With the municipal elections coming up this fall, on October 24, voters will be looking to our slates of candidates and judging them based on their ideas and platforms. Sometimes we spend so much time evaluating candidates by their politics, though, that we forget to evaluate them as potential leaders. For the next few months, columnist Clarence Braun, former mayor of Niverville, will be writing about the qualities of leadership we should look for in those who will lead our communities for the next four years.
One of the great challenges we face today is gaining an understanding of leadership—not only understanding it, but relating it to our present cultural understanding of what leadership means.
We have all experienced the impact of leadership in our lives. We were all children and we all had a parent, or parents, who exhibited certain qualities that impacted our lives—often in ways we might not be aware of. The combination of loving, caring, absent, emotionally distant, or abusive parents have impacted us all, and many of us have spent our lifetimes navigating some pain received during childhood.
Our parents were our early leaders. What they modelled for us formed our first experiences, and from those experiences we made certain determinations about things we love or hate about people in authority, and sometimes even specific leaders.
As we grow older, we all become leaders to somebody. Perhaps it’s our own children, or our nieces and nephews, or co-workers. All of us in some way are being followed by others who respect or have an appreciation for our perspectives.
We experience leaders in our schools, churches, municipal councils, and in provincial and federal governments, and we carry deep feelings towards those leaders who have impacted us in positive and negative ways.
Recently, I expressed appreciation for a certain high school teacher only to see a friend of mine virtually recoil at the mention of this person’s name. His experience was completely different from mine.
For example, one person might love their gym teacher. Another, not being athletic, might have felt minimized and ridiculed in gym class for years.
Or perhaps someone in government has made a decision that came to impact you in terms of your personal freedom, a business opportunity, or a relationship. It’s important to note that every decision made by leaders in any sphere will benefit one person while at the same time negatively impacting someone else. It can be difficult to absorb the emotions that come from being caught in this win-lose proposition.
As someone who has served in leadership on a municipal council, in a church, and in business—I even ran for federal office once—I have experienced and seen much.
There are different styles of leadership and there are different talents and gifts that leaders bring to the table. Most would concur that the reason for community service is to create a better community. The desire to enhance the quality of life for others is a noble and worthy cause. Yet there are some core values that we must live by in order to create trust among the people that we serve. Our intentions to benefit and the decisions we ultimately make have impacts on those we serve.
So how do leaders function to ensure that they create the least amount of pain among the people they serve?
There are a few telling barometers to consider. Whether you are a parent, are involved in church leadership, serve in government, or operate a business, what leadership qualities will stand the test of time? Let’s ask ourselves the following questions.
What is your core belief about what leaders look like? How do you view the power that leaders hold? Do you believe that your life has been hindered by how leaders have made certain decisions?
If you serve in a leadership role right now, what do you believe to be the greatest attributes of leadership? What do you see as your primary responsibility to the community you serve? What is the one thing that would define success as the end of your term of service?
Asking these questions is just the beginning. Over the next few months, we’ll delve deeper into these questions.
