"Community"
...a way of being together with
both individual authenticity and
interpersonal harmony, so that
people become able to function with
a collective energy, even greater
than the sum of their individual
energies...A true community is
"a group of all leaders."
...it takes one individual at a time.

M. Scott Peck

Who is a Community Leader?

I-LEAD solicits applications and nominations on a broad basis from all interested community members. The ideal participant in I-LEAD's programs is someone who:

Leadership potential, as defined by I-LEAD, includes:

	A strong and morally-informed vision
	An accurate perception of current reality
	Strong interpersonal skills
	Strong personal integrity
	A high level of energy and motivation
	The capacity and commitment to create results

Ideal Projects -- Sample areas of involvement include: public safety, crime prevention; delinquency prevention, youth education and development; neighborhood restoration and/or beautification; job training, small business and micro-enterprise development, and other economic development.

I-LEAD's participating community leaders have been highly effective in improving their communities. Some actual projects have been: creating successful small businesses; creating new volunteer initiatives promoting literacy; resolving serious neighborhood problems, such as eliminating nuisance properties, and redeveloping abandoned houses and lots; founding and funding new nonprofit organizations; and developing new program initiatives within existing organizations.

The Leadership Institute

Effective Dialogue

Systems Thinking

Public Systems

Private Systems

The Leadership Institute, which encompasses I-LEAD's core programs, brings together community leaders to learn critical leadership skills and disciplines. The unique leadership curriculum is divided into four primary course areas: Effective Dialogue, Systems Thinking, Public Systems, and Private Systems.

Effective Dialogue involves the interpersonal dimension of a system of integrated leadership skills, addressing special skills required to achieve shared vision and team learning. In this first component, participants consider and practice listening and reflecting; appreciating human diversity, identifying mental models; negotiating and resolving conflicts; advocating and communicating, orally and in writing; and finally, using communications technology to enhance and empower dialogue. In Effective Dialogue, students learn and practice a continuum of dialogue skills from intense listening and reflection to powerful advocacy through the use of media and advanced technology. The learning promoted through the Effective Dialogue courses is based on the work of Fisher and Ury, M. Scott Peck's work on community building, on the writings of Lao Tzu, and on many diversity training models.

Systems Thinking involves the creative dimension of a system of integrated leadership skills, covering several critical skills involved in the practice of creative leadership. The skills in this second component include visioning; personal mastery, with a focus on creating structural tension and recognizing structural conflict; achieving shared vision; systems analysis and recognizing systems dynamics; strengths theory; team building, team learning, and building community. This course component provides insight into the principles of creative leadership, including the difference between reacting and creating, the use of structural tension to achieve vision, and the relation of motivation and group dynamics to vision. The learning promoted through creative leadership is based, in large part, on the work of Peter Senge, Robert Fritz, M. Scott Peck, and Stephen Covey.

In Public Systems , the third component of the curriculum, students engage in team learning regarding local, state, and federal governmental organizations. In these courses, students master the structure and functioning of public institutions through topics in advanced civics, policy-making, and the civil and criminal justice systems. Upon completion of the Public Systems courses, students will not only understand how their local, state, and federal governments function, but also who their public leaders are, and how these leaders make policy. Students will also gain a practical, working knowledge of the role of the court system and other governmental agencies in maintaining public order and resolving disputes.

In Private Systems, the final component of the course, students learn about and consider the critical roles played by freely acting private sector organizations, including nonprofit and other charitable institutions. Private Systems addresses free-market principles of economic development, and considers case studies regarding the development of small businesses. It also provides a vehicle for students to learn about the local economy's interdependence on the regional, national, and global economies. Finally, these courses address the role of nonprofit and charitable organizations in maintaining and improving community quality of life.

I-LEAD has created an organizational development process, called the Vision Incubator, to assist selected participants in orienting and launching new leadership initiatives. After focusing intensively on leadership skills development, I-LEAD then helps participants use their skills in connection with real leadership challenges in their own communities.

The Vision Incubator is an experiential leadership development resource serving citizen leaders and their organizations on personal, organizational and community levels. The Incubator's mission is to help participants: a) Realize and test their visions; b) Develop a deeper understanding of critical and complex realities; and c) Manifest their visions through concrete, efficient, and effective personal actions.

The opportunity for leaders to work hands-on and interactively on individual projects reinforces and deepens the learning and growth achieved through the more formal classes covered during the program.

The Process
The Incubator process engages participating leaders in a two-stage planning process, involving both visioning and systems thinking. First, each leader participates in a visioning and strategic planning process, and develops a carefully-framed action plan. This plan is then implemented throughout the remainder of the course program with technical support in project management.

Participating team participants meet periodically to support development efforts, to hold each community leader accountable for results, and provide feedback to ensure that the students learn from the process and succeed in serving their community. This peer evaluation of performance through disciplined reflection and constructive feedback ensures successful leadership projects. Such projects have included closing nuisance properties, cleaning up vacant lots, removing graffiti, improving the local schools, providing constructive activities for youth, establishing small businesses that improve the local economy, helping citizens become politically active, and resolving racial and other intergroup conflicts.

LeaderLink Newsletter

LeaderLink served as a periodic newsletter, was developed by I-LEAD and sponsored by the Pennsylvania Weed and Seed Program (PCCD). Each archived issue is geared toward community news, issues, programs and other areas of interest to grass-roots leaders across Pennsylvania.