An action plan for instituting community change

Political division, misinformation and outright hostility have characterized this past year. Throughout this conflict, many people stopped communicating with each other. Over time, they have lost trust in their leaders, institutions, neighbors and even family members.

A factor driving this loss of trust? Government. In the recent Edelman Trust Barometer report, respondents perceived government institutions as both the least ethical and least competent of all societal institutions. We see this distrust in the divide in ideology nearly a year after one of the most contentious national elections in recent history. The opposing political parties haven’t made efforts to compromise nor treat each other with civility, either.

This divide has trickled down to the local levels. Governing bodies continue to clash over divisive topics like how to discuss race in schools, mask mandates and unemployment. Communities remain split in their opinions, their members isolated and unable to find common ground. An inability—or perhaps unwillingness—to generate transparent, productive conversation prevents them from working together to improve their quality of life.

Trust, empathy and compromise are essential to creating change. It’s no surprise that pursuing change through local government feels unreachable. All evidence points to tensions continuing to distract us from real work on issues that matter. Fortunately, trust hasn’t eroded completely. The report also uncovered a path towards rebuilding trust.

The Edelman report also indicated a growing trust in people’s employers, driven in part by many private organizations demonstrating actionable empathy to their employees. Leadership listened to concerns and preferences about pandemic safety, hybrid work and social issues. They created plans and strategies, changing how their employees work and refocusing on the purpose behind that work. Trust established through this kind of listening and action (facilitated by private organizations) may be the way for local governments to unite communities.

The local government has the power to represent the best of us—even in times of division and hardship. Government institutes should follow the precedent set by many private companies and listen to their people, build stronger relationships and take action. Start with these four steps to creating an action plan to build trust and launch civic change:

Engage your whole community
To institute change teamwide, engage your community. Listen actively and solicit feedback to ensure everyone agrees with the new direction. Agreement in direction doesn’t mean lock-step agreement with every decision. However, you want to make sure that your decisions support the goals and passions of those choosing to serve your cause. Prioritizing candid conversations with your team provides you with an opportunity to learn how everyone defines change and to identify the skills and ideas everyone brings to the table.

When creating a conversation, choose a topic relevant to your city or region’s goals. The topic should empower participants to share their ideas and experiences in the discussion. Prepare an agenda of topics, provide a safe environment and give equitable time for each person to share. The most effective way to find a path to change is to listen to your participants objectively and without bias.

Empower the right people
Find the people in your organization who can mobilize their peers and excel at their work despite limitations within their position. Then, remove those limitations. Give people the space and trust to do their jobs successfully. You may find that trusting someone with increased resources, freedom and responsibilities will increase their ownership over the cause and help them feel valued. If you discover someone’s passion for a particular issue, give them the space and time to tie their work to this passion.

Google’s infamous ‘20 percent rule’ encourages employees to spend 20 percent of their time on Google-related passion projects. Adopt that approach with your team, giving them more ownership over their work to nurture their passion for the cause as a whole. Ultimately, trust in your team helps foster belonging and creates the psychological safety needed for people to know that they can bring their new ideas, honest concerns and fullest selves to the table.

Listen to everyone with empathy
Not everyone will agree on everything all the time. That’s okay. Cultivate a collaborative environment where everyone knows it’s okay to disagree. Disagreement often promotes change and growth—and it doesn’t diminish anyone’s value. Transforming a culture from the inside out requires every voice to receive equal opportunity to be heard, including introverted voices and more prominent voices, seasoned pros and new faces. Everyone brings a unique perspective. Take honest, constructive feedback seriously, no matter who provides it.

In a McKinsey and Co. survey, 61 percent of employees expressed negative sentiments about their organization’s inclusivity—a high percentage suggesting workplaces don’t do enough to empower and value their employees’ voices. Single town hall events or one-time workshops won’t suffice. Work to make empathy ever-present in every conversation between colleagues. It may take some time, but that time will gradually accumulate into an inclusive culture.

Remember. Then follow-up
I spend my days at Inclusivv helping a variety of public and private organizations host honest, structured conversations designed to help create social change. I’ve experienced teams evolve from distant and reserved to trusting and invested in each other during a single discussion. But you need trust at the starting point, not the finish line, to create and maintain lasting change.

Too often, leaders neglect to follow through on the progress their teams make. If a leader’s interest in their employees fades, why wouldn’t employees’ trust and passion also fade? An inclusive culture is built slowly and requires constant practice, learning and grace. However, empathetic listening and actionable change based on listening holds the power to transform a community forever.

I started my career as a community organizer in Atlanta when a biking accident motivated me to help change and improve the city’s bike laws. I truly believe that “all politics is local” in the most authentic sense of the phrase. The solution to any problem should start at home, working inwards out. Local government offers a powerful medium through which social change can occur. To help propel this change, local institutions should do everything possible to build comradery in their teams and trust in their community. 

Jenn Graham is the founder and CEO of Inclusivv, enabling teams to have conversations that matter. Clients include The King Center, Aspen Institute and Georgia Division of Family and Children Services. Her work has been recognized by President Obama, and received numerous awards for social impact and community engagement.