being a servant leader essay

• What is Servant Leadership?

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” -Robert K. Greenleaf

Servant Leadership is a non-traditional leadership philosophy, embedded in a set of behaviors and practices that place the primary emphasis on the well-being of those being served.

The Servant as Leader

While servant leadership is a timeless concept, the phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay, Greenleaf said:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

“The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?“

A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

The Institution as Servant

Robert Greenleaf recognized that organizations as well as individuals could be servant-leaders. Indeed, he had great faith that servant-leader organizations could change the world. In his second major essay, The Institution as Servant, Greenleaf articulated what is often called the “credo.” There he said:

“This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions – often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt. If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them.”

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What Is Servant Leadership? A Philosophy for People-First Leadership

This article was from CIO and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive Content Marketplace . Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com .

Servant leadership is a leadership style that prioritizes the growth, well-being, and empowerment of employees. It aims to foster an inclusive environment that enables everyone in the organization to thrive as their authentic self. Whereas traditional leadership focuses on the success of the company or organization, servant leadership puts employees first to grow the organization through their commitment and engagement. When implemented correctly, servant leadership can help foster trust, accountability, growth, and inclusion in the workplace.

Proponents say that by improving the emotional health of employees servant leadership empowers employees to express themselves more freely in the workplace. Employees then turn around and give the same nurturing to their coworkers, creating a welcoming environment that enables and encourages growth and quality work. A major aspect of servant leadership is acceptance of others; by creating an environment where everyone feels accepted, it helps create a "psychological ethical climate" that allows employees to be authentic and not fear judgment from leadership for being themselves. It encourages a forgiving and understanding attitude that allows employees to make mistakes, learn from their mistakes, and channel that into personal and professional growth in the organization.

Servant leadership theory

The theory of servant leadership was started by Robert K. Greenleaf, who popularized the term in a 1970s essay titled "The Servant as Leader." After reading the book Journey to the East , Greenleaf was inspired by the main character, Leo, a servant who disappears from work. After his disappearance, the productivity and effectiveness of the rest of the workers falls apart, revealing that Leo was in fact a leader all along. This led Greenleaf to believe that servant leadership is effective in its ability to allow workers to relate to leaders and vice versa, creating more trust and autonomy for workers. Greenleaf first put this theory to test while working as an executive at AT&T, and it's gained traction over the years as an effective leadership style.

Greenleaf initially proposed an "I serve" mentality for servant leadership and based it on the two main premises of "I serve because I am the leader," and "I am the leader because I serve." The first premise is focused on altruism, a selfless concern for others, while the second premise hinges on a person's ambition to become a leader.

Servant leadership model

Greenleaf's original premise for servant leadership was relatively vague compared to other leadership approaches and models, which has led to several interpretations of his original idea to either expand on the concept of servant leadership or help offer more specific guidelines to what servant leadership looks like in practice.

Larry Spears, former president of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, in " Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective Caring Leaders " has outlined the qualities that a servant leader needs to have to be impactful. These characteristics include empathy, listening, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and building community.

Two researchers, Barbuto and Wheeler , evolved Spears's 10 characteristics into a framework called "the natural desire to serve others," which combines Spears's 10 characteristics into five dimensions of servant leadership that includes altruistic calling, emotional healing, wisdom, persuasive mapping, and organizational stewardship. Under each category there are four to five characteristics that pertain to servant leadership.

Joe Iarocci, author of Servant Leadership in the Workplace , defines three key priorities (developing people, building a trusting team, achieving results), three key principles (serve first, persuasion, empowerment), and three key practices (listening, delegating, connecting followers to mission) to outline what servant leadership looks like in the workplace.

Russel and Stone, two researchers, developed nine " functional attributes of servant leadership ," which includes vision, honesty, integrity, trust, service, modeling, pioneering, appreciation of others, and empowerment. They also outlined 11 "accompanying attributes," which includes communication, credibility, competence, stewardship, visibility, influence, persuasion, listening, encouragement, teaching, and delegation.

