Rural communities need to decide what they are before talking about what they want to be.
Such navel gazing can help create goals, identify obstacles, make decisions and take action, says organizational specialist David Allen.
A featured speaker at the Pan Canadian Community Futures conference in Whistler, B.C., in May, Allen has worked with communities in Canada and the United States to bolster personal and organizational productivity.
“Get clarity on what’s important,” Allen said.
“If you can’t define the problem, you can’t define the solution.”
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Such clarity can also bring people together and help silence the skeptics, naysayers and negativism often found in communities facing challenges.
He called complaining unproductive behaviour.
“It means there’s a change I want, but I’m just not willing to be engaged to make it so.”
A community must identify its problems, particularly ones like low wheat prices that are beyond their control. “That then structures the environment you need to think in,” he said.
A community must:
- Decide what needs to happen and what will move the process forward.
- Line up priority projects, such as preserving agricultural land, lowering taxes or changing zoning, map out the steps and then assign tasks. For example, forming a committee representing various interests in the community could be one step taken to tackle the shabby state of local roads.
Allen said it’s important to look at where the community is going, identify its purpose and character and draw a picture of what it should look like in 20 years.
Set realistic, achievable goals along the away and take time to review what’s been done.
“Then you have a sense of driving a train instead of being driven over by it.”
Allen said each step chosen depends on the community’s unique situation.
“If you’re the Titanic and you hit an iceberg, you don’t want a committee, you want a dictator,” he said. “If you have five years to build a ship, you want every committee on alert.”
Mike Stolte has created a community life cycle matrix to help communities determine their own stage. That helps to measure their ability and capacity to act, focus energy on tangible projects with real outcomes, create benchmarks to revisit later and see what progress has been made.
Stolte, who works with the Centre for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Leadership in Nelson, B.C., cited several stages: pre-community or chaos, emergent or struggling, vision and actualization.
The first refers to a community that has not yet defined itself or moved into sharing resources, while the second is focused on short-term needs and survival and has little time for long-term strategizing.
In the latter stages, communities are highly functioning, adapting to changes as they come and co-operating on many levels.
“The best strategy is to be learning and adaptable and entrepreneurial,” he said.
He noted how many communities reach specific goals and then lay back.
“You must recognize there is a need to continually work at yourself and work at that,” he said.
Outside help is recommended where community gatherings have degenerated into emotionally charged shouting matches or decisionless stalemates.
“Like marriage, you bring in a counselor when you can’t get through some issues,” he said, citing school closures or amalgamations as examples.
He said the community will often exhibit more respectful behaviour toward outsiders because they want to put a good face forward for their guests.
Stolte said communities should first take baby steps, such as beautifying the Main Street of Gretna, Man., before branding the region as the horticultural capital of Manitoba.
Such projects create visible signs of progress that will generate interest and support from the community.
Stolte said impediments to change stem from conservative attitudes and a belief that the heyday of farming will return.
“The best thing we can do in our communities is equip our kids so they’re ready for anything,” he said.
Future success will come from embracing entrepreneurship and innovation, not waiting for government to help, Stolte said.
“We have to shift from entitlement to empowerment.”
Okanagan grape grower George Lerchs agreed people should not wait for government help or handouts and get involved to save their community.
The former Vancouver Island resident said coastal villages, hit hard by declines in forestry and fishing, experienced success when they embraced change.
“People have to decide they want to be there and decide what they have to do to live there,” he said.
Community snapshot:
GRANDVIEW, MAN.
The project: The Parkland Community Futures Development Corp. developed a retraining program to help farm families earn off-farm income and stay in their communities. The program evolved into the Canadian Agricultural Skills Service, a national program for Agriculture Canada. Applicants with a net income of $45,000 or less could receive training benefits of up to $16,000 to access courses for non-degree programs up to 24 months in duration. Disciplines include business management, accounting, finance, human resource management and skills development for the farm, other employment or new business startup.
Support: Initial funding came from PCFDC and Human Resources Development Canada. It now comes from Agriculture Canada and the Manitoba government.
Community snapshot:
TABER, ALTA.
The project: NexStep, a community training and development program, has provided training for 160 adults in computers, first aid and oil and gas operations to try to retain skilled workers in the community. Free training is provided to those who are unemployed, under employed, seasonally employed or face barriers that prevent them from getting jobs.
Support: Financing comes from the federal government. Other resources come from the community: the school division provides the facility, Computers for Schools provides computers, and administrative support comes from the towns of Taber and Vauxhall and municipal and health districts.
Community snapshot:
WEYBURN, SASK.
The project: YouthBiz Challenge for high school students was launched to teach basic business savvy. Students are given seed money to set up businesses and take on jobs such as creating ads for local businesses or operating ice cream stands. They earn prizes and media recognition for their efforts.
Support: Funding comes from Western Economic Diversification. Community Futures, Business Development Canada and Sunrise Community Futures Development Corp. provide administrative support.
