This paper focuses on defining and comparing four approaches for identifying the community's power actors. It outlines how professional change agents might use each of the four approaches to identify community power actors who are relevant for community development. The four approaches include the positional, the reputational, the decision-making, and the social participation. The positional approach assumes that the power to affect community decisions rests in the important positions of formal organizations in the community. The reputational approach identifies power actors behind-the-scenes who have a reputation for influencing decision making. The decision-making approach emphasizes the actual participation in decisions as the criterion for identifying community power actors. The social participation theory holds that power to affect community decisions is acquired through participation and office holding in the community's voluntary associations. Since each of the approaches contains limitations and tends to identify a different type of power actor, a combination of the four approaches is recommended for professional change agents. Specific techniques for applying each of the approaches are described. (Author/DE)