Servant leadership characteristics

According to Greenleaf, the most important characteristic of being a servant leader is to make it your priority to serve rather than to lead. Servant leaders are more interested in serving the needs of employees and helping them grow in the organization and are less interested in focusing on profits and simply leading people along by telling them what to do. Greenleaf didn't outline exactly what character traits make for a strong servant leader, but researchers James Sipe and Don Frick have studied his work and outlined seven pillars of servant leadership that fall within the boundaries of Greenleaf's original theory: 

• Person of character: A servant leader is someone who maintains integrity, makes decisions based on ethics and principles, displays humility and serves to a higher purpose in the organization.
• Puts people first: A servant leader demonstrates care and concern for others and helps employees meet their goals and grow within the organization.
• Skilled communicator: Communication skills are integral to servant leadership, and you will need to ensure you can effectively listen to and speak with your employees, while also inviting feedback.
• Compassionate collaborator: To be a strong servant leader, you'll need to consistently work with others and work to strengthen relationships, support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and navigate conflict in the workplace.
• Has foresight: As a servant leader, you will need to keep an eye on the future and anticipate anything that might impact the organization. You'll also need to have a strong vision for your organization and be the type of person who can take decisive action when needed.
• Systems thinker: Servant leaders need to be comfortable navigating complex environments and able to adapt to change. This type of leadership requires strategic thinking and the ability to effectively lead change in the organization.
• Leads with moral authority: As a servant leader, it's important to establish trust and confidence in your workforce by establishing quality standards, accepting, and delegating responsibility and fostering a culture that allows for accountability. 

Examples of servant leadership

In the technology industry, servant leadership is most often seen in agile development environments on Scrum teams. On a Scrum team, the Scrum Master isn't necessarily a leader; instead they're a team member who works closely with other agile workers and takes charge on defining requirements, mapping sprint plans, and resolving any roadblocks along the way.

Famous servant leaders in the corporate world include Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Co.; Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube; Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever; Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks; and Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; among many others. These are just a few people who are billed as strong examples of servant leadership in the corporate world. These leaders show qualities that include being risk-adverse, employee-focused, and driven by success over profits.     

Servant leadership training

The Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership offers several courses on servant leadership. The Foundations of Servant Leadership covers the fundamentals of Greenleaf's philosophy and how to apply those principles in the workplace. The Key Practices of Servant Leadership covers strategies for effective servant leadership and how to apply those in real-life settings. The Implementing Servant Leadership course focuses on strategies and practices that will help you effectively implement servant leadership in an organization. Courses are completed online using a collaborative wiki and group discussions; each course costs $450.

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Servant Leadership: How to Transform Your Leadership Style

In times like ours, in which fostering engagement, enhancing staff wellbeing, and preventing staff burnout are high on the agenda of many leaders and organizations, we have much to gain from revisiting the principles of this model.

Let us examine its core features, psychological benefits, and how servant leadership can serve us on our mission of being outstanding leaders.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Leadership Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or others adopt positive leadership practices and help organizations thrive.

This Article Contains

• What Is Servant Leadership? Definition & Examples

Servant Leadership Theory by Robert Greenleaf

Traditional leadership vs. servant leadership, what does servant leadership look like in practice, 5 excellent servant leadership quotes, 4 suggested leadership books, positive leadership tools from positivepsychology.com, a take-home message, frequently asked questions, what is servant leadership definition & examples.

Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy that prioritizes serving others and fostering their growth. It is, in that sense, a non-egoistic approach to transformational leadership; the servant leader really puts their staff and organization above their own status and ego needs.

Service leadership aims to satisfy the needs of self, others, and systems in ethical and prosocial ways. It rests on leadership competence, character, and care (Shek et al., 2023).

Servant leaders actively listen to, empathize with, and seek to empower their team members. They aim to create an environment where trust, collaboration, and personal development are the utmost priorities.

Servant leadership emphasizes morality and integrity and seeks to support emotional, relational, and ethical growth in followers. These leaders are committed to investing in personal relationships with employees. They seek to increase trust, loyalty, and commitment.

“Key qualities of servant leaders are humility, ensuring followers’ development, listening, sharing in decision-making, behaving ethically and promoting a sense of community. The idea is that when followers’ needs and well-being are prioritized, they are able to achieve their goals, and this flows upward so that the leader’s and the organizational goals are met in turn.”

Canavesi & Minelli, 2022, p. 414

When we think of powerful servant leaders, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela may come to mind. All served their communities with tremendous humility, compassion, and dignity.

We may also think of military personnel who serve in the literal sense, although the military is of course a highly hierarchical domain, and servant leadership in civilian organizations is based on different models.

An example of servant leadership in action in the business world is that of Herb Kelleher, the cofounder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines. Kelleher prioritized his employees’ wellbeing, believing firmly that happy employees would lead to satisfied customers and, as a consequence, to business success.

