This document summarizes a presentation on unlocking community development in small places. It discusses 5 critical leadership roles: 1) making things happen, 2) creating vision and inspiration, 3) facilitating collaboration, 4) instilling a positive mindset, and 5) fostering leadership in others. It provides examples of small communities that successfully utilized these leadership roles to overcome challenges like depopulation, inspired others through shared vision and passion, collaborated to develop new opportunities, and engaged youth to sustain their communities for future generations.

1. ‘Unlocking Community
Development in Small
Places’
Teeny Tiny Summit
Orono
Presentation by:
Peter Kenyon
Bank of I.D.E.A.S.

7. Constance Creek, March
Township, Kanata, Ottawa

9. ‘Marble Bar is best known as the stinking hot
joint which is always seems to get a crack in
the weather report!’
(West Australian Newspaper, 20/4/16)

10. 'People in small
towns, much more
than in cities,
share a destiny'
-Richard Russo

11. 'Small towns make
up for their lack of
people by having
everyone be more
interesting'
-Doris "Granny D" Haddock

12. ‘The nice thing about
living in a small town
is that when you don’t
know what you’re
doing, someone else
does’
-Source Unknown

13. “The greatest asset
of any community is
simply people who
care”
Paul Born

14. ‘Great communities
don’t just happen! –
They are created,
nurtured and sustained
by caring, connected
and involved residents.’
(Peter Kenyon)

15. That’s Us!

16. Welcome!

17. Lesson No 1-
The future ain't what it
used to be

20. Dareton, NSW Bank Staff in 1975

22. Lesson No 2.-
Whatever the
issue, community
is the answer

24. ‘The future of
every community
lies in capturing
the passion,
imagination, and
resources of its
people’.
-Ernesto Sirolli

25. ‘Strong communities are
created when citizens are the
producers of their own future.
They can not be replaced. No
professional, institution,
business or government can
substitute for the power,
creativity or relevance of
productive citizens’
-Mike Green

26. ‘Most communities can often
be compared to an ice
hockey game where 20,000
people who need the
exercise, turn up to watch
12 players
who don’t.’
(Peter Kenyon)

27. Lesson No 3.-
Importance of
local leadership

28. “Given the task of
rejuvenating a region and the
choice of $50 million, or $2
million and 20 committed local
leaders, we would choose the
smaller amount of money and
the committed leaders.”
(McKinsey and Company (1994) Lead Local
Compete Global: Unlocking the Growth of
Australia’s Regions)

29. ‘Conventional wisdom suggests that for a
small town to survive it needs to be near
a major highway, have significant natural
resources in the region, be close to a
larger city or have some other
“characteristic or circumstance” working
in its favour. Yet in reality, leadership is
proving to be more important than
location and attitude is more important
than community size.’
-Heartland Center for Leadership Development

30. ‘Leadership is the thing
that wins battles. I
have it, but I’ll be
damned if I can define
it’.
(General George Patton)

31. 'Leadership is not necessarily
a title or a powerful position;
it is a process, it is
relational,
it is making something happen,
it is leaving a mark.’
-Larraine Matusak
1. Making Things Happen

32. ‘A leaders task is
to open doors and
windows’.
-John Gardiner
Opening Possibilities

33. “Sooner or later, all
the thinking and
planning has to
degenerate into
work”
-Tom Peters

35. Kulin

36. MISSION
Stop depopulation and loss of
town services
through-
➢Becoming a more than “a dot
on the map”.
➢Building local pride and
commitment.

41. Kulin Community
Bank

46. ‘Kulin
Open
Doors’
and ‘Kulin
By Night’

49. ‘If your actions inspire
others to dream more,
learn more and become
more, you are a leader.’
-John Quincey Adams
2.Inspiring Others

50. ‘Leadership is that
special quality which
enables people to stand
up and pull the rest of
us over the horizon’
-John Gardiner

51. TIP:
Encourage an idea-
friendly community

61. ‘Ideas make the world go around.
People in communities and business
today
live and die by their ideas’
-Michael Kiely
We need to be idea and
opportunity obsessive.

