by Cherie Duvall

With inclusive leadership as the hot topic during a general session at the Congress of Cities and Exposition in Reno, Nev., it was fitting for an expert to share with delegates the practices that they can use every day to start or continue to build an inclusive community.

Going hand-in-hand with NLC?s Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities initiative, Sally Helgesen, author of ?The Web of Inclusion,? said that leaders should ?view inclusion as a specific practice.? In her studies of communities and organizations, she found that most inclusive leaders use the following five common practices:

? Honoring the non-official power structure that exists within any community, understanding that there are many people in communities who are experts, have connections or have personal authority and need to be part of decision-making processes;  

? Getting buy-in from the start from non-positional leaders;

? Including the ?squeaky wheel,? or person who always objects to any ideas, from the beginning to get more buy-in from the community and give people more opportunity to change;

? Publishing or making reference to published raw data to introduce a controversial process into a community, addressing the subject in a very transparent manner; and

? Drawing strategic-level thinking and ideas from people on the front line.

Helgesen also focused on how changes in technology, demographics and the economy have intersected to create unprecedented opportunities for individuals.

She pointed out that it?s those opportunities that are reshaping communities and society as a whole.