Onsite Sewage Treatment Program

Communications and Working with Committees

The goal of communication is to keep the community fully engaged, and to keep residents up to speed on the progress made and decisions opportunities. The committee has two roles: communicate the progress to the community, and listen carefully to the responses of the residents.

Communication Skills

Communicating With Your Community, pdf
Tips for committees and task forces on communicating with your community

Sample Letter for a Committee Meeting
Sample of a letter that may be used to invite residents/property owners to the first meeting to begin discussing how to handle wastewater issues.

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Group Process and Facilitation Skills

Developing a task force or community leadership group, pdf, 342 KB

Facilitation Resources publication series, U of M Extension Service PC-7437 (1999)

  • Understanding Facilitation, Vol. 1
  • Getting Focused: Vision/Mission/Goals, Vol. 3
  • Managing Group Interaction, Vol. 4
  • Making Group Decisions, Vol. 5
  • Dealing with Group Conflict, Vol. 6
  • Utilizing Diversity, Power and Ethics, Vol. 7

Meeting Self-Assessment Tool
A checklist that can help a committee evaluate the effectiveness of meetings

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Leadership Skills

Leadership for the Common Good Fieldbook, U of M Extension Service CD-Rom
To order, go to Leadership for the Common Good Fieldbook

Leadership inspires and mobilizes others to undertake collective action in pursuit of the common good. Leading others to act for the common good makes democracy work the way our founders imagined and the way modern society demands. For over twenty years, the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and the University of Minnesota Extension Service have provided forums of instruction for leaders in Minnesota, the U.S. and the globe. The Leadership for the Common Good CD-Rom is a collection of tools for that instruction -- now available to classrooms, teachers, leaders and community organizations.

The tools include:

  • Introductory materials that describe the leadership for the Common Good framework.
  • Readings and exercises that focus the learner on eight essential elements for democratic leadership including leadership in context, personal leadership, team leadership, organizational leadership, visionary leadership, political leadership, ethical leadership and putting it all together. Power Point presentations and handout masters that help educators prepare for course and workshop instruction.