Servant Leadership

1
Servant Leadership

• A New and Effective Leadership Style?

2
Leadership. What is it?

• A leader is one who influences others to perform
  beyond their current level or ability
• A leader is a guide who envisions goals, builds
  trust, inspires support, and creates teams

3
Why is leadership important?

• Leadership is about gazing ahead and holding
  course on a distant goal
• In a constantly changing world, strong leadership
  can provide direction in the chaos
• Leaders can have a great deal of impact on the
  success and growth of an organization and the
  people within it

4
Possible benefits of good leadership

• A great place to work
• Decreased injuries, turnover and sick leave
• Increased productivity

5
What is old is new again

• The best leaders are those the people
• hardly know exist.
• The next best is a leader who is loved and
  praised.
• Next comes the one who is feared.
• The worst one is the leader that is despised.
•  
• If you don't trust the people,
• they will become untrustworthy.
•  
• The best leaders value their words, and
• use them sparingly.
• When she has accomplished her task,
• the people say, "Amazing
• we did it, all by ourselves!"
•  
• Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

6
What is old is new again

• Who is Greatest?  
•  They came to Capernaum. When he was in the
  house,
• he asked them, "What were you arguing about on
  the road?"
• But they kept quiet because on the way they
• had argued about who was the greatest.  
• Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said,
• "If anyone wants to be first,
• he must be the very last, and the servant of
  all."
•  
• Mark 933-35

7
So what is servant-leadership?

• A philosophy of leadership that is grounded in
  Judeo-Christian philosophical traditions and
  teachings which see leadership as a relationship,
  not as an individuals traits or position
• The term servant-leader arose from Robert
  Greenleafs essay, The Servant as Leader (1970)
• Influenced by Herman Hesses novel, Journey to
  the East
• In the book, Leo was servant to the group, but
  all fell apart once Leo disappeared. He later
  appears as a great and powerful leader. He had
  held the group together and given them purpose by
  acting as servant.

8
So what is servant-leadership?

• Serving first leading second leading comes as
  a natural consequence of serving
• Servant leaders serve others so that they can be
  successful in their work and lives while reaching
  the organizations vision and goals
• Servant leadership is bound closely to
  organizational culture
• Although theoretically sound, servant-leadership
  has not been extensively empirically evaluated
  for effectiveness

9
Who is a servant-leader?

• Servant leader is a first among equals who uses
  persuasion (not coercion) to become a partner in
  community-building
• A servant-leader is a steward
• Holds the organization in trust to the public it
  serves
• Remains attuned to needs of individuals in
  organization
• Empowers others to succeed professionally and
  personally
• A servant-leader is one who is committed to the
  growth of both the individual and the
  organization, and who works to build community
  within organizations.

10
Characteristics of servant-leaders

• Listening
• Empathy
• Healing
• Awareness
• Persuasion

• Conceptualization
• Foresight
• Stewardship
• Commitment to the growth of people
• Building community

11
Listening

• Deep commitment to listening intently to others.
• Identify and clarify the will of a group by
  listening receptively to what is said and unsaid.
  
• Also, reflective listening to ones inner voice
  is growth promoting.

12
Empathy

• Strive to understand and empathize with others
  people need acceptance and recognition for their
  unique spirits.
• Leaders may reject a persons behaviors or
  performance while accepting him/her as a person.
• They assume good intentions of co-workers and
  colleagues.
• Successful leaders are skilled empathetic
  listeners.

13
Healing

• Relationships can have a powerful transformative
  and healing force.
• Many of us have suffered a variety of emotional
  hurts, and both leader and follower share the
  search for wholeness.
• Leaders have an opportunity to help make others
  (and themselves) whole.

14
Awareness

• Leaders need to deeply understand themselves as
  well as the issues in the world around them
  (ethics, power, and values).
• A leader does not gloss over disturbing
  discoveries and thus views situations from a more
  integrated, holistic position.

