Page 12 - LCL Handbook EN

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same time, influence shows, on the one hand, that a member who must be attracted to a
group must have an influence on what the group does, and the cohesion of the group
depends on how the group itself is able to influence the members. Community
engagement can be defined in a context of partnership and reciprocity as a mutually
beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources. Low community engagement leads to
a lack of trust in the community. In this way there is an accentuation of the level of
unemployment, poverty and in direct connection to a poor quality education and to the
increase of the crime rate. Creating local networks of community members fosters a
climate where more people are willing to work to achieve a goal. Leaders who get
involved in the community creates involved communities.

People who accept the needs, values, and opinions of others are often the most
influential members of the group, while those who force things by always wanting to
influence, trying to dominate others, and ignoring the desires of others are often the least
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strong.

When we decide to organize a community, we need to identify leaders and potential
community leaders, because leadership is a vital element of that organizing action.
Chaskin (2001) suggests that there are at least four common factors contributing to
community strengthening, referring to the existence of resources (including individuals
'abilities, access to capital and resources), building a network of relationships, leadership
and support for community members' participation in the collective action and problem-
solving.

The number one problem in a local community is the existence of a leader, able to direct
the goals of the community in a direction that will bring success, prosperity and
community development. In order to coagulate the energies of the community, the
leader must exert a strong influence on the members.

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Leadership theory has evolved over the past decades, leaving from the idea of the leader
as the main and decisive factor, to the influence of the others and more recently to the
imagining of a multidimensional social process composed of complex relationships,
which are based on social integration and individual skills. So, what does leadership
mean now? In a classical way, a definition of leadership is the art of motivating a group
of people to act toward achieving a common goal. Finally, (Kevin Kruse, 2013), it is a
process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the
achievement of a goal. These definitions highlight the idea of a leader capable and
prepared to inspire others.

In any organization, effective leadership is based on promoting certain ideas, but in
order to convince others, these ideas must be challenging, mobilizing. In other words,
the leader is the inspiration and the engine of the action. The key elements of classical
leadership are visible in Figure 1.

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This project has been funded with the support from the European Union. This
publication reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission or Fundacja Rozwoju Systemu Edukacji
– National Agency of Erasmus+ in Poland cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information
contained herein.
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