As servant-leaders, one of our responsibilities is to gauge the energy, mood and feel of the groups and organizations we serve.  

For example, if we are facilitating a meeting, and we sense that the energy of the group has diminished or the group seems blocked and can’t make a decision, then we as the servant-leader can name that and ask the group members for their perceptions and then work together to figure out the cause for the lack of energy or the difficulty in going forward.

Most commentators agree that our recent election process was a time filled with anger, rancor and unkind, even vicious words, accusations and advertisements.  As servant-leaders, it is our challenge to ask what that was about – what caused it – and to find ways in our own lives and with the people in our own lives to build a foundation so that the next electoral campaigns can be more civil, more productive in terms of debates and laying out ideas for the common good.

What are your thoughts on this – what are the underlying, maybe hidden, causes for the viciousness that we observed?  Was it fear, anxiety, anger – if so, about what?  As we think about this, we can remember that, as I’ve had to learn, the causes can be varied; many reasons for the behavior might be in the mix, as opposed to one great underlying cause fostering the negativity.

Let’s think together about what’s going on in not only our own lives but in the country and work together to make the next election period a more servant-leader filled opportunity for the country and local areas to reflect on the upcoming chapter of its leadership needs.

Katherine Elberfeld
Founder