Leadership is Healing - Greenleaf Pt 3

“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words can leave scars that last a lifetime.” - D. Rough

“By His stripes we are healed” - Isaiah 53:5

“Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.” - James 5:14-15

The topic of healing is a controversial one in almost every context. The Christian church has been divided over physical healing for hundreds of years. Some believers hold that God heals on a regular basis and should be an anticipation of those with faith. Others see healing as a rare supernatural intervention that, in God's grace, is a miraculous gift to the recipient. Still others feel that physical healing was a gift of the Holy Spirit for the first century church only and is not operative today. And yet others believe that healing is primarily an inner wholeness of the emotion and a strength to withstand the physical ailments of the body. Regardless of your doctrine stand on physical healing, I hope that we could all agree on the transforming power of God to heal the inner man of the deep wounds of sins committed or received (2 Corinthians 5:17). Whether we are the guilty dispenser of sin or the innocent recipient of the sins of others, wounds and scars remain.

One of the most interesting concepts of servant leadership that Greenleaf (1991) offers is that of healing. In Greenleaf's thinking, healing refers to the mending of broken relationships and wounded emotions suffered by followers. A shared search for wholeness between leader and the led is a powerful element in Greenleaf's explanation of servant leadership.

As I am reflecting over this leadership principle of healing, I am impressed with several ideas. The first thought that came crashing into my mind was the need for leaders to understand the forgiveness process. Forgiveness is a two-way, dynamic interchange. Forgiveness involes both seeking and granting. When I sin by offending another person, I must humbly (and hopefully, quickly) go to that person and seek forgiveness. Seeking forgiveness does not involve a rationalization for my sin or an attempt to blame or share my sin with anyone else; but rather it means a straight up admission of my wrong-doing, of my stupidity, of my error....of my sin. Seeking forgiveness demands a true humility and sorrow for the hurt caused. This is a difficult thing to do because we must burry our pride and take the action appropriate to our guilt. The other side of the coin may at times be even harder to accomplish....granting forgiveness. When the human instrument of our wound comes seeking our forgiveness, we often times do not want to give it.... we want revenge or retribution. The person does not deserve to get away it with only a simple apology! And yet, we sometimes fail to realize that the granting forgiveness brings about the healing in our lives. The granting is the catalyst for transformation – the guilty finds release; the victim finds restoration.

A second thought regarding healing involves change. Words are the powerful beginning to the healing, but time addresses the deeper scars. I overheard a wise teacher tell his students several times when a student recognized that he/she had done something wrong, “Sorry is good, change is better.” In the healing process, saying you're sorry is good...in fact it is a brave and excellent thing to do. But demonstrating your sorry through a changed life is even better. The healing balm continues to soothe as change in attitudes, actions, and reactions consistently reinforce the words of confession. Leaders need to be careful to live out their words of contrition... to demonstrate their sincerity with consistent authenticity.

One final thought involves the long-range commitment to healing. For the health of the individual, of relationships, and of the entire organization, I would recommend that every leader develop long fuses and keep short accounts. A long fuse keeps frustration, anger, and irritation under control. The old recipe of “counting slowly to 10”, can be a powerful practice in lengthening the fuse. The wise advice of “sleeping on it, before you make a rash decision,” can help us avoid the short fuse, knee-jerk reactions to life. The keeping of short accounts means to to quickly clear the air of disagreements and offenses. If a person offends you, don't brood about it or stir the pot of irritation; instead just go and have a talk...share your hurt, and your heart and make things right. Keeping a record of offenses without resolution, can build walls of bitterness and resentment. The “long account” will soon result in a debt that cannot be paid without a huge expense to the relationship. Leaders need to role model this short-account approach to conflict resolution.

I firmly believe that there is a direct correlation between the emotional and the physical,,, between one's spiritual health and one's physical vitality. So as a leader focuses on the emotional and relational healing that is desperately needed in today's organizations, I think a great deal of physical healing will result as well.

Greenleaf, R.K. (1991). The servant as leader Indianapolis, IN; The Robert Greenleaf Center.

Photos found at Flickr click on photo for source information