TIME Magazine has an article titled, A Sense of Community, in their September 22 issue. The article is primarily 21 ways to serve America written by their editors and submitted by others.

As leaders we need to consider some of these suggestions very seriously:

Re-think Christmas: This is an interesting concept to consider promoting to your employees starting in October. Is there a way you could support and/or contribute to their gifts of time and resources with those less fortunate rather than themselves during the Christmas season?

Get Out!: This suggestion aligns with your company values if your organization likes outdoor activities. It recommends getting involved in preserving our natural resources.

Turn Off the Tube: Virtually everyone who works for your organization does not have enough time to do all that they would like to do each day. One simple way for them to increase the amount of time available to help others as a volunteer is to simply turn off the television and leave it off. I have a growing number of friends who have stopped having cable television both to give themselves more free time and to avoid the trashy programming.

Cut Your Hair!: Why not encourage your employees to grow their hair as a group and then get it cut to donate their ponytails to nonprofits like Locks of Love and Weeks for Kids? These groups make wigs and hair pieces for children who lost their hair because of cancer treatments or medical conditions. The ponytail has to be a least 10 inches long so this might be a long-term project.

Take Off from Work: Instead of increasing the number of vacation days, why not give people additional days off but only if they use the days to do volunteer work for a recognized nonprofit organization?

At the end of the day we are a community. As leaders, we can more fully engage our employees and make the work more meaningful by encouraging them to serve our communities for the common good.