Elementos instrucciones tipo I

Community leaders were readily identified as important within the boundary processes of forming RCD communities. Leaders were particularly influential in establishing momentum, values and identity within the constituent community.

Participants described rural community members (RCM) who were active in community

development activities. While many people were involved in and supported activities in the rural community, some stood out as instigators across a range of community interests and needs.

“.. [RCM] tends to hear an idea, works it out, and works out whether it’s any good for the town and picks it up and runs with it. And that’s not only been the [current RCD] but a range of, a whole host of things ..” (1b)

These rural community leaders were characterised as “movers and shakers” (2c; 1b) or “local champions” (1c). They offered leadership in bringing people together to form cause communities, pursuing their ideas and interests that would benefit the rural community. Leaders built

connections and alignments with people across the rural community due to their activities and this facilitated further opportunities and activity.

“So [RCM]’s certainly leading this and driving this, with the support of the local people. ... she has those connections, so she’s a link to bringing people together.” (3e)

While at times such leaders held official community leadership roles, for example in councils, it was not holding an official position which created momentum, but how the person related within the community.

“I mean, you know talking about personalities, you take someone like [RCM]. Now it doesn’t matter whether [RCM]’s the mayor or whether he’s not, he’s going to have a following.” (3c)

The role of informal leaders was considered to be equivalent to formal positions, and were described as “defacto Mayor” (2d) or “unofficial Mayor” (2j).

Community leaders in their passion and activity tended to hold multiple memberships across various constituent communities. In this manner they were instrumental in the creation of alignments. Because of their connections and initiative, leaders were often sought out by other instigators of development projects, to join the respective fledgling cause communities.

“And [RCM] was the same or similar. ‘cos she was pretty flat out with [another RCD activity], seemed like she hasn’t got time anyway. .. But yeah we were actually asked to join the committee.” (3a)

People active in RCD were predominantly drawn from amongst the ‘seniors’ constituent

communities, particularly retirees. There was a sense that older people became involved because they were retired, so not only have time but were looking for something to be a part of or belong to:

“.. most of our people are older people who are looking for something to become part of” (1c) They had experience and knowledge that they wanted to contribute to the rural community and in response to this desire, offered leadership within RCD communities:

“So I think you’ve got, I don’t know what proportions, but it seems to me a large number of the retirees want to be involved in community projects, and I’ve had a number of people who I don’t know very well, who have approached me and said is there any way in which you can help. So, and they bring skills.” (2c, participant emphasis)

This quote also highlights that feature-based constituent communities were important in RCD community processes.

By becoming involved in RCD activities, retirees offered leadership in their skill areas. This

leadership was apparent to the small number of younger members. They described the experience as being guided by older members who had knowledge and skills from their previous activities that informed the RCD communities’ processes:

“I mean yeah, as I said it was such an eye opener to me and probably [Member], ‘cos we’re the two youngest. It was just totally different anyway. So we were really just following the flow and doing what they do, sort of thing more than anything. Like [Older member], he probably steered the ship a lot.” (2a, participant emphasis)

RCD communities began with a small core of leaders who were involved in the inception of the project idea, and then followed them through to implementation and completion.

“.. So there were actually three of us from the local business association and we were the ones who were driving that, basically in there from day one.” (2f)

The small group of leaders set about turning dreams into reality.

“Now it probably wouldn’t have gone much further than a bit of a dream if it hadn’t been for people like [Member 1], [Member 2] and then later on [Member 3]. They were the three drivers for it.” (1b)

These leaders gained support from others, yet continued on when others withdrew, maintaining the momentum until broader interest returned.

“.. the steering committee I guess ran hot and cold as well. .. [Member] and I just kept going. [Member] said ‘we’re going to do it. We’re going to get there’ and I kept at it.” (1a)

The passion, determination, generosity, commitment and significant input of time and hard work contributed by these people were frequently described.

“.. they’re passionate about their community and they feel as though they can contribute and give something back.” (3a)

They had a determination in pursuing the activity they believed in and did not consider that it might not be achieved.

“I never ever got to the point of saying ‘this isn’t going to happen’. You know I suppose maybe that’s why it did happen, ‘cos I didn’t let that happen. You know, I just kept going.” (1c) The preceding quote refers to a project which, took four years to achieve the key goal, yet the leaders did not appear to waver on their belief in what they were doing and its ultimate success.

