Breaking down the silos

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Published on Sunday, April 26, 2015

By Vern May

Minnedosa & Area Community Development Corporation

Do you know how many good things are being planned in your community right now? Chances are there are meetings – or work stemming from meetings – taking place and you don’t even know it. As a result, maybe you have in mind to strike a committee or get a group together to address a community need, not knowing that someone else is already working on it.

It is great to see the number of social service and volunteer organizations in our rural communities. When we consider the aging populations in our small towns and surrounding countryside, as well as the decreased participation of young working professionals in many cases, it is truly outstanding to see the work that continues to be done by the engaged portion of our population.However, as we have grown and developed, we have created a lot of committees and discussions in silos. The ag society is focused on their thing, the rink board operates on their mandate, the Lions Club plugs away on their projects, the Chamber of Commerce has their mandate, etc., but the challenges with this system are starting to pile up.

1. There isn’t a funnel for information for all the projects that are taking place and the events being scheduled to support them.

2. With a growing number of disengaged members of our communities, maybe who live rurally but commute elsewhere for work, we are starting to see our committed citizens at multiple tables, wearing different hats, and we are starting to see some of those people burning out.

3. With an ambitious slate of activities and community improvement operations in the planning stages, we sometimes forget that we are dipping into the same pool of money to try to drive these agendas – and there is only so much our citizens and business people can afford to contribute, even if they are fully in support of the cause.

Let’s consider the advantages of partnership and collaboration. If we can first open the dialogue and then examine our communities as a whole to determine what our critical needs are, maybe we have an opportunity to create some significant positive change in a shorter time period. For example: if a community identified that the biggest challenge they could rate was related to community facilities and infrastructure, partner on those projects to create the greatest impact in a given time period.

The positive result of teamwork is fruitful in a number of ways. First, the community contributes to the projects they feel are the most critically in need of assistance and is able to see the results of that support – in cash or in kind – in a shorter period of time, which elevates civic pride and local enthusiasm. That public support rolls into new ideas and projects which can be collaborated upon in sequence, working together as a team.

It starts with a conversation – maybe even over a cup of coffee — but we need to talk. Let’s continue the conversation by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 204-867-3885. “The best things around that I have ever seen, came from small towns and big dreams.” — Paul Brandt