As he put it, “Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that” (Hyken, 2018, para. 4).

Kelleher created a corporate culture that became known for employees who took themselves lightly, but their jobs seriously.

We can also recall Agile Scrum masters, whose key function is simply to serve their teams as effectively as possible. Depending on the situation at hand, Scrum masters use their soft skills to act as servant leaders, facilitators, coaches, managers, mentors, teachers, impediment removers, and change agents.

Robert K. Greenleaf is often regarded as the pioneer of servant leadership. In 1970, he published an essay on the topic, and in 1977, he published an influential book called Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness .

In this book, he outlines a comprehensive model that encapsulates the core principles of servant leadership. Greenleaf’s (1977) theory emphasizes the following key components:

• Listening Servant leaders listen actively to their team members and seek to understand their perspectives and needs.
• Empathy They demonstrate empathy by caring deeply about the wellbeing of their employees.
• Healing Servant leaders aim to facilitate both healing and personal growth in their team members, at a professional and personal level.
• Self-awareness They are highly aware of their impact on others and the world around them.
• Persuasion Instead of relying on authority, servant leaders use the art of persuasion to guide their team members toward shared goals.
• Conceptualization They have the ability to paint vivid pictures and communicate compelling visions of a better future to their team.
• Foresight Servant leaders are future oriented and always consider the long-term consequences of their decisions and actions.
• Stewardship They take responsibility for the wellbeing of their teams and the wellbeing of their organization as a whole.
• Commitment to the growth of others Servant leaders are passionately dedicated to helping others grow and reach their full potential.

Greenleaf also emphasized that organizations as well as individuals could be servant-leaders. He believed that servant-leader-organizations had the potential to change the world.

In his second major essay, The Institution as Servant , Greenleaf (as cited in Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, n.d., para. 6) wrote:

“This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions – often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt.”

“If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them.”

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Servant leadership differs from traditional leadership in various ways. In traditional leadership, power, control, status, and authority are often paramount. Servant leaders, by contrast, focus on nurturing trust, collaboration, and personal growth. By shifting the focus from the leader to the team, servant leaders create psychologically safe environments of empowerment and shared responsibility (Spears, 1995).

We can say that servant leadership entails a particular style of leadership that rests on clearly defined theoretical principles. However, it also requires particular traits and qualities in a leader, above all humility and altruism, as well as kindness and compassion. Servant leaders also need to master specific skills, such as active listening and building trust.

Servant leadership has been linked to various positive individual and collective outcomes (Eva et al., 2019). Servant leadership, for example, helps with fostering staff engagement (Howell & Shields, 2017; Zhou et al., 2022).

It also supports proactive and citizenship behavior, job satisfaction , and performance. Several companies, “including some of those ranked by Forbes as among the ‘best 100 to work for,’ such as Marriott, Starbucks, SAS, and Zappos.com, foster an organizational climate based on service, ethics, and healthy work relationships that significantly contribute to organizational success” (Canavesi & Minelli, 2022, p. 414).

In practice, servant leaders do the following: (Greenleaf, 1977; Sendjaya et al. 2008):

• Listen actively to understand their team’s core needs
• Empower and encourage team members to make decisions
• Lead by example, demonstrating integrity and humility
• Prioritize the wellbeing, personal growth, and healing of their team
• Foster a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation
• Create value for their communities

Liden et al. (2015) created a seven-item composite measure of servant leadership, a shorter version of their previous 28-item Servant Leadership Questionnaire (Liden, 2008).

It covers seven different dimensions identified in servant leadership (see Canavesi and Minelli, 2022, p. 416):

• Emotional healing
• Creating value for the community
• Conceptual skills
• Helping subordinates grow and succeed
• Putting subordinates first
• Behaving ethically

So then, how can you become a powerful servant leader in practice?

Knowing what servant leadership should look like and having completed the leadership questionnaire to get a measure of your current abilities, reflect on the following focus areas.

Listen actively to ensure employee wellbeing

Be committed to and involved in your team’s wellbeing. This includes taking a genuine interest in your employees’ personal lives and lending an ear when they experience personal problems. It involves connecting deeply and authentically to other people, not just seeing them as replaceable “human resources.”

Serve the community and create value

Ask yourself, “How am I serving the wider community of which I am a part? How could I serve it even better?” Consider the traits of a positive community .

