One of the most desirable traits to have in spiritual leadership is a mindset that is committed to improvement, not just for the self but for the business, corporate culture, and people within it. This is something Technalink has always promoted, and one of the best ways to achieve this is to take an active role in helping those within the company to improve.
However, while this is a good goal to pursue, the way it is executed must be handled with care. Deciding to improve yourself is one thing. How you go about enhancing employees, fellow executives, and others in your company can, if done incorrectly, do more harm than good.
Generic Criticism Benefits No One
There are two crucial steps when it comes to improvement, and neither one of them is broad, unspecific negativity for its own sake. Unfortunately, sometimes hurtful comments can be deflected by people claiming they are “just trying to be constructive,” but a remark such as “You are bad at your job” or “You are a bad person” doesn’t provide any evidence of a sincere desire to see improvement.
True spiritual leadership is about providing opportunities for people to take the necessary actions and desire to improve themselves. Nothing that is done under duress is likely to develop into meaningful, long-term improvement, so much as action taken to avoid punishment, and unlikely to last once the threat of punishment is removed.
Specificity In Identifying Issues
As stated before, improvement comes from two crucial steps. The first is identifying a problem. “You are bad at this” is a generic comment that lacks any specificity, and it is only by being specific that a person can be made aware of where issues may lie.
On the other hand, noting that someone is struggling with a particular software or that they are inadvertently making clients uncomfortable during interactions at business meetings is a much more detailed analysis that points to a circumstance where some action can be taken.
Providing Paths To Improvement
The next step for productive spiritual leadership is ensuring that there are tangible opportunities to embrace improvement in helping to find solutions, such as more intensive training in particular software, helping someone to understand which specific interactions are unintentionally complicating situations, and providing alternatives.
This shows a desire on the part of managers and executives to see employees learn skills. This will benefit them throughout the rest of their careers and possibly even their personal lives, not just in a specific instance where disciplinary action might be called for.
Make It Supportive, Not Personal
It is also important to understand that how feedback is delivered is just as crucial as the detail of the input itself. Constructive feedback should not be given in anger, and perhaps more importantly, it should never be personal, which is how criticism can be elevated to an insult.
Calmly and sympathetically identifying a specific issue and then helping to point out possible routes to resolution will always be received better than an angry remark or a stern, one-sided lecture. The more diplomatic approach is both more interactive and shows a genuine desire to see a person improve for their own personal and professional benefit. Criticisms or demands for self-improvement laid out in anger tend to imply the speaker is more concerned with addressing a source of irritation, and there is no sympathy or desire to see others improve.
There’s always a lot to learn when it comes to spiritual leadership, but fortunately, there are resources to fall back on. If you’re interested in learning more, try The Om Factor: A Women’s Spiritual Guide To Leadership, which is now available to all in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
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