In a world of chaos and unpredictable events, many are looking into ways to improve self-reliance and community reliance. In our food systems, self-reliant and sovereign means are becoming more and more important in terms of food preservation, which is resurfacing into powerful action. How does one cultivate a culture of collective knowledge and hands-on learning in a community? It is here where creative leadership comes in. Bringing together individuals of very different skills, cultures, and experiences. Not only do we preserve the food, but even the enrichment of our communities goes farther than food itself. This blog post will look at examples of how creative leadership can bring about social change and sustainability. For my project this semester I established a Community Food Preservation Group (CFPG), a project which is moving people to share their knowledge, experiment creatively and create a far more resilient and sustainable future for themselves and their community.
What is Creative Leadership?
Many view leadership as extroverted, action oriented and showy, but viewing leadership through a creative lens shows that leadership can show up in ways we may not expect or be predisposed to identifying as “traditional” leadership. Creative leadership is indeed creating an atmosphere in which that creativity and more fluid ideation can enable diverse thinking, new ideas, and collaborative efforts toward communal solutions. This is what creative leadership is about. Taking initiative to lead a group to think and act innovatively and empowering them to understand that their unique and individual perspectives are valuable to the collective, especially in times of challenge or transformation.
This kind of leadership requires one to pilot and encourage participants by reaching out to individuals and empower them to contribute something that only they can contribute. This type of leadership requires patience, empathy, a supportive nature and a gentle kindness that meets people where they are on their own journeys. It engages the community into a habitat of co-creation and creates a village of support for all participants to rely on and it helps to promote diversity, inclusion, and sustainability.
The Power of Food Preservation and Community Resilience
The CFPG is a perfect example of innovatively leading the change by empowering communities to take charge of their food systems through collective food preservation practices. The initiative was born from identifying common disconnects in my community from the growing, harvesting, and preserving process. Establishing a platform for shared learning and creating a community network where local inhabitants share information, know-how, and tools to help each other preserve local, in season foods via canning, fermenting, freezing, and dehydrating, among other methods.
CFPG does not merely teach food preservation, this is where creativity, sustainability, and equity can coexist. This is a place where local people are mobilized and prepared to support each other to ensure that everyone is accounted for in the face of food insecurity. The group has the potential to bottle surplus food and distribute it to those in need through hands-on open workshops, using online communities, and networking with local farms and food pantries. Therefore, underscoring the systems of food that must not only be sustainable, but also equitable.
Creativity, Culture, and Equity: The Heart of Creative Leadership
CFPG encourages a creative culture shift towards a gift economy within this food preservation project. Participants can explore their own creativity by trying to apply different preservation methods while creating their own cultural traditions, perceptions and culinary knowledge. For instance, some might bring family recipes for pickling vegetables, whereas others could be experimenting with different fermentation notions from cultures across the globe. This diversity is an integral part of the project. This is creative leadership, facilitating a space where a wide range of knowledge is respected and celebrated, as it nurtures cultural exchange.
Culture is not the only aspect of equity that creative leadership adds to in this group. Access to food preparation equipment, training, or supplies can be a barrier for many. Therefore, CFPG cuts across that barrier by delivering a physical, local, and connected space that can give members access to tools like canning equipment, dehydrators, vacuum sealers, conceptualized in the spirit of “food preservation is for all regardless of income.” Workshops run on a sliding scale, with collaborative efforts to work with food pantries processing surpluses into efforts for serving people experiencing food insecurity. This is the ethical responsibility that creative leadership has of surrounding equitable opportunity for all in participation while exclusion is not from the distribution of a more sustainable food system.
Ethical Leadership and Community Impact
Ethics in leadership consist of understanding the broader consequences of one’s actions for the community and their environment. The CFPG embraces this ethical responsibility through the lens of sustainability, food waste prevention, and community relations. It makes a contribution to a more sustainable food system that reduces reliance on industrial food production and reduces food waste by creating a base of locally sourced food.
The idea of potential partnership of local farmers, community gardens, and food banks is perhaps the most ethical consideration. No food goes to waste, but rather feeds those in need. By promoting local food production and preservation, this project also nurtures the promise of the future food supply while also sustaining future environments. In this way, the CFPG complements the global climate justice movement by reducing the carbon footprints associated with industrial methods of producing and transporting food.
In addition, ethical leadership is concerned about the effects every decision has on every single member of the community. The group’s approach includes all persons so that every individual, regardless of their background or socio-economic status, has a place at the table. For example, cultural inclusivity enhances learning and even builds a sense of community in CFPG. By opening the doors to different views and opinions, the group creates a culture of shared responsibility, ownership, and respect.
Reflections on Creative Leadership in the CFPG
When considering the groups role in this community, it is not about simply managing projects, it is about creating a really dynamic community of changemakers focused on providing solutions to complex and interconnected challenges. There is an empowerment in the recognition of the idea that it is not that one leader is driving the group. Rather, it is because of the participation and creativity of all involved that it exists and continues to innovate through collective learning and experimenting around new techniques for food preservation.
My experience about creativity and leadership has taught me that self ownership of ideas and actions instills a deep and long-ranged meaning to an outcome. This has played out in several community initiatives, where a participatory approach has yielded better and more lasting outcomes than a trickle-down approach. For example, the CFPG aims to promote that members are not just consumers of knowledge, but their participation itself contributes to the resulting knowledge development in the project.
Conclusion: The Long-Term Impact of Creative Leadership
The Community Food Preservation Group sparks innovative leadership in all participating individuals to be able to change both their own lives and their community. Sustainability, equity, and creativity make up the backbone of every facet of operation so that the participants will not only gain much needed skills but also be incorporated into the much larger movement of food justice. This brings its users together to experiment and share knowledge which creates ripples that may change the whole understanding of not just how food is preserved but also how individuals shape their role within the larger community.
Developing leadership creatively is progressive, establishing communities to be more resilient, sustainable, and equitable that can engage people in taking responsibility for themselves as well as their neighbors and the planet. Such a place fosters creativity, cultural exchange, and shared responsibility toward a sustainable future that has no longer been an ideal but a way of living.