Be a great communicator

The task of a servant leader is also to mediate between people, teams, and wider organizational goals and to communicate clearly and honestly when there is conflict or tension. Here is an article providing guidance: How to Improve Communication Skills .

Empower and trust

A servant leader trusts their employees and equips them with autonomy and responsibility. They also support them to use both wisely. In other words, a servant leader combines challenges with support and builds trust .

Support and encourage

Helps employees grow by supporting their personal and professional development, believing in them, and encouraging them to reach their full potential.

Be a role model

A servant leader models all the behaviors they want to bring out in their teams. They behave with integrity and honesty and own up to failures in an authentic way when they occur.

In that way, a servant leader creates trust. This also includes being vulnerable.

Inspire and motivate

Finally, a servant leader needs to inspire, motivate, paint a powerful picture, and share a compelling vision with their employees.

All of this involves the ability to mentalize, to imagine the world from other people’s points of view. What do your employees care about? What motivates them? What do they fear? What do they truly need to grow?

For more inspiration on how to become a great service leader, you may enjoy the following two videos.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi

“Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.”

Attributed to Simon Sinek

“It is not the genius at the top giving directions that makes people great. It is great people that make the guy at the top look like a genius.”

Simon Sinek, 2014, p. 21

“Every single employee is someone’s son or someone’s daughter. Like a parent, a leader of a company is responsible for their precious lives.”

Simon Sinek, 2014, p. 19

“The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.”

Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, n.d., para. 2

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If you seek inspiration for how to become a powerful servant leader, there are outstanding books out there that can help you develop the core skills you need. These books cover the theory of servant leadership and also contain numerous practical examples from servant leadership in action.

1. Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness – Robert K. Greenleaf

This is the classic book on servant leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf, who coined the term.

Greenleaf outlines a transformative approach to leadership that puts serving others, including employees, customers, and community, first.

Listening, connecting, and deeply committing to building a positive organizational culture are central to Greenleaf’s approach. You will learn how to lead by example, generate trust, and create an environment in which your employees can truly thrive.

Find the book on Amazon .

2. The Institution as Servant – Robert Greenleaf

This book features a long essay by Robert Greenleaf, in which the author extends the idea of service leadership to institutions.

Institutions and organizations, too, Greenleaf argues, should operate with a servant leadership mindset. They should remember their social purpose and aim to increase the wellbeing of their communities and stakeholders.

Like leaders, institutions have an obligation to contribute to the greater good. The success of a service leadership institution is measured by not only the usual metrics of success, but also how it positively affects society. They focus on long-term sustainability, rather than just on short-term profit and gains.

3. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t – Simon Sinek

In Leaders Eat Last , the international bestselling author Simon Sinek investigates great leaders who don’t just sacrifice their place at the table but often their own comfort and even their lives for those in their care.

They range from Marine Corps officers to the heads of big business and government. They all share that they put aside their own interests to protect their teams. For them, leadership is not a rank but a responsibility.

4. The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business – Patrick M. Lencioni

New York Times bestselling author Patrick Lencioni argues that the key difference between successful companies and mediocre ones has everything to do with how healthy they are.

He argues that an organization is healthy when it is whole, consistent, and complete and when its management, operations, and culture are unified.

Leaders can find precious lessons in this book about how to be truly of service to their organizations and teams.

Positive psychology offers valuable tools that align seamlessly with the servant leadership philosophy. Here at PositivePsychology.com, we provide resources like strengths assessments, gratitude exercises, self-awareness worksheets, and emotional intelligence tools that can help leaders cultivate a positive and supportive work environment.

You may find these articles on related topics of interest:

• What Is the Authentic Leadership Style? by Nicole Celestine
• Positive Leadership: 30 Must-Have Traits and Skills by Courtney Ackerman

A core servant leader skill is active listening. Enjoy downloading our free active listening worksheet  to hone this skill.

You may also find our Back Writing Exercise useful for strengthening your team’s cohesion and care for each other.

As a team, you may also benefit from bringing Ikigai into your workplace.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others develop positive leadership skills, this collection contains 17 validated positive leadership exercises . Use them to equip leaders with the skills needed to cultivate a culture of positivity and resilience.

17 Exercises To Build Positive Leaders

Use these 17 Positive Leadership Exercises [PDF] to help others inspire, motivate, and guide employees in ways that enrich workplace performance and satisfaction. Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

Servant leadership is a transformative leadership approach that empowers individuals and organizations to grow.