Such persistence among community leaders was a common feature and those displaying it were sometimes described by participants as having a ‘community activity’ personality.

“There are certain people who are community oriented .. Community activists are active in anything, like the football club and all that sort of stuff.” (2d)

These people were understood to ‘naturally’ become involved in community activity. “People who are, they’re natural volunteers, in community ..” (3a)

Participants were also aware of it within themselves.

“.. but then I’m a bit of a beast for that [being involved in community activity].” (2i) And again attributed it to their personality.

“I think it’s probably part of the personality thing, and I think that that’s what I’ve always done ..” (2c)

However it was not expected that leaders would always persist. Although seen as a natural

approach for their personality, it was considered that certain conditions enabled people with these traits to thrive and progress projects. Leaders needed a belief in the cause, but the quote below suggests that it was also important to feel connected and be able to share both the vision and work.

“It is a personality type, and it’s whether you’re optimistic, positive, can be proactive and you want to contribute to your community. Now there’s only a small section in a community who have all of those attributes, and it depends entirely on whether they are supported and feel part of a connected team as to whether they continue and manage to survive or whether they go, ‘Nuh.’” (3a)

Indeed, leaders reached times where they were clear that without this sense of team and connection, they would focus their energies elsewhere.

“.. unless I got their commitment and their passionate support for doing the thing, I was going to say, ‘Thank you, but no thank you. Figure it out amongst yourselves.’ This is very much a team work approach where everybody’s contributing something, whether it’s time or resources, or a role or information.” (3a)

Where there was an environment in which passion and commitment could flourish, the vision became the focus, and hard work and frustration were accepted as a part of the process, by leaders

and those around them. In one committee, the leaders established weekly meetings to pursue their dream, which while providing some irritations, was not seen as unreasonable.

“It didn’t seem like it was onerous because we had this dream, goal, whatever you want to call it .. Well that was my feeling on it anyway. I mean I sometimes, I, you know, get a little bit peeved after, ah, you know, ah, (disgruntled muttering sounds) ‘didn’t we do that last week’. But, overall it was, you know, an enjoyable process.” (2g)

Decisions like holding weekly meetings were not questioned, and nor was the level of contribution required to achieve the goals in the time frames encouraged by the leaders.

“We’ve all done, you know, heaps. Well probably time and energy and effort and cost and everything like that never come into it, it was just a matter of it needs to be done, so it gets done.” (2h)

Collectively there was a willingness to put in the hard work and accept whatever annoyances were involved.

“.. at the moment we’re doing the hard slog .. You know, getting our policies in place, all that sort of stuff, which is really, you know, it’s a pain. It’s painful, but it’s got to be done.” (2g) Even when the commitment meant sacrificing other activities for a period, the cause community values fostered by the leaders were accepted.

“Everyone made the sacrifice ..” (2i)

However as the hard work and input continued, it at times resulted in leaders feeling they had completed their role.

“I’ve served my three years of solitude. It was good fun though, I’ve got to say.” (1b) This reflection indicates that while there was pleasure gained from being involved in the RCD community, the substantial workload was likened to a sentence being served and so a break was needed. Thus even with the passion and commitment, upon perceived completion of the initial goal these leaders were often ready to pass the ongoing maintenance of the RCD community to other or new members. Some leaders reflected on their keenness to instigate new activity with less interest in ongoing maintenance:

“.. I mean that’s been my job, all my life, I mean basically all I’ve done is implement. .. I don’t think I’d be very good on a board. I’d be too impatient, I couldn’t, now ..” (2c)

Participants felt a need to be part of something and to have a cause.

“.. we wanted to do something for the community, .. we just wanted to be part of it. And I think that sort of enthusiasm was a bit bottled up, so we suddenly had a cause (laughter) which we needed.” (2c)

This links to the need to feel connected which was identified as an important condition in maintaining activity. A similar motivation was to be involved with other people.

“.. so it’s exciting to me because I can actually get involved with local people and organisations ..” (2b)

Further, motivations were seen as wanting to be part of the action. “.. I like to be part of the action.” (2f)

At other times it was expressed simply as “loving” what they did.

