Spiritual Leaders Must Repair the Past

In dealing with spiritual leadership it is more common to think about a leader’s impact on an organization’s present and future because of his or her values.

However, it is also critical that leaders take responsibility for the past they have created or inherited.

On Vision and Perspective

Vision relates primarily to the future and then to the present in so far as a spiritual leader makes present decisions in light of future hopes. However, it is not possible to construct a shared vision on defective foundations from the past.

• Harm has often been done to others by former vision-less leaders, and that needs to be healed.
• Harm has often been done to the integrity and trustworthiness of an organization, and that needs to be undone.
• Sometimes the harm ends but the roots of evil are deep and a spiritual leader must dig out the evils of the past before moving forward.

Some organizational evils—such as the greed and the lack of ethics we have seen—take such a hold there is not much one can do but cut out the cancer before moving ahead.

Thus, not only does vision impact the future but it must also heal the past.

Visionary leaders often live in pain, when they confront the decay of an organization’s values, or see how co-workers have surrendered to mediocrity regarding the quality of their commitment. If transformative change is to occur everyone must take responsibility for the reform of structures and of the values of their organization; they must together raise up the shared vision and give birth to a new dawn.

Repairing the Past

A spiritual leader repairs the past in several ways. Before anything else a leader must humbly review his or her own life to identify serious or smaller failures that have done harm and may continue to do so.

Perhaps the first question a person in a leadership position should ask if whether he or she is suitable as a leader.

The best service some can perform for their organizations is to leave them.

In examining one’s own past in need of repair, an honest leader may identify the following:

• Negative attitudes to people
• Abusive misuses of the organization for one’s own benefits
• A lack of direction
• A failure to build community
• An awareness of being distrusted, disliked, and disapproved of

Sometimes, a friend or mentor, a peer in another organization, or a spouse, can pinpoint obvious defects that a leader fails to see.

Healing Others’ Harm

A spiritual leader must repair harm done to others either by former leaders or by the organization’s unhealthy structures or policies. Every organization has people in pain for one reason or another, and before a leader can move forward to vision, he or she must restore others to they can give their best.

This means attention to a healthy working environment, just policies, and open communications.

It also calls for the removal of any unethical practices, misuse of power, unjust salary scales, and autocratic administration. Spiritual leaders will build a spirit of reconciliation, mutual appreciation, and a strong sense of community.

Healing Organizational Harm

A spiritual leader will need to give attention to repairing damage done by the organization itself, perhaps because of its lack of shared values, vision, and mission.

They will check the structural components:

• Value statement
• Strategic plan
• Code of ethics
• Oversight board
• Hiring procedures
• Decision-making processes
• Conflict management procedures

Only when the organization functions to the benefit of workers can the leader move forward to vision.

Vision For the Future

In examining the past in view of a vision for the future, a spiritual leader must work with dedication on a series of convictions.

Mission precedes profits

Values precede strategies

Just wages precede shareholder returns

A leader’s sense of purpose precedes compensation package

The common good precedes personal advancement

Hope precedes stunted motivational techniques

So what type of healing is needed at your organization. Are the pain or dysfunction from the past apparent, or do they lurk underneath the surface? What can you do to quickly step up and address the past to help the present and the future? I would love to hear your thoughts!

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