15
Persuasion

• The servant-leader seeks to convince others,
  rather than coerce compliance using one's
  positional authority for making decisions within
  an organization.
• The servant-leader builds consensus within
  groups.
• Coercive power is ultimately destructive and
  results in failure to achieve organizational
  objectives.

16
Conceptualization

• Nurture the ability to dream great dreams.
• Think beyond day-to-day realities (operational
  perspective) and stretch their minds to encompass
  broader-based conceptual thinking.
• Seek a delicate balance between conceptual
  thinking and a day-to-day operational approach.

17
Foresight

• A leader predicts the likely outcome of a
  situation.
• The servant-leader understands lessons from the
  past, realities of the present, and likely
  consequences of a decision for the future.
• The quality is deeply rooted within the intuitive
  mind.

18
Stewardship

• A servant leader holds the organization in trust
  for the greater good of society.
• Servant-leadership assumes primarily a commitment
  to serving the needs of others.
• It emphasizes the use of openness and persuasion,
  rather than control.

19
Commitment to growth of people

• People have an intrinsic value beyond their
  tangible contributions as workers.
• A leader is deeply committed to the growth of
  each individual within the organization.
• Expressions may include funding personal and
  professional development, taking personal
  interest in everyones ideas and suggestions,
  encouraging worker involvement in decision
  making, and actively assisting laid-off employees
  to find other positions.

20
Building community

• Community shapes human lives leaders seek to
  build community among those in the organization.
• The servant-leader senses the loss in the shift
  from local communities to large institutions as
  the primary shaper of human lives thus, the
  servant leader seeks to identify ways to build
  community among those who work within a given
  institution.

21
What makes a good servant-leader?

• ...It begins with the natural feeling that one
  wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious
  choice brings one to aspire to lead.making
  sure that other peoples highest priority needs
  are being served. - Greenleaf
• Test of servant leaders
• Do those served grow as persons?
• While being served,
• Do they become healthier? (physically and
  emotionally)
• Do they become wiser?
• Do they become freer?
• Do they become more autonomous?
• Do they become servant leaders?
• What is the effect on the least privileged in
  society? Will they benefit or at least not be
  further deprived?

22
Transformational Servant Leader
23
Transformational vs. Servant Leader
24
How servant-leadership works

• Founded in relationships
• Trust
• Respect
• Service
• Building a trusting, supportive community fosters
  creativity and initiative
• Foster participation
• Engage in helping relationships with employees
• Actively listen to workers
• Use a consistent leadership style

25
How servant-leadership works

• Based more on cooperation and shared
  decision-making than command and control
  hierarchies
• Greater trust leads to greater communication and
  cooperation which leads to greater performance
• Focus on objectives is balanced by deep
  commitment to growth of people and building of
  community within the organization.

26
How servant-leaders view leading

• Helping others succeed in their work promotes the
  goals of the organization
• Helping each person to be best self creates
  better employees
• Separate the behavior from the personal worth
• Dont accept mediocre performance
• Keep focus on achieving organizational objectives
  within organizational values
• Love extend oneself for others by identifying
  and meeting their legitimate needs and seeking
  their greatest good
• Support and coach
• Greater employee responsibility ? greater
  ownership and enthusiasm
• Generating healthy, meaningful relationships and
  fostering trust
• Understanding problems from all stakeholders
  perspectives

27
Problems with servant-leadership

• Increased productivity claims are largely
  unproven by empirical research
• Theoretically sound
• Trust can be linked to individual organizational
  and individual performance
• Trust is a powerful factor in determining job
  satisfaction and fostering individual
  productivity
• Trust must be embedded into the organizations
  culture rather than existing only among
  individuals.
• Servant leadership does build trust (Reinke)

28
Problems with servant-leadership

• Servant leadership as defined by Greenleaf is
  open-ended
• Greenleaf rejects authoritarian or coercive
  approaches but does not explain how a leader is
  to reconcile conflicts between objectives of
  individuals and needs of organization

29
Questions or Comments?