If you wish to become a powerful servant leader, you can begin by embracing principles like active listening, empathy, and a serious commitment to the development of others. Your key priority should be creating a thriving organizational culture in which compassion and empowerment are key.

Servant leadership is based on the ancient virtues of humility, temperance, and altruism. It is a form of leadership that rests on character strengths and genuine care for others. It is therefore important to model these virtues in your organization and to see service leadership as a daily developmental practice.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Leadership Exercises for free .

Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy that prioritizes serving others, active listening, and empowering team members. It emphasizes the wellbeing and personal growth of those who are being led, rather than the leader’s need for status and power.

Servant leadership is vital as it fosters trust, collaboration, and engagement within teams and organizations. It leads to higher job satisfaction, improved performance, and a more positive work environment in which employees can truly thrive.

The four main principles of servant leadership, as outlined by Robert K. Greenleaf (1977), are listening, empathy, healing, and self-awareness. These principles form the foundation of servant leadership philosophy.

• Canavesi, A., & Minelli, E. (2022). Servant leadership: a Systematic literature review and network analysis. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal , 34 , 267–289.
• Eva, N., Robin, M., Sendjaya, S., van Dierendonck, D., & Liden, R. C. (2019). Servant leadership: A systematic review and call for future research, The Leadership Quarterly , 30 (1), 111–132.
• Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness . Paulist Press.
• Howell, E. E., & Shields, J. E. (2017). Servant leadership and employee engagement: Does the leadership style of the supervisor matter? Advances in Developing Human Resources , 19 (3), 299–315.
• Hyken, S. (2018, March 18). How Southwest Airlines Keeps the Romance Alive With Its Customers . Forbes. Retrieved September 24, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2018/03/18/how-southwest-keeps-the-romance-alive-with-its-customers/.
• Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., & Henderson, D. (2008). Servant leadership: Development of a multidimensional measure and multi-level assessment. The Leadership Quarterly , 19 (2), 161–177.
• Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Meuser, J. D., Hu, J., Wu. J., & Liao, C. (2015). Servant leadership: Validation of a short form of the SL-28. Leadership Quarterly , 26 (2), 254.
• Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. (n.d.) What is servant leadership? Retrieved September 24, 2023, from https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/.
• Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J. C., & Santora, J. C. (2008). Defining and measuring servant leadership behavior in organizations. Journal of Management Studies , 45 (2), 402–424.
• Shek, D. T. L., Zhu, X., Dou, D., & Tan, L. (2023). Self-leadership as an attribute of service leadership: Its relationship to well-being among university students in Hong Kong. Frontiers in Psychology , 14 .
• Sinek, S. (2014). Leaders eat last: Why some teams pull together and others don’t . Penguin.
• Spears, L. C. (1995). Reflections on Robert K. Greenleaf and servant-leadership. The Leadership Quarterly , 6 (2), 315–319.
• Zhou, G., Gul, R., & Tufail, M. (2022). Does servant leadership stimulate work engagement? The moderating role of trust in the leader. Frontiers in Psychology , 13 .

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Publications, robert greenleaf on servant-leadership.

Below you’ll find Robert K. Greenleaf's timeless essay "Who is the Servant-Leader?" along with a brief introduction written by Gonzaga University Professor of Leadership Studies, and editor of the International Journal of Servant-Leadership, Dr. Shann Ray Ferch, PhD, MFA

This piece appeared in the first volume of the International Journal of Servant-Leadership (IJSL) , a publication issued by Gonzaga University in collaboration with the Spears Center for Servant-Leadership. The IJSL's complete archives are available online.

Gonzaga University's School of Leadership Studies  is internationally recognized for its focus on servant-leadership, attracting undergraduate, masters, and PhD students from throughout the world. Four of our Gonzaga University PhD alumni from the School of Leadership Studies have won national awards for their research in servant-leadership, and the Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies faculty and alumni have published 5 critically acclaimed anthologies on servant-leadership: Servant-Leadership, Feminism, and Gender Well-Being ; Servant-Leadership and Forgiveness ; Conversations on Servant-Leadership ; Global Servant-Leadership ; and The Spirit of Servant-Leadership .

