Community Health Indicators
Participation Patterns
Healthy Indicators
- Broad engagement: Multiple members actively participating
- Balanced contributions: No single person dominating all interactions
- Consistent attendance: Core members showing up regularly
- Voluntary involvement: People participating without constant prompting
- Initiative taking: Members spontaneously contributing ideas and support
Warning Signs
- Founder dependency: Only the founder/leader initiating activities
- Participation inequality: Small minority doing all the work
- Declining attendance: Fewer people showing up over time
- Obligation-driven engagement: Participation from duty rather than desire
- Passive consumption: Members attending but not contributing
Energy Quality
Healthy Indicators
- Post-gathering energy: People leaving events feeling energized
- Extended interactions: Conversations continuing beyond official end times
- Spontaneous gatherings: Members connecting outside scheduled events
- Visible enthusiasm: Animated conversations and positive body language
- Generative discussions: Conversations that build and develop ideas
Warning Signs
- Energy depletion: Members leaving exhausted rather than energized
- Quick departures: People leaving immediately when formal activities end
- Obligation language: “I should go” rather than “I want to go”
- Low physical energy: Subdued body language and minimal expression
- Circular discussions: Same topics revisited without development
Conflict Patterns
Healthy Indicators
- Direct communication: Issues addressed with relevant people
- Constructive disagreement: Different perspectives shared respectfully
- Resolution focus: Emphasis on finding solutions rather than placing blame
- Learning orientation: Conflicts seen as opportunities for growth
- Relationship preservation: Maintaining connection even amid disagreement
Warning Signs
- Triangulation: Talking about people rather than to them
- Faction formation: Group splitting into opposing camps
- Conflict avoidance: Important issues left unaddressed
- Personalization: Disagreements becoming character attacks
- Unresolved tensions: Same conflicts emerging repeatedly
Innovation Level
Healthy Indicators
- New initiatives: Fresh ideas and activities emerging regularly
- Experimentation comfort: Willingness to try different approaches
- Idea building: Members developing and improving each other’s suggestions
- Adaptation capacity: Flexibility in response to changing circumstances
- Learning integration: Incorporating insights from successes and failures
Warning Signs
- Rigid routines: Same activities repeated without evolution
- Resistance to change: New ideas consistently rejected
- Nostalgia focus: Excessive reference to “how things used to be”
- Risk aversion: Only safe, proven approaches considered
- Stagnant conversations: Same topics discussed in the same ways
Inclusion Reality
Healthy Indicators
- Diverse participation: Variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and styles
- Newcomer integration: New members becoming actively involved
- Belonging language: “We” and “our” used naturally in conversation
- Multiple access points: Different ways for people to contribute
- Accommodation practices: Adjustments made for different needs
Warning Signs
- Homogeneity: Members all similar in background or perspective
- Insider culture: Jargon and references that exclude newcomers
- Invisible barriers: Unstated expectations that limit participation
- Token inclusion: Superficial diversity without meaningful integration
- Accessibility issues: Physical, financial, or social barriers to participation
Purpose Alignment
Healthy Indicators
- Mission references: Regular connection of activities to core purpose
- Value consistency: Actions aligned with stated community values
- Meaningful activities: Events and projects that serve the community’s goals
- Impact awareness: Understanding of how efforts contribute to purpose
- Evolving relevance: Purpose adapting to changing member needs
Warning Signs
- Mission drift: Activities disconnected from original purpose
- Value-action gap: Stated values not reflected in community behavior
- Means-ends confusion: Processes becoming more important than outcomes
- Purpose amnesia: Rarely discussing why the community exists
- Relevance decline: Purpose no longer addressing current member needs
Leadership Sustainability
Healthy Indicators
- Distributed responsibility: Multiple people sharing leadership functions
- Skill development: Members growing into new roles and capabilities
- Succession planning: Preparation for leadership transitions
- Appropriate boundaries: Leaders maintaining sustainable commitments
- Appreciation practices: Recognition of leadership contributions
Warning Signs
- Leader burnout: Signs of exhaustion in key contributors
- Responsibility concentration: Increasing duties falling to fewer people
- Reluctant leadership: People taking roles out of obligation rather than desire
- Stalled development: No new members moving into leadership
- Martyrdom culture: Celebrating overwork and self-sacrifice
Growth Trajectory
Healthy Indicators
- Intentional growth: Clear thinking about desired size and pace
- Sustainable expansion: New members balanced with integration capacity
- Depth development: Relationships deepening over time
- Resource alignment: Growth matched with available resources
- Quality focus: Emphasis on connection quality over member quantity
Warning Signs
- Membership churn: High turnover without retention
- Growth obsession: Numbers prioritized over experience quality
- Resource strain: Expansion beyond capacity to support
- Diluted connection: Increasing size without structures for belonging
- Stagnation acceptance: Assuming decline is inevitable
Using This Assessment
Implementation Tips
- Conduct assessments regularly (quarterly or bi-annually)
- Involve multiple perspectives rather than relying on leaders’ views alone
- Look for patterns across multiple indicators rather than focusing on just one
- Use results to guide specific improvements rather than general judgments
- Celebrate strengths while addressing areas for growth
Customization Guidance
- Adapt indicators to match your community’s specific purpose and values
- Add context-specific measures that matter for your particular community
- Weight different indicators based on your community’s current priorities
- Develop appropriate measurement approaches for your community size
- Create simple, sustainable assessment processes that don’t burden members