250,000 for community projects. It’s a great idea for letting Pepsi’s fans determine the viability of each idea submitted and which organization should receive funding.

Local community foundations do not have the resources of Pepsi to determine ways to distribute their grant dollars. In addition, local nonprofit organizations often compete with each other for community dollars.

What is a potential solution to this challenge? Let the community organizations pool resources.

In general, this is not happening anymore; communities are not working together and pooling their resources for the good of the entire city, town or county.

Typically, community foundations fund individual community projects. When an organization fills out an application for a grant, it is often accepted, and they receive the funding. However, there are some community foundations who are funding a vision/action plan, which will let the community members determine where the money will go, based upon the vision of the community.

When we participate in community projects, we get more of a short-term benefit – a good feeling that we are accomplishing something. However, we will never be fully satisfied with the short-term outcome. That is, we are changing our community little by little, but without our eye on the common goal: how the community needs to change to grow and to meet the needs of future generations.

My business, Winning Communities, helps people develop vision and action plans for the entire community. Resulting from that plan are action steps that the cities, towns and counties can take to improve their future – along with defined priorities for community projects. Once the community has rallied together, taken account all needs, then the community initiates each project together. This often includes applying for grants for community projects.

People think that vision planning is just an academic exercise that does not lead to action. However, my experience is that proper vision planning not only leads to more action; it leads to a greater outcome.

Does your community have a vision, or is it still operating on a per-project basis? I’d love to hear from you.

Filed Under: Community, Community Projects, Grant funding, Vision Tagged With: , , ,

NCAA Division II Blog for TEAM – Total Engagement Adds Meaning

November 1, 2010 By

I have been engaged to facilitate a pilot project to further expand the Division II outreach in Community Engagement. Titled TEAM, which stands for Total Engagement Adds Meaning, the program responds to the Challenge of Change that is affecting communities across the country.

A little bit about myself - I have over 23 years experience as CEO of six chambers of commerce and economic development councils and taught Community Analysis and Development at the Institute for Organization Management. In 1995, I founded Winning Communities, a community consulting company that coaches cities, towns and counties to create a shared Vision/Action Plan by developing positive relationships among the various leaders and the groups they represent.

The pilot project will include two D II members who will lead this new initiative that seeks to serve the cities and towns where the schools are located. The leadership resources of the members will be offered to discover what works and what can be improved.

The University of Central Missouri and Caldwell College in New Jersey will be involved in developing ideas, tips, and suggestions on how school leaders can more successfully be engaged with local elected officials, not for profit groups, and other community organizations. As members’ administration and athletic departments aspire to be the “Front Porch” of the university, we will base these pilot projects on the six attributes – Service, Passion, Sportsmanship, Resourcefulness, Balance, and Learning. These attributes will be shared in participating with the key decision makers within the communities.

I will meet with D II leadership, administration and coaches and community elected officials, chamber and economic development executives, and community based organization officials to determine the state of relationships and communications, challenges of mutual concern, and opportunities for development and enhancement. We will suggest further ways that D II leaders can work as a TEAM with community leaders. Examples of successful models will be shared to maximize the effort.

I will make a report that will be shared with D II members about how the TEAM approach can benefit your own communities. Engaging university officials with political, business, and organizational leaders will lead to a greater home community and lead to strengthening the colleges and universities themselves.

Pending the success of the first two pilots, another school will be chosen that is based in an urban setting where a similar analysis with recommendations will be made.

I believe this will provide a great opportunity for further utilizing the resources and skills of the D II members as you continue to meet the Challenge of Change. Thanks for the opportunity to be a partner in the progress of this initiative. For more information, contact Jill Willson or Mike Racy at the NCAA Division II office.

Filed Under: Community, Community Projects, NCAA Division II Tagged With: , , , , ,

Community Projects with a Purpose

October 13, 2010 By

Cities, towns and counties are involved with many activities in a given year, from festivals to clean-up/fixing up the local creek or revitalizing the downtown area. These are, of course, all valid activities that are positive for the community. However, they are all very project-based, without anyone asking the question, “So what?” “Where are we going?” “Why are we going there?”

 It reminds me of Shakespeare’s famous description of life in Macbeth: “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

On paper, it looks good to have all of these community projects going. But at the end of the day, what the community needs to think about is: What vision does this reach for the community? Why are we engaged in so many projects? What are we building here? What is the bottom line?

There are people doing many good things, but they are going along the same path without talking to each other. Few are communicating about the cooperative nature of these projects. In geometry, the sum of the parts equals the whole, but is this happening in the community? The community needs to find the underlying reason why everyone is doing these projects. In other words, they need a vision.

Last week, the city of Indianapolis closed down six miles of Interstate 70 for the city’s biggest beautification project. More than 8,000 volunteers from Eli Lilly planted 73,000 trees, plants and shrubs for their annual day of giving. The purpose of this project? To prepare for the city’s hosting of Super Bowl 2012, as well as to welcome and give a positive impression to all of the additional visitors who will travel this road. Now that’s a project with a purpose. The city has a vision of what the downtown will look like, with the purpose of creating a positive impact on the economic vitality of Indianapolis.

If we are able to undertake projects within our communities, why not have the leaders and citizens of that city, town, county or village come together to discuss the vision and total goals needed for improvement, not just the individual project? It’s like a football team scoring a touchdown in the first quarter without keeping an eye on the end score. What resources does the team need to pull together as a team in the 2nd, 3rd and fourth quarters to win the game?

A community vision would help answer the question, “What do these projects equal as we look into the future?” “How can we best utilize these resources for a set of common goals?” Having individuals get together to discuss the overall impact also ensures that everyone’s on the same page. And having a collaborative effort will ensure that your community “wins the game.”

Filed Under: Community, Community Beautification Projects, Community Projects, Vision Tagged With: , , , , ,