Robert K. Greenleaf coined the term servant-leadership in his seminal 1970 essay, "The Servant as Leader." The servant-leader concept has had a deep and lasting influence over the past three decades on many modern leadership ideas and practices. Greenleaf spent his first career of 40 years at AT&T, retiring as director of management research in 1964. That same year Greenleaf founded The Center for Applied Ethics (later renamed The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership ). He went on to have an illustrious 25-year second career as an author, a teacher, and a consultant. Greenleaf, who died in 1990, was the author of numerous books and essays on the theme of the servant as leader. His available published books now include The Servant-Leader Within (2003), Servant-Leadership (2002, 1977), The Power of Servant-Leadership (1998), On Becoming a Servant-Leader (1996), and Seeker and Servant (1996), along with many other separately published essays that are available through The Greenleaf Center.

This short excerpt from Greenleaf' s essay "The Servant as Leader" contains an essential understanding of the origin of the term and definition of servant-leader . Here Greenleaf relates how his reading of Hermann Hesse's Journey to the East led to his developing the servant-as-leader terminology.

Who Is the Servant-Leader?

By Robert K. Greenleaf

Servant and leader–can these two roles be fused in one real person, in all levels of status or calling? If so, can that person live and be productive in the real world of the present? My sense of the present leads me to say yes to both questions. This chapter is an attempt to explain why and to suggest how.

The idea of the servant as leader came out of reading Hermann Hesse's Journey to the East . In this story we see a band of men on a mythical journey, probably also Hesse's own journey. The central figure of the story is Leo, who accompanies the party as the servant who does their menial chores, but who also sustains them with his spirit and his song. He is a person of extraordinary presence. All goes well until Leo disappears. Then the group falls into disarray and the journey is abandoned. They cannot make it without the servant Leo. The narrator, one of the party, after some years of wandering, finds Leo and is taken into the Order that had sponsored the journey. There he discovers that Leo, whom he had known first as servant, was in fact the titular head of the Order, its guiding spirit, a great and noble leader.

One can muse on what Hesse was trying to say when he wrote this story. We know that most of his fiction was autobiographical, that he led a tortured life, and that Journey to the East suggests a turn toward the serenity he achieved in his old age. There has been much speculation by critics on Hesse's life and work, some of it centering on this story, which they find the most puzzling. But to me, this story clearly says that the great leader is seen as servant first, and that simple fact is the key to his greatness. Leo was actually the leader all of the time, but he was servant first because that was what he was, deep down inside. Leadership was bestowed on a man who was by nature a servant. It was something given, or assumed, that could be taken away. His servant nature was the real man, not bestowed, not assumed, and not to be taken away. He was servant first.

I mention Hesse and Journey to the East for two reasons. First, I want to acknowledge the source of the idea of the servant as leader . Then I want to use this reference as an introduction to a brief discussion of prophecy.

In 1958 when I first read about Leo, if I had been listening to contemporary prophecy as intently as I do now, the first draft of this piece might have been written then. As it was, the idea lay dormant for 11 years during which I came to believe that we in this country were in a leadership crisis and that I should do what I could about it. I became painfully aware of how dull my sense of contemporary prophecy had been. And I have reflected much on why we do not hear and heed the prophetic voices in our midst (not a new question in our times, nor more critical than heretofore).

I now embrace the theory of prophecy which holds that prophetic voices of great clarity, and with a quality of insight equal to that of any age, are speaking cogently all of the time. Men and women of a stature equal to the greatest prophets of the past are with us now, addressing the problems of the day and pointing to a better way to live fully and serenely in these times.

The variable that marks some periods as barren and some as rich in prophetic vision is in the interest, the level of seeking, and the responsiveness of the bearers. The variable is not in the presence or absence or the relative quality and force of the prophetic voices. Prophets grow in stature as people respond to their message. If their early attempts are ignored or spumed, their talent may wither away.

It is seekers, then, who make prophets, and the initiative of any one of us in searching for and responding to the voice of contemporary prophets may mark the turning point in their growth and service. But since we are the product of our own history, we see current prophecy within the context of past wisdom. We listen to as wide a range of contemporary thought as we can attend to. Then we choose those we elect to heed as prophets-both old and new-and meld their advice with our own leadings. This we test in real-life experiences to establish our own position.

One does not, of course, ignore the great voices of the past. One does not awaken each morning with the compulsion to reinvent the wheel. But if one is servant, either leader or follower, one is always searching, listening, expecting that a better wheel for these times is in the making. It may emerge any day. Any one of us may discover it from personal experience. I am hopeful.

