What do Healing Leaders have in common?

Healing leaders lead the whole person.
Healing leaders understand that their employees are people. They have lives outside of the organization and those outside lives affect the employee’s ability to be successful in the workplace. Healing leaders strive not only to understand all of the emotions and actions that influence their employees, but to assist their employees whenever possible to have more postive and fulfilling experiences. Healing leaders strive to maintain a healthy work environment, balance work and play and support health-concious efforts, such as physical fitness or healthy diet. They realize that a healthy, happy, whole employee will be more productive and loyal to the organization and strive to provide that to their staff.

Healing leaders foster community.
Healing leaders understand that coming together is important. They stress teamwork and idea-sharing. Healing leaders foster an environment where everyone feels empowered to make suggestions and share ideas, without fear of failure because they understand that good ideas can come from any level. They understand that workers who feel cared for and valued, not only by their employer, but by their peers as well, will result in higher production and a more positive work environment.

Healing leaders are hopeful.
Healing leaders “assume benign intent.” They see the positive in a person and find ways to support growth. Employees without hope are not happy employees. It is the leaders job to inspire a hope of better things in each of his employees, to encourage their growth and development.

Healing leaders have a vision.
In a crisis, everything stops. Often employees are drained and worried for the future. A healing leader has the vision to move forward, to set goals and to help the organization move past the crisis. Without that vision, the mission comes to a standstill. A healing leader looks toward the future, keeping the past in mind, and inspires his employees to do the same.

Think of the leaders you have worked with in the past or you work with today. How do they foster a healing environment in your workplace? If you are a leader, how do you foster a healing environment? Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I’ll provide some examples of healing leaders!