I’ve found myself thinking about something over the past few months, and I’m not entirely sure where it will lead. But the question keeps coming up in different places, so I think it’s worth exploring.

It started while facilitating our Emerging Leaders Program. Then it showed up in customer focus groups. It came up again as we talked about redesigning some of Quest’s programming. More recently, I’ve been thinking about it through the lens of church leadership.

On the surface, those don’t seem connected. But I keep coming back to the same question:

Why do some groups of people leave fundamentally changed while others simply spend time together?

I’ve been part of leadership teams, conferences, committees, churches, boards, and professional associations for most of my career. Many have been valuable experiences. Some have been enjoyable. A few have genuinely shaped who I have became as a leader.

What’s interesting is that they didn’t necessarily have better speakers, bigger budgets, or more talented people. In fact, from the outside, they often looked remarkably similar.

So what made the difference?

For a long time, I probably would have answered that it was the quality of the leadership or the quality of the content. Those things certainly matter. But the more I reflect on the experiences that have stayed with me, the less convinced I am that they tell the whole story.

I’m beginning to wonder if one of the leader’s most important responsibilities isn’t simply helping people grow.  Maybe it’s creating the conditions where transformational experiences are more likely to happen.

That thought has caused me to look at leadership a little differently.

At first, talking about community in a leadership article might seem like a stretch. We usually think of communities as neighborhoods, churches, or professional associations.

But what if every leader already leads a community?  Your team is a community.  Your department is a community.  Your project team is a community.  Your executive team is a community.

The question isn’t whether you lead a community. The question is whether you’re intentionally shaping the kind of community where people grow because of one another and the conditions of the community—not just because of you.

When I think about the leaders and experiences that have had the greatest impact on me, I rarely remember a particular presentation or lesson.

I remember conversations, someone asking a question that challenged how I was thinking, or a leader who saw potential in me before I saw it in myself.  I remember peers who were willing to admit they didn’t have everything figured out, which somehow made it easier for the rest of us to be honest too.

Looking back, those moments didn’t happen because someone delivered great content. They happened because the environment made those conversations possible.

I’ve noticed something similar in our Emerging Leaders Program.  Participants absolutely learn practical leadership concepts, and that’s important. But if you ask them months later what they remember most, they usually don’t start by talking about a specific framework or presentation.

They tell stories.  They talk about a conversation over dinner. A mentor who asked a difficult question. Another participant who had wrestled with the same challenge they were facing. They remember the encouragement they received when trying something new back at work.

The content mattered.  But, most often, it was the community that made the experience transformational.  It expanded what was possible. Through the perspectives, encouragement, accountability, and experiences of others, people were able to grow beyond the limits they would likely have encountered on their own.

That has me wondering if we’ve put too much emphasis on the leader as the primary developer of people.

What if one of the leader’s greatest contributions is designing a community where people begin developing one another?  A community where trust makes honest conversations possible and different perspectives are welcomed instead of avoided.  Where people challenge one another, encourage one another, and hold one another accountable, and where it’s safe to learn, but also expected that you’ll contribute.

I’m still thinking this through, so I don’t have a framework or a list of “five keys” to offer.

But I do think it’s a question worth asking.

If every leader leads a community, what are the conditions that make that community capable of producing transformational experiences?

We know that trust matters. Belonging probably does too.  Challenging people is important, as is accountability.

But I also wonder what I’m missing.

Over the next several months, I’d like to keep exploring that question—not because I have the answers, but because I think it’s one of the most practical leadership questions I’ve wrestled with in a long time.

I’d love to hear what you think.

Has there been a community (a team, organization, church, or professional community) that genuinely changed you?  If so, what was different about it?

If you’re ready to grow alongside other emerging leaders in a community designed to challenge, encourage, and develop you, applications for the next Emerging Leaders Program cohort are open through July 31.