Love and Compassion for Successful Leaders Value #6 - Being “ Grudgeless”
Continued best wishes for safety and good health to all my friends that read and follow my posts every week on this very important topic. I believe that there is no better time than now to be a loving and compassionate leader! Your family needs you, your team needs you, and our country needs you!
Being “grudgeless” is a very important love and compassion leadership value, but it can also be the most challenging. Are you a “grudgeless” leader who is willing to forgive? Pastor Jeff Henderson from Atlanta Buckhead Church states that “the longer you hold a grudge, the longer the grudge has a hold on you.” What happens to us doesn’t matter - the only thing that matters is how we respond.
How can you be a “grudgeless” leader if the organization you lead is wronged by an employee? Is it a one-time violation or is it a repeated occurrence? Is the employee self-aware of the violation? Next step should be a collaborative discussion between the offending employee’s manager and HR before proceeding with any potential disciplinary action.
A grudgeless, loving, and compassionate leader will strongly consider providing the offending employee the benefit of the doubt IF there is not certainty of the violation. Even if there is certainly, are you willing to forgive depending on the circumstances? Forgiveness will likely lead to a positive ripple effect throughout the organization because of the employee’s seeing their leader’s grudgeless attitude, which likely create create higher levels of trust and job engagement throughout the company.
Many of you are working from home during this unprecedented time. Subsequently, please take this time as a gift to really think about being a loving and compassionate leader, especially a grudgeless one! That said , there will be more to come next week on being a grudgeless leader in both your professional and personal life.
Be safe, healthy, loving, and compassionate in all you do as a leader, and as a person.