Free Custom «Reflection Paper: Forgiveness» Essay Paper

Forgiveness is a choice that a person makes to look past the faults that are committed by another person and to reconcile a relationship in spite of there being perceived betrayal. Forgiveness has been acknowledged as a noble quality necessary for a compassionate and effective leader. When a person who has failed to honor a duty is forgiven, he is able to regain self esteem and restore his ability to comfortably work together with the leader. The responsibility of a leader to serve other people mainly flows into forgiveness and compassion. Forgiveness of others and oneself after a mistake is committed allows the person to develop a culture in which risk-taking and creativity are encouraged, expected and acknowledged as being critical for organizations and individuals to achieve their potential.

Forgiveness is letting go the mistakes that a person has done. A person learns from forgiveness and is then able to address the situation. According to a definition that Covey gave for true forgiveness, it includes forgetting, letting it go and then moving forward. According to Enright, the person who forgives reaps more benefits than the person who is forgiven and there is freedom that comes from forgiveness for the two parties (Caldwell & Dixon, 2010). Forgiveness is at times a sacrifice where the people that have forgiven the other take upon themselves the effects of what has been done by others. Organizations that are highly declined such as the U.S. Marines expect failure from their members. Members are required to learn from the failures and to some extent, the Marines demand failure. Covey noted that forgiving leaders are able to build personal credibility, establish moral authority and also build trust for both organizations and individuals.

When connecting servant leadership and forgiveness, Greenleaf explained that servants have a character of accepting and empathizing. The author noted that servants also never reject responsibilities (Caldwell & Dixon, 2010). A leader, as a peoples’ servant, accepts responsibilities, but at times fails to accept the efforts or a good enough performance of a person. When people are forgiven, they are freed from the burden of their past mistakes and they are given an opportunity to start afresh.

According to the positive organizational scholarship, which is a new field in the study of leadership and organizations, emphasis is placed on the fact that the actions of leaders of organizations towards achievement of various outcomes include forgiveness for others in order to benefit other people’s self esteem and achieve organizational outcomes that are highly improved (Caldwell & Dixon, 2010). The act of forgiveness allows other people to move forward without being accompanied by a burden of guilt. When repairing relationships, forgiveness is a critical issue and is also an important element in the creation of a culture of commitment and cooperation in the leadership of an organization .

According to a note by Barling about forgiveness, it is genuinely empathetic rather than being self serving and is a major fact in building trust and restoration of a relationship (Caldwell & Dixon, 2010). Forgiveness is an act through which freedom is created to empower an organization.

The energy that people have is depleted by anger, resentment and bitterness and their relationships and performance are interfered with. Blame and resentment undermine the morale, innovativeness and productivity among people. A healing and a trustworthy environment can be cultivated by the leaders in places where forgiveness takes place. The act of forgiveness and release of negative emotions have benefits to both the injured person and the party that is guilty for the breach and is imperative in repairing workplace relationships. Organizations that create a culture of forgiveness for their employees make them feel like an important part of the organization. The act of forgiving is the point in which a leader will be in a position to build trust and facilitate healing. The leader will also be able to uplift himself and others.

A leader is able to trust the other person if he or she is willing to forgive the perception of violation of a relationship. The commitment that a leader has toward the other party and his ability to care for the other person forms the basis of forgiveness.

There are boundaries that show the manner in which forgiveness should be offered and when it should be offered. This is mainly based on the fact that the injured person must accept and have the willingness to forget the incident and then move forward.

I can choose to show forgiveness by accepting, letting go, forgetting and moving forward. This will enable me to have the willingness and readiness to face the consequences that result from the act of the other person. I will then enhance a good relationship with the other person and together we will learn from the mistake he made and develop a strategy that will prevent future occurrence of the same mistake. We will also try the best to address the mistake together and come up with a final conclusion that is directed toward making the relationship between us smooth.

Implementation of love, trust and forgiveness in organizations raise self-esteem of the employees and thus productivity level increases. Organizations are also in a position to cope with the rising challenges as employees and the management team are able to reason as a group and develop strategies that will solve these problems. When the three values are implemented, workers are granted their freedom and thus will feel motivated as they are able to voice their views witout fear. Adoption of the three values in any organization will will create a conducive working environment in which all worhkers will feel comfortable and motivated. This will help them work with full commitment in order to achieve the goals set by the organization.