The Spiritual Leader’s Task to Maintain the Dream

The task of the spiritual leader is to serve others in the best and worst of times. Such a leader must be a person of integrity whom followers see as a person of credibility.

They expect such a leader to consistently maintain a climate of mutual trust and call the organization to an ongoing conversion to its vision.

A Grander Vision

But, vision is not something possessed by a minority in the organization, nor is it the exclusive responsibility of central administration. Rather, it belongs to everyone within an organization and all have something to contribute.  If the vision is to be relevant to changing times, it will mean skillfully and responsibly interpreting the vision.

At times, organizations have managers who live in arrogant isolation, failing to see the need for change in themselves and in their organizations. Such managers lack long-term commitment and become obstacles to organizational change and transformation.

Their days as leaders are numbered, since it is the essential task of leadership to produce change, whether it be personal, community, or organizational.

But to see things that others do not see, and then facilitate the required change, is an eventual component of leadership.

For leadership is the restless pursuit of what lies ahead.

Being Proactive

Reacting to changes that afflict an organization is not enough. Introducing change wherever needed, he or she carefully selects the direction that change needs to take. Effective leaders do more than react to what hits them, rather they proactively introduce changes some of which become the breakthroughs that lead to great organizations.

Part of a spiritual leader’s calling is to present vision so that it becomes the source of a dream that attracts others.

One’s scope as a leader has widened, giving one a new freedom to be what one has always dreamed of being and at the same time, little by little, to also help others to dream. When we seem to live with global burnout and people are depressed with their leaders, institutions, and hopes for the future, maintaining a dream is more important than ever.

The Power of The Dream

Great leaders use the power of the dream. The dream a spiritual leader promotes is that people can achieve personal fulfillment and can build community together. Working together in dialogue, collaboration, and dynamic relationships, we can enrich each other and in synergy achieve more together than as separate parts.

We can dream of uniting work and spirituality, believing we can do good while working well, and thus that we can contribute to the common good. In contemporary organizations with their tensions and pressures, a leader can still foster high morale.

The dream reminds us that all people are important for who they are and not for the kind of work they do.

A leader can create an environment that is conducive to human growth and spiritual maturity.

Drawing Others to the Dream

It is the leader’s task to draw others to the dream. This includes building positive attitudes from inside the organization and not being put off by inevitable criticisms. It starts by challenging old ways and showing the benefits of change and transformation.

A leader does this by sharing information and insights, and by raising issues no one else does.

It means sharing your thinking even if it unsettles and disturbs others.

Sharing the Love

At the same time a leader shares knowledge, he or she must share on an affective level, empathizing with others, and letting them know they are loved. The leader must evidence enthusiasm and excitement for the dream and inspire confidence that together people can attain it.

They needs to be optimistic, constantly joyful, and always ready to celebrate intermediate achievements on the journey to the dream.

Maintaining a dream is a sign of leadership maturity and calls the leader to set high attainable goals, to teach all the time, and to share and learn from others. A spiritual leader is a dreamer who offers refreshing and creative ideas and longs to communicate his or her dream, ideas, vision, and intuition with others.

There is a magical property about leadership, as the leader enables others to dream.

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