This edition of Community Leader spotlights the work of leaders in Fergus Falls, a west central Minnesota community. Here, leaders wanted to build a common vision for their community’s future. They realized, however, that they needed to make the journey together.

They began their quest by conducting surveys and listening sessions, followed by a community-wide kickoff celebration this summer. They gathered information from a wide variety of sources to make the development of a community vision and moving forward initiatives an inclusive process.

Other rural communities may find a take away lesson from Fergus Falls. Inclusion isn’t just about doing the right thing or making sure cultural differences are taken into account in the decision making process. Inclusion also means ensuring there is wide representation at the table. Inviting participation of people from both genders, all cultures, professions, income levels, religious beliefs, and sexual orientations within the community plays a vital role in creating shared meaning, or starting the journey together.

As noted in Today’s Tools, listening is an important first step on the path to shared meaning. This edition’s Today’s Tools offers a few suggestions and techniques for truly listening to others. We hope there’s a tip here that will help make better your own leadership journey.

Thanks for visiting Community Leader Online. As we move through various leadership topics and tools in coming months, we on the leadership team hope you’ll provide feedback. We want to know what topics and which stories you found most useful. We also welcome suggestions for future editions. Please let us know about your own community leadership successes. We’d love to highlight them.

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