Leadership, community, and reaching out

One of my passions is dancing in Argentine tango. And because it “takes two to tango” dancing tango means being part of the tango community. I have had the opportunity to visit and be a part of many different tango communities, and I’ve begun puzzling over why one community feels so different from the next.

I don’t have “the answer” but I have noticed something. In every community there are people who are the de facto leaders – because they are organizers, or they have been around for a long time, or they are exceptionally talented. And the way in which they interact with the rest of the community, especially new people, has a big impact on the vibe of the group.

I was recently visiting Eran in Philadelphia and we went out to a milonga. Within about five minutes of my arrival, a kindly Italian gentleman introduced himself and asked me where I was from. He was extremely welcoming, friendly, and encouraging.

Furthermore he checked back with me through the night a couple of times to see how I was feeling. It isn’t always easy to walk into a room full of strangers, and so getting a good welcome makes a big difference. And I’ve found that as the evening progressed, most people there were also pretty friendly. I believe that the leaders of this community had set the tone.

So what does this mean for me as the leader? I naturally tend to be a bit introverted. And so it wouldn’t be my first impulse as a de facto community leader to reach out to people, introduced myself, and help them get comfortable in the room. And yet it can make such a huge difference for helping a nice community to get rolling.

Leaders can make a big difference for a community by setting a norm of being welcoming and reaching out – connecting.