Leadership can be incredibly rewarding … and incredibly challenging. And these extremes are likely never more pronounced than for leaders who operate within communities or with community-based organisations. Communities can place unique demands on the emotional health of their leaders.
We have worked with many community leaders over many years. These have ranged from board members of village-based organisations in the Solomon Islands to local government leaders in Australia, from park rangers around the world to leaders within Australia’s First Nations communities.
The demands on community leaders have unfortunately been made prominent in our news recently following two tragic accidents involving buses: the school bus crash in Eynesbury, west of Melbourne, and the Hunter Valley crash in NSW.
After the Eynesbury crash, we saw the principal of the small Exford Primary School, Linda Campo, become the public face representing her school community – parents, children and staff. In the Hunter Valley, the president of the Singleton Roosters Australian Football Club, which lost five of its members in the crash, found himself in a similar completely unexpected and challenging position.
What we know from hearing these leaders speak at the time is that they were forced to deal with the immediate situations, with all their uncertainty. And they will be dealing with the long-term impact on their communities for months and years to come.
In times of tragedy, community leaders become focal points. People look to these leaders for protection, for reassurance, for a sense of direction when it’s impossible to imagine any way ahead. Community leaders need to show resilience and hope while they also struggle with their own mix of grief, uncertainty and self-doubt.
All of this is entirely consistent with what we know about emotionally healthy leaders. We know that even in the toughest situations, they are able to remain resilient rather than scattered. They are able to find a way to navigate the line between acknowledging and allowing people to respond to the situation in their own individual ways, while also recognising that the school, sporting club or other organisation needs to find a way to continue what it is they do.
At the same time, emotional healthy leaders have mindful practices and the ability to look after their own needs in the situation. Their responses are deeply considered and conscious, not kneejerk, defensive or self-centred. And they maintain respectful relationships, even though, at times, they are likely to be challenged in their responses and on the decisions they make.
Perhaps toughest of all, leaders in these situations need to continue helping their community through the tragedy for as long as it takes, no matter how long that is. They don’t have the luxury of pretending that ‘it’s behind us and we just need to move on’ … because it rarely is. Doing this successfully requires enormous reserves of emotional health.
As community members, we need to recognise the tremendous contributions of our leaders when times are tough – no more so than for leaders who are clearly dealing with situations far more challenging than they ‘signed up’ for.
Gayle
Thanks for these comments Gayle, some great examples of leaders drawing on their emotional health to support, guide and lead their communities. An inspiration.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the upcoming referendum on First Nations Constitutional recognition and Voice lately and envisage similar demands for such community leadership in Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal and our collective communities following the Referendum- whatever the outcome. I’m sure we will see some impactful leadership that will guide Australia through the resulting opportunities of this vote but also the potential repercussions.