62. “Whoever invented the
first wheel was smart.
Whoever invented the
other three was a
genius”
-Sid Caesar

63. ‘
If any one idea about
leadership has inspired
organisations and communities
for thousands of years, it is
the capacity to hold a shared
picture of the future we seek
to create’ -Peter Senge
Tip: Create Vision and
Inspiration

64. Beechworth, Victoria

70. Case Study Beechworth Bakery
❑ Employs 76 people
❑Turns $8 million plus per year
❑ Took $30,000 over the counter on one
day
❑ Attracts over 800,000 customers per
year
❑ Offers 200 products
❑ Seats 300 customers
❑ Has won the most significant Regional
Tourism Award in Victoria 3 times

71. Replicated the bakery in 7 other towns (285
staff and $17 million in total turnover)

73. How do
you make
dough
Tom’s
way?

76. TOM O’TOOLE VOUCHER

84. ‘One of the things we need to learn
is that every great change starts
from very small conversations held
among people who care’
-Margaret Wheatley
TIP:
Facilitate regular and
meaningful conversations

87. ‘There is no
power for change
greater than a
community
discovering what
it cares about’
Margaret
Wheatley,
Author

88. ‘I can’t
save the
world on
my own…it
will take at
least three
of us.’
(Bill Mollison, a founder of the
Permaculture Movement)
3. Facilitating Collaboration

89. ‘If you want to
go faster, go
alone. If you
want to go
further, go
together.
(African Proverb)

90. The first duty of a leader is to
instill optimism.’
(Field Marshall Montgomery)
‘A leader is a merchant of hope’
(Napoleon)
4. Instilling
Positive Mindset

91. ‘Nowadays towns are really not so different
from businesses, they need to keep
recreating themselves. Not so many years
ago country towns were subject to general
trends. They would all do well or all do
badly. The picture is now very uneven.
The successful towns are likely to be driven
by people who are passionate and creative,
who see an opportunity and go for it. You
need communities with a bit of get up and
go spirit. Some have it, some don't.‘
-Roy Powell

92. ‘You can’t move your
town to a different
location, you can move
your town’s attitude in
a different direction’
-Heartland Center for Leadership Development

95. ‘I think negative people
should be taxed. They require an
incredible amount of energy.
They're like corgis nibbling at
your ankles and I'm sure they
exist to show us the difference
between heaven and hell.’
(Vicki Buck, Deputy Mayor, Christchurch City Council)

96. ‘When facing a
difficult task, act as
if it is impossible to
fail. When going after
Moby Dick, bring along
the tartar sauce.’

97. TIP:
Be asset, not
deficiency
obsessive!

98. ‘WHAT WE FOCUS ON
BECOMES OUR REALITY. IF
WE FOCUS ON WHAT IS
WRONG OR WHAT IS
MISSING, WE TEND TO SEE
EVERYTHING THROUGH THAT
FILTER OR FRAME.’
-Jody Kretzmann

101. Communities
have
deficiencies
and needs
Communities
and it’s
citizens
have capacities
and assets

102. Harrow
Population- 98

104. Ange
Newton

105. 'Harrow was down to being a two keg a week
place, and struggling … it needed an outside
income … we looked within and identified our
assets - location to other tourism product,
its history as the oldest inland town in
Victoria, and a cemetery full of great
stories. With these assets we have scripted
a story based on the towns heritage and
folklore, and the rest is definitely history
...’
(Angela Newton, Publican, Hemitage Hotel,
Harrow)

116. ❑ Pub went from 2 kegs to 20 kegs
a week
❑ $250,000 in ticket sales annually
❑ 3 new businesses in main street
❑ 3 new accommodation businesses
❑ Renewed sense of pride and
confidence
HARROW ACHIEVEMENT IN FIRST
TWO YEARS

118. ‘Beaut Blokes
Weekends

119. TIP:
Develop the
WOW factor!
“YOU DON”T GET A SECOND CHANCE
AT FIRST IMPRESSIONS!”

120. TIP:
Have fun!
‘Why hold a meeting, when
you can have a party’
-Jim Diers

121. ‘The usual trouble with
volunteers is not killing them
with overwork, but boring
them to death’
-Harold Seymour
‘If you are not having fun,
you are doing it wrong’
- Alex Bogusky

122. TIP:
Use humour and
novelty!

123. ‘If I can get you to
laugh with me, you’ll
like me better, which
makes you more open to
my ideas’
-John Cleese

129. 5. Fostering Leadership
‘A leader creates leaders
who creates leaders’.
(Carol McCall)
‘Leaders don’t create
followers – they create
more leaders’
(Tom Peters)

130. ‘If you want a year of
prosperity, grow grass.
If you want ten years of
prosperity, grow trees.
If you want 100 years of
prosperity, grow people.‘
(Scott’s Bluff Leadership)

131. TIP: Actively engage
this group now!

132. R U MAD?
Youth Initiative
Are You Making A Difference?
‘Community Minded Kids’
www.communityminds.com.au

134. Critical Leadership Roles:
1. Making things happen
2. Creating vision and
Inspiration
3. Facilitating collaboration
4. Instilling Positive
Mindset
5. Fostering leadership

135. Every morning in Africa a
springbok wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than
the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the
slowest springbok or it will starve
to death.

