Guest Article: What Running for Resilience has taught me about organic leadership

By Cam Dyson-Smith

May 09, 2024

Welcome to the twelfth edition of Guest Articles, where we hand the reins of the Rag over to our community, who can write about whatever they want. The only requirement is that it strengthens our community or helps us achieve our goal of making Canberra suicide-free. This week, we hear from Cam Dyson-Smith.

What Running for Resilience has taught me about organic leadership

With the announcement this week that Running for Resilience is becoming an official non-for-profit organisation I decided to skip ahead to sharing lesson number seven, what Running for Resilience has taught me about organic leadership.

Now, I should confess that I’ve not looked for a definition of organic leadership, but what it means to me is the sort of leadership that happens naturally within a group of people. In my version of organic leadership, there is minimal or no formal structure that sets out who the leaders should be and instead individuals emerge as leaders from within the group. New leaders don’t replace existing ones as there is no finite number of roles.

That being said, organic leadership can still happen in traditional structures where hierarchy is clear, and the number of management roles is finite. It just needs to be fostered.

For those who don’t know, Running for Resilience is:

‘a community-based running and walking program aimed at promoting mental health and making Canberra suicide-free by 2033. It is a welcoming, inclusive, and friendly space where people of all fitness levels can participate and meet new people.’

I have been part of this community since May 2020 when there were only three people running due to early impacts of the covid pandemic. I have experienced its growth, and as part of this, the emergence of so many organic leaders. While reflecting, I want to share three community attributes that I believe have fostered this and three benefits organic leadership has for the community.

So why is organic leadership so rife within the community?

A shared vision or purpose

Running for Resilience has always been very clear about its vision, and while the goal has evolved with time, the concept of using exercise and community to support mental wellbeing has always been there and oozes from all those involved. This clarity draws people in who resonate with the vision of the community. What I have seen, is this shared vision and purpose act as a driver for individuals within the community to step forward and organically take up leadership roles. The more I thought about this, I realised organic leadership often arises when a community shares a common vision or purpose. This motivates individuals to guide others towards finding, understanding, sharing and achieving that vision.

Trust and respect

Running for Resilience has always said effort is the contribution people can make to the community. As a result, individuals are actively and constantly seeking out ways to contribute beyond the traditional, be it: turning up consistently; spreading the word amongst friends and colleagues; welcoming newcomers; reaching out to others in the community; or taking charge of an r4r event. This approach has supported individuals to gain the trust and respect of the community and emerge organically as leaders, based on their actions, integrity, and varying forms of contribution.

Empowerment

When you found something, be it a business or a community, it can be hard not to feel like you need to drive everything or to make every decision. However, what Matt and Ben have done so well with Running for Resilience is to make space that empowers individuals to make it what the community wants it to be. I have seen countless different people step up as a leader within the community, be it sharing their story and definition of resilience in the R4R Rag, delivering the welcome speech, organising a new avenue for people to attend/contribute, or of course, taking the obligatory pre-run selfie. By empowering individuals within the community to take initiative and responsibility for the collective, Running for Resilience has created space for people to become leaders organically.

But how does organic leadership benefit the community?

Adaptability

This leadership that I have witnessed in Running for Resilience has seen leaders emerge based on the evolving needs of the community, allowing for greater adaptability and responsiveness to changing circumstances. This was clear through the pandemic as the community found creative ways to connect around exercise, and this next chapter, which sees Running for Resilience formally become a not-for-profit is another perfect example of this adaptability. Leaders have emerged from within the community and driven a desire to do more in the support of mental health and wellbeing. To paraphrase from the latest R4R Rag ‘[the community] needed to evolve … We had been what we wanted to be, and now, we had an opportunity to be what we needed to be.’ The organic nature of the leadership within Running for Resilience continues to allow the community to adapt and grow.

Collaboration and inclusivity

Creating space for leaders to organically surface has allowed Running for Resilience to be one thing, and many things, to many different people. Individuals can find their own connection to the concept of running for resilience that resonates with them. This creates a community that celebrates collaboration and inclusivity, valuing diverse perspectives and actively involving all members of the community in decision-making processes. This then supports growth of the community and communication of its purpose.

Long-term sustainability

The quest to support mental wellbeing is not an end point, it is ongoing and infinite. While the goal of making Canberra suicide-free by 2033 has a time limit, promoting mental health and wellbeing through exercise does not. Running for Resilience has a purpose that has no end point and so sustainability is critical. By fostering organic leadership, the community is developing a sustainable leadership culture that transcends individual personalities, ensuring continuity and resilience over time.

Running for Resilience is an amazing community, and I am grateful to be a part of it. This one was special to write.

Cheers for reading.

Cam

The R4R Rag

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