INNISFAIL - Doug Griffiths is a firm believer that when a thousand people in your community do small things with a belief they would not make a big difference they will find out it makes a huge difference.
"Take the small things that are fixable and fix them and it will make the big problems go away eventually," said Griffiths.
It is a conviction he holds as part of a 13-part solution to create a better community. In fact, it is all there in his national bestselling book 13 Ways To Kill Your Community, a work he first created while an MLA in 2010, recently updated for a second edition.
Today, the former Alberta MLA and cabinet minister, who served in the Progressive Conservative government from 2002 to 2015, is the founder and CEO of 13 Ways Inc., a consulting firm. He is regularly invited by communities from across North America to give advice on what to do and what not to do to build a better community.
Griffiths was in Innisfail on Jan. 17 as a speaker for the Second Annual Business Conference at the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre. The Innisfail and District Chamber of Commerce hosted the event, held with the theme How to Make Your Business Boom, in a Bust. Along with Griffiths, the conference also featured presentations by Chris Chivilo, owner of W.A. Grain & Pulse Solutions; Nicole Lorrain, workforce consultant for the provincial government's STEP program; and Ed Straw, ATB vice-president for strategic business solutions.
Before his presentation, Griffiths said in an interview that one of the biggest challenges communities face is not adapting to change.
"And now the government in Alberta has changed, a lot of rules and regulations have changed, tax structures have changed, but things have always been changing," said Griffiths, who retired from political life early in 2015, less than four months before the provincial election that saw the Tories swept out of power. "Every aspect of our communities has constantly been changing and more change is going to come in the next 10 years than we have experienced in the last 50, and that is why it is important to help communities realize that these are the good old days, and you can't try to hold onto the past, and you need to prepare for the future."
And while a community's resistance to change is detailed in his book, so is the importance of cooperation and how communities are too often living in isolation in an ever-changing world where there is a growing need for communities to find institutional partners, such as Communities in Bloom, chambers of commerce or downtown business associations, to remain or become competitive in a global marketplace.
"They don't operate in isolation. They are all working towards the same goal - to bring about prosperity," said Griffiths. "It is important for organizations to learn better how to work together, because we are not competing against each other any more, or the community down the road. We are competing against the rest of the world."
While his book and presentation to communities cover a variety of other areas where communities face challenges, such as youth, seniors and immigrants, Griffith said when he narrows down his list one rises to the top -- "don't take responsibility.
"Any single one of them can single-handedly destroy a community. There are so many," he said. "Frankly, I hear so many people say, ëthere's nothing I can do about it. I hope the town council can fix it or I hope the Communities in Bloom can make it better, or maybe the chamber of commerce can address it, and that is a way of putting our responsibility for making our community onto somebody else.
"When it comes down to it we are all members of the community and we all have to take responsibility to try to make it better. I guarantee you there isn't a government or a situation that can stop them from being successful," he added. "It is up to people to decide if they want to be successful. When they decide that, they are pretty much unstoppable."
For more on Griffiths' company and book visit his website at www.13ways.ca
Doug Griffiths
"When it comes down to it we are all members of the community and we all have to take responsibility to try to make it better. I guarantee you there isn't a government or a situation that can stop them from being successful."
