The caravanserai is a safe space.
Executive leadership – be it within a for-profit company, not-for-profit organization, or any kind of organizational structure – is a remarkably heavy and often lonely experience. I know what it means to lose sleep due to concern for colleagues and their families, to carry the weight of my team’s psychological, emotional, and financial well-being on my shoulders as I make decisions, to fight for them in ways that they never see, to empower and promote them in ways that they never recognize or appreciate, and to compliment them and build them up when they never reciprocate the affirmation and praise. It is painful when the very people we fight for then turn around to criticize, complain, and sometimes even slander and defame us, but that is the job; we take it all for the team and for the larger mission and vision to which we have devoted ourselves. We recognize that the mission and vision transcend the personalities and sometimes even trauma that our people bring to the work, but that does not make the burden any lighter or less solitary.
Where can a leader go when she or he needs support? Often, in the case of non-profits, the board can be just another theatre of demands, critical comments, discouragement, and disapproving remarks that emanate from a board member’s need to feel relevant. So where does the battle weary leader go for simple recognition, understanding, support, affirmation, and counsel?
The same question looms for those in positions of chaplaincy and religious leadership. Where do chaplains go when they need spiritual care and guidance? Where do spiritual care givers and guides go when they need spiritual care and guidance? When is it safe for a priest, rabbi, imam, rinpoche, zen or dharma master, swami, guru, or other religious leader to step down from the pedestal on which their communities put them and deal with their own humanity and brokenness?
These questions point to some of the needs that must be addressed in order to keep our organizations and communities healthy, and so we need to make room in our confidential consultations for leadership care. This is one of the important services that Caravanserai Consulting provides. No podcast cameras. No social media posts. No congregational audience. Just safety, confidentiality, and care.
The caravanserai was always designed to be a safe space, a nourishing space, a place that leaves you rested, restored, and ready to resume the journey.