“.. You know I just love working for the community. .. I’ve got a lot more things I want to do ..” (2e)

These people described the satisfaction, sense of achievement and sense of community they experienced through their contribution to the community.

“.. I’ve always been involved in this stuff for a long time, and ah I always enjoy helping communities. I don’t know, gives you a sense of satisfaction.” (2g)

“.. I have a passion for people working together to solve problems and come up with solutions. I find that all of the community work that I’ve done, and most of it has been as a volunteer, that’s what is going to be my drive and sense of achievement.” (3a)

The traits and motivations described above are also expressed as values within some cause communities (detailed within Agendas 5:2.2 and Alignments 5:2.3). Leaders were significant in developing the identity, values and meaning of an establishing RCD community. These traits and attitudes of leaders were frequently adopted within the constituent community, becoming part of the collective identity and the experience of community members.

Some participants reflected that the passion and drive of community leaders was also influenced by an Australian culture of mateship and “having a go”.

“The biggest thing for any community is that if the community will go out and get it, they will get it. That’s what it’s all about. I think as Aussie’s, I think we’ve all got that. It’s part of our spirit and our existence. You know, help each other to get something and that’s it.” (2g) This experience within the RCD communities was also considered to have had a collective effect in the rural community.

“I think, yeah, well the community as a whole have learnt that yes, if you want to do

something you can do it. That’s a general thing, but I think that everyone’s learnt that.” (2g)

The individual interest or desire became a collective experience built on a belief in the shared purpose or vision and was linked to a ‘can do’ approach.

“I still think that the biggest thing is that, you know, a group of people got together with a vision and, you know, it became, you know, once it was worked out, or realised that we could do something, ah let’s roll up the sleeves and do it. I think that’s been the biggest thing of all.” (2g)

When activities became difficult, this shared vision motivated and facilitated the persistence. The collective experience included a trust in each other and a belief in their role within the rural community.

“.. You know you’ve really got to forget what people are you know, saying behind your back and you’ve just got to say, ‘Well this is what I believe. And this is the way I’m going.’ Yes just keep moving forwards. .. And as I say, I have so much faith in the other committee members, that they all believe in their part and, yeah.” (2e)

This extended to a belief in the constituent community which was perpetuated as they could see their purpose being achieved.

“Well the, pause initially I think it just started out as a, you know, let’s see if we can make it happen, right. And then gradually we started believing in ourselves I guess. That we could achieve, and the more we went on the more we thought we could achieve it ..” (2g) The overall experience became a sense of collective confidence and enthusiasm:

“So we had this level of confidence and enthusiasm as a group.” (2c)

Thus participants expressed that through leaders’ motivation combined with the “have a go” Australian culture, the motivation and passion for a project became part of the collective experience of the RCD constituent community. This positive experience was expressed by leaders and felt by others in the community, but whereas leaders talked about a sense of achievement or satisfaction, other community members described experiencing a ‘collective energy’ which built its own

momentum.

“So that’s what I mean, if you get a collection of people around you who are supportive and who are all proactive towards the same cause then the power of that collective energy, it just can’t be stopped. And that’s a wonderful thing to actually be part of.” (3a)

This collective energy was also described as the “soul” of the community. It was a powerful experience not just at the time, but also later upon reflection.

“But the [RCD] taught me that there’s a soul in these communities; there are people out there .. who were there with enthusiasm .. And that happened not for one – you know it gives me goose-bumps now just thinking about it – but it happened to many, many people. And there were many of them, like on the board, I’m saying many, many people on the board

experienced the same thing. .. It wasn’t about a [project], it was about a sense of community.” (1b)

Community leaders were instigators in founding RCD communities, gathering other members and facilitating support for the project. Leaders’ passion and willingness to engage the hard work associated with the activities became an important aspect of the identity, values and collective experience within the establishing RCD constituent communities. Passion and persistence was attributed to personality traits, and supported by an Australian culture of ‘having a go’. Because of their interest in community work, leaders held multiple memberships across constituent

pleasure and satisfaction for leaders and was experienced as a powerful collective energy and sense of community soul.

6: 3. Boundary Negotiation in Establishing