3 Reasons Community Is Key to Effective Leadership

Organizational development and team dynamics benefit from foundational thinkers, whose ideas inform and deepen modern human resources (HR) practices. Mary Parker Follett, long underappreciated in mainstream management literature, exemplifies such influence.

The essay Community Is a Process demonstrates remarkable relevance to contemporary discussions on leadership, collaboration, and organizational culture, despite originating in the early 20th century

Who Was Mary Parker Follett?

Mary Parker Follett (1868–1933) was a social philosopher, political theorist, and management pioneer. Though her influence faded for decades after her death, she is now recognized as one of the earliest voices to advocate for participatory management, shared power, and relational leadership.

Follett’s core belief was that organizations and communities should not be governed by control or hierarchy, but by collaborative processes that empower individuals to contribute meaningfully. Her thinking predates modern practices such as agile leadership, psychological safety, and employee engagement.

What HR Can Learn from Community Is a Process

In Community Is a Process, Follett challenges static or idealized definitions of community. Instead, she presents community as a living, evolving dynamic, a pattern of integration that develops through shared action and mutual responsiveness.

“We cannot make a community or plan one. A community must grow.”

Mary Parker Follett

This perspective has substantial implications for HR professionals, particularly those involved in culture-building, employee experience, and team development. Here are a few takeaways from the essay that are directly relevant to HR practice

1. Community Is Emergent, Not Engineered

Follett emphasizes that you don’t “build” community through structure alone. Real community emerges through daily interactions, shared challenges, and a sense of joint purpose.

“Community is not something to be achieved by eliminating differences, but by integrating them.”

Mary Parker Follett

It is a powerful lens for diversity and inclusion work. Integration doesn’t mean assimilation; it means learning how differences can enrich shared practice rather than divide it.

2. Individual and Group Are Interdependent

Rather than seeing individuals and groups as opposites, Follett sees them as co-defining. The self develops through participation in group life, not in isolation from it.

“The group and the individual come into existence simultaneously; they are not separate.”

Mary Parker Follett

3. Leadership Is Not Command but Coordination

While Community Is a Process focuses on social dynamics, Follett’s broader body of work also challenges hierarchical leadership. She proposes a model where leaders coordinate energy, rather than impose control.

Though not explicit in this essay, the idea echoes here too: empowerment happens through relationship, not authority.

Why This Matters Now

One of the prime tasks of modern HR teams is to shape organizational culture while navigating change, hybrid work, and increasing demands for inclusion and psychological safety. Community Is a Process offers a philosophical foundation for meeting those challenges..

The role of HR extends beyond system design to fostering conditions that enable authentic participation and integration. This requires re-evaluating approaches to

• Frame team rituals and shared language
• Create space for peer-to-peer recognition
• Encourage shared ownership of culture
• Support learning as a social process

Follett’s insights prompt a reconsideration of foundational questions regarding belonging, leadership, and collective growth within organizations

Closing Reflection

Mary Parker Follett represents an inspiring and under-recognized voice whose ideas provide depth and clarity for contemporary HR professionals. Because, in her words:

“The great fact of human life is not simply the individual or the group, but the process of relating.”

Mary Parker Follett

This principle remains essential for individuals engaged in building communities within organizations.

Leadership Assignments for HR Trainers: Making Leadership Everyone’s Responsibility

To translate Mary Parker Follett’s insights into practical application, a set of leadership assignments has been developed specifically for HR trainers and facilitators.

These assignments, inspired by her essay Community Is a Process, are designed to help participants experience leadership as a shared, relational process rather than a function of hierarchy

The assignments include:

• Writing prompts that encourage self-reflection on power, participation, and community
• Beam exercises to guide 1-on-1 or small-group dialogue around leadership as integration
• Group challenges that simulate co-leadership, decision-making, and mutual accountability

Through structured activity and guided reflection, the assignments aim to equip participants with both the mindset and the muscle to lead collaboratively, regardless of their formal role. When you purchase, you get both the essay and the assignment pack.