136. But it does not matter
whether you are a lion or a
springbok;
When the sun comes up you
had better be
Running!

137. A Small Town Tale …

138. ‘The wisdom of the
community always
exceeds the knowledge
of the experts’
Harold Flaming

139. ‘If we are wise,
we will help the
people
everywhere to
get the good
and abundant
life…to become
masters of
their own
destiny’.
Rev Dr Moses M
Coady

141. ‘We are
motivated by
what we don’t
have, to use
what we do have,
to get
what we want’.
(Rev Dr Moses Coady)

142. ‘If you want to
go faster, go
alone. If you
want to go
further, go
together.
(African Proverb)

143. Midlands Meander, South Africa
”a spectacle of nature,arts and crafts, just waiting
to be explored”
• Africa’s largest and most popular
arts and crafts trail- 80 kms ,
225 businesses on 4 routes
• 30+ year history

144. ‘I will market my
neighbour as well as
I market myself’
(Wall Pledge of participating
businesses in the Midland Meander
Arts Marketing trail)

146. ‘The mechanics of running a
business are really not
complicated when you get
down to the essentials. You
have to make some stuff and
sell if for more than it cost
you. That's about all there
is to it, except for a few
million details.’
-John L McCaffrey

161. VISITORS STAFF PRICE
1993 8000 ½ $4
2018 125,000 + 75 $44
Paronella Park
‘Our task is to take the vision and dream of
Jose Paronella – an exciting and incredible
story, blend it with the beauty of his
creation and produce an experience for
the vision ‘
(Mark Evans)

162. Number 1 in RACQ’s 150 Must Do’s
Award voted by the public in 2009

163. Historic View Of Young People…
Cause problems, have
problems, are problems.

164. ‘Our youth today now love
luxury; they have bad manners,
contempt for authority, disrespect
for older people. Children now
days are tyrants, they no longer
rise when elders enter the room,
they contradict their parents, they
chatter before company, gobble
their food and tyrannise their
teachers. They have execrable
manners, flout authority, have no
respect for their elders. What
kind of awful creatures will they
be when they grow up.’
SOCRATES
(500BC)
)

165. ‘When I
look at the
younger
generation, I
despair for
the future of
civilisation.’

166. TEONA
Latin word from which
the word teenager
originates.
It means ‘grief, strife and
misery’

171. Bella Burgemeister: 11 year old
Author

173. The Story of
Emma Sherie, Granity and
CommuniTea

176. Minimum Viable
Product

190. “We now give back $100 a month to
community causes. So far we have
donated to the local youth group,
the local youth performing arts
group, the fire station, our
community yoga group, and we have
paid for the replacement of our
community's defibrillator pads. We
have also repaid the seeding grant
that was given to us by the local
Christian community. ” -Emma Sherie

192. “Colin has been coming
every week since we first
began CommuniTea. His
wife died a few years ago
and he lives alone now. He
is the first one in the door
every week and one of the
last to go. He table hops
around the room and chats
to everyone. Colin is
exactly why I wanted to
create a space like
CommuniTea.”
-Emma Sherie

193. The key asset we
need to discover is
“What people care
about”

194. Canadian Survey : Why
People Volunteered
82% of respondents said:
‘because someone who they
knew, asked them do something
they liked doing’

195. ‘My passion is
communities where
everyone matters,
contributes and
belongs’ (Peter Kenyon)

196. What am I going
to do different
tomorrow?

198. ‘Ideas won’t keep.
Something must be
done about them’
-Alfred North
Whitehead

199. ‘To look is one thing, to see what
you look at is another;
To understand what you see is
third;
To learn from what you
understand is still something else
;But to act on what you learn is all
that really matters’
-Malcolm McMair

200. ‘Dream big.
Start small.
Act now’
- Robin Sharma

201. ‘The sun does not
forget a village
because it is small’
African Proverb

202. ‘Never doubt that
a small group of
committed
citizens can
change the world.
Indeed, it is the
only thing that
ever has.’
-Margaret Mead