Vision Loss

A leader with vision is extremely important in any organization, whether it is a business, a non-profit, or a volunteer organization. If a group lacks this or loses sight of its vision, it can slip into managing and checking the boxes with no focus on the future. That is what happened to a group that I am involved with in my hometown.

I was recently named president of my hometown’s downtown revitalization group, which is a part of Main Street Alabama. Main Street Alabama is focused on bringing jobs, dollars, and people back to Alabama's historic communities. Economic development is at the heart of this statewide organization's efforts to revitalize downtowns and neighborhoods across the state Main Street programs are more than having great events and making downtown look better. At its core, Main Street is an economic development tool that enhances the tax base of a community, fosters entrepreneurship, builds community capacity, and creates partnerships among key groups in a community. Our town is one of only 30 in our state to become a designated Main Street Alabama community (Our communities, n.d.).

Our town is a rural community just shy of 5,000 people. The town has really grown in the last 10 years and had a real estate development explosion right before and during COVID. Many people were leaving a nearby larger town and settling in ours, creating a bedroom community. Our downtown had always been an active part of our community—several yearly events would bring people to the downtown, but the goal of Main Street communities is to make downtowns a daily or weekly visit for the population for work, business, and for recreation.

I became involved with this organization before its inception when our town was in the application process. Even at those initial stages, our group of volunteers knew we needed to focus on our vision for our downtown—what we wanted it to be in the next five, ten, twenty years. So, we really needed volunteer leadership that would help guide us to that place. A small but dedicated group of people emerged to guide the town through the application process, and we were successful in being named a Main Street community. Without those volunteers, who led the application effort and had the vision of seeing how it could benefit our town, we would not have been able to make the cut.

Main Street targets three categories to help grow downtown:
1. Economic Vitality—attracting new businesses into the downtown area
2. Design—improving the visual appearance of the downtown area
3. Promotions—creating events that draw the public downtown

A successful, thriving Main Street community would have businesses at full capacity, people downtown on the weekdays and weekends, and would raise funds for the organization that would allow the group to provide funding for facade improvements or purchase buildings to rent to new businesses and create a revenue stream that would support the organization fiscally.

We started off strong—we hired a director to run the initiative created, planned, and implemented a special event concert series to attract people to the downtown area, and began work on improving the appearance of downtown by planning and executing murals around the downtown. We had our vision of the future of our downtown and were motivated to achieve the dream.

A few years into the organization, however, had us just checking the boxes and not really envisioning the big picture. COVID did not help, as it stifled new opportunities. One thing that it did not affect—our special event concert series became hugely successful and began to demand most of the organization's time. A few of the committees had turnover in leadership positions which resulted in little getting accomplished in those categories. Projects were completed, but no new ones were lined up. We lost our director to a move out of state. We were losing vision.

As stated before, vision is a key attribute of a good leader. In an organization that is leading the progress of a city or town's downtown revitalization efforts, visionary leadership is crucial. All good leaders will have a vision of how they see the future of their company, organization, or team. When our group lost sight of that, we lost sight of the big picture. We narrowed our focus to just one special event, rather than what the event was supposed to be doing for our downtown. Leaders must keep their vision. It must be a well-defined vision, purpose, and plan, preferably defined by a leadership vision statement that helps leaders prioritize their goals and keep their duties on track. We needed to reassess and declare our values, beliefs, and purpose in order to hold us accountable for the goals we set. (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021).

Getting this right is extremely important. We needed to establish a leadership vision in order to provide inspiration, motivation, clarity, and focus (Indeed Editorial Team, 2021). So, we came together recently to regroup and reestablish the vision. We have a new director with a proven record of success and a plan for our future. We are recruiting new board members and committee chairs. We are shifting things around so that committees will not get overlooked.

We would do well to implement a few of the five tactics suggested by Tobi Johnson & Associates that relate to visionary leadership for volunteers (Johnson, 2021).

1. Model the Way—clarify values by finding your voice and affirming shared values; set the example

We need to regroup and publicly reaffirm what our mission is and what we need to do to accomplish that, then find others who share in that mission. We set an example by being active members ourselves, leading by serving.

2. Inspire a Shared Vision—envision the future by imagining exciting and ennobling possibilities; enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations

We must get the buy-in from the community to help us accomplish our vision by sharing all the amazing things that are possible with our organization—things that our neighbors and friends would be also excited about and therefore join us in our endeavor to bring them to our community

3. Challenge the Process—search for opportunities by seizing the initiative and looking outward for innovative ways to improve; experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from experience

Our group must stop checking the boxes and start planning. That may mean we have to do things in new ways we have not yet thought of. We began with smaller projects to get some early wins, but we need to continue that mindset so that those small wins add up to substantial changes from our community. It will also help motivate new volunteers to join—everyone loves a winner.

4. Enable Others to Act—foster collaboration by building trust and facilitating relationships; strengthen others by increasing self-determination and developing confidence

We need to expand and explore new partnerships in our community to bring new people and new ideas to the table. Downtown businesses and residents have seen the success of our events and projects—now we want them involved. And once they are involved, we want them to have the drive and initiative to raise their hands to volunteer to chair committees and take projects under their own wings.

5. Encourage the Heart—recognize contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence; celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community (Johnson, 2021).

We must make sure that our volunteers know how important they are to the organization. Main Street does an excellent job of providing avenues to recognize our outstanding volunteers and outstanding businesses. Several of our board members and local businesses have received awards from Main Street for their activities.

In conclusion, our group started out strong, with a big-picture vision. It is when we began to execute it that we eventually got lost in the monthly management of the organization. Restructuring the organization with a new director who has a vision for the future and recruiting new board members who have a love for our downtown and our whole town is a start for our local Main Street organization to do important things in our community.

References: 

Indeed Editorial Team. 2021, March 25. What Are Leadership Vision Statements? Indeed. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/leadership-vision-statements

Johnson, T. 2021, September 2. Leading Volunteers Is Easier When You Adopt These Practical Techniques. Tobi Johnson & Associates. https://tobijohnson.com/leading-volunteers/

Our communities. n.d. Main Street Alabama. Retrieved on November 12, 2021. https://www.mainstreetalabama.org/our-communities/