New Director of Leadership

Dr. Valerie Shangreaux has always gravitated toward thinking in terms of the “big picture.”

Big picture thinking ­ or looking at community as a whole – is part of what made the leadership director position with the Blandin Foundation so attractive.

“I like the Foundation¹s strength-based approach to leadership and community,” she said. “It’s an approach that says, ‘Let’s look at people’s strengths and let’s look at what¹s already working.”

Jim Krile Retires

After more than 20 years of service to the Blandin Foundation and rural Minnesota, Jim Krile is retiring.  The Foundation is grateful for his work in and commitment to developing and sustaining healthy communities.  Jim will be sharing his reflections on the past, present and future challenges and opportunities of community leadership in the next edition of Community Leader.

CPIL to be piloted in October

In our summer edition of the Community Leader Online, we asked you to tell us “What differences make a difference in your community?” A significant number of you responded that the largest concern was economic differences (see chart), which create barriers to building and sustaining a healthy community.

Communities both large and small are faced with the challenges created from economic differences. In 2006, the leadership team began working with the Grand Rapids area to develop a leadership program that builds leadership capacity to increase access to goods, services and opportunities to those in poverty. The program is titled “Community Partners in Leadership.” CPIL is designed to enhance the following:

Leader as Learners

From the Fall, 2007 issue (Vol. 6 No. 3) of the Community Leader newsletter:

By: Cindy Wilcox, BCLP Trainer

A learning community is a community that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future.

Leader as Learner
As community leaders – those willing to help create and sustain healthy communities – we are constantly asking ourselves, “What exactly do we need to be doing?”

It’s a good question. We’ve all read about the many leadership skills required of us – effective communication, decision-making, self-awareness, ability to form and sustain relationships, ability to help others align around specific goals, etc.

Leadership Toolbox: Life-Long Learning

This edition of Community Leader examines the importance of lifelong learning and its role in effective community leadership. The following are five tips to help BCLP alums become more effective learners on their leadership journey:

Framing: A Community Example

Framing defined:  Framing is one of the three core competencies of leadership. Framing involves defining community opportunities and issues in ways that lead to effective action. Through framing, a group understands and decides what needs to be done, how it is to be done and why it is important to do. – from The Community Leadership Handbook by James F Krile, Gordon Curphy and Duane R. Lund

Leadership Notes and News

‘Leadership Notes and News’ is a regular feature of Community Leader celebrating the accomplishments and endeavors of Blandin Foundation Leadership Program alumni as well as the communities which have been served by its programs. This issue features Brian Carlson, Betsy Jensen, Shelley Robinson and Shelli Urness.