Remembering Past Experiences

From Vantage Point 3, Equipping Leaders, Stage 4: Process:

Remembering past experiences can be a barrier to openess in relationships. Often when leaders are challenged to practice openess with their followers, they respond by saying, "I tried that once. But what I shared with them, they later used against me." Past experiences can be quite a deterrrent to developing positive, open leader-follower relationships. Whenever a person shares something personal with another person and that person misuses that information, trust is broken. Broken trust results in feelings of betrayal and rejection and adds to one's fears and insecurities. All of these are painful in the life of the leader.

David Prior, in the book "Creating Community," warns us of the risk involved with being vulnerable as a leader, "It is costly and painful to be open in leadership; it will never be otherwise...When those in leadership set an example in openess, permission is given to others to be open - but opportunity is also given for others to manipulate and maneuver for their own ends. Because of this danger, it is important that we are committed, for strong personal and spiritual reasons, to pursuing an open style of leadership. Anything less than such a considered and consistent commitment will soon flounder."