I am hopeful for these times, despite the tension and conflict, because more natural servants are trying to see clearly the world as it is and are listening carefully to prophetic voices that are speaking now. They are challenging the pervasive injustice with greater force, and they are taking sharper issue with the wide disparity between the quality of society they know is reasonable and possible with available resources and the actual performance of the institutions that exist to serve society.

A fresh, critical look is being taken at the issues of power and authority, and people are beginning to learn, however haltingly, to relate to one another in less coercive and more creatively supporting ways. A new moral principle is emerging, which holds that the only authority deserving one's allegiance is that which is freely and knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader. Those who choose to follow this principle will not casually accept the authority of existing institutions. Rather, they will freely respond only to individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven and trusted as servants. To the extent that this principle prevails in the future, the only truly viable institutions will be those that are predominantly servant-led.

I am mindful of the long road ahead before these trends, which I see so clearly, become a major society-shaping force. We are not there yet. But I see encouraging movement on the horizon.

What direction will the movement take? Much depends on whether those who stir the ferment will come to grips with the age-old problem of how to live in a human society. I say this because so many, having made their awesome decision for autonomy and independence from tradition, and having taken their firm stand against injustice and hypocrisy, find it hard to convert themselves into affirmative builders of a better society. How many of them will seek their personal fulfillment by making the hard choices, and by undertaking the rigorous preparation that building a better society requires? It all depends on what kind of leaders emerge and how they–we–respond to them.

My thesis, that more servants should emerge as leaders, or should follow only servant-leaders, is not a popular one. It is much more comfortable to go with a less-demanding point of view about what is expected of one now. There are several undemanding, plausibly argued alternatives from which to choose. One, since society seems corrupt, is to seek to avoid the center of it by retreating to an idyllic existence that minimizes involvement with the "system" (with the system that makes such withdrawal possible). Then there is the assumption that since the effort to reform existing institutions has not brought instant perfection, the remedy is to destroy them completely so that fresh, new, perfect ones can grow. Not much thought seems to be given to the problem of where the new seed will come from or who the gardener to tend them will be. The concept of the servant-leader stands in sharp contrast to this kind of thinking.

Yet it is understandable that the easier alternatives would be chosen, especially by young people. By extending education for so many so far into the adult years, normal participation in society is effectively denied when young people are ready for it. With education that is preponderantly abstract and analytical it is no wonder that a preoccupation with criticism exists and that not much thought is given to "What can I do about it?"

Criticism has its place, but as a total preoccupation it is sterile. In a time of crisis, like the leadership crisis we are now in, if too many potential builders are completely absorbed with dissecting the wrong and striving for instant perfection, then the movement so many of us want to see will be set back. The danger, perhaps, is to hear the analyst too much and the artist too little.

Albert Camus stands apart from other great artists of his time, in my view, and deserves the title of prophet, because of his unrelenting demand that each of us confront the exacting terms of our own existence, and, like Sisyphus, accept our rock and find our happiness by dealing with it. Camus sums up the relevance of his position to our concern for the servant as leader in the last paragraph of his last published lecture, entitled Create Dangerously :

One may long, as I do, for a gentler flame, a respite, a pause for musing. But perhaps there is no other peace for the artist than what he finds in the heat of combat. "Every wall is a door," Emerson correctly said. Let us not look for the door, and the way out, anywhere but in the wall against which we are living. Instead, let us seek the respite where it is–in the very thick of battle. For in my opinion, and this is where I shall close, it is there. Great ideas, it has been said, come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps, then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear, amid the uproar of empires and nations, a faint flutter of wings, the gentle stirring of life and hope. Some will say that this hope lies in a nation; others, in a man. I believe rather that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers and the crudest implications of history. As a result, there shines forth fleetingly the ever-threatened truth that each and every man, on the foundations of his own sufferings and joys, builds for them all.

The servant-leader is servant first–as Leo was portrayed. Becoming a servant-leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such people, it will be a later choice to serve–>after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them are the shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant first to make sure that other people's highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and most difficult to administer, is this: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived?

All of this rests on the assumption that the only way to change a society ( or just make it go) is to produce people, enough people, who will change it (or make it go). The urgent problems of our day–the disposition to venture into immoral and senseless wars, destruction of the environment, poverty, alienation, discrimination, overpopulation–exist because of human failures, individual failures, one-person-at-a-time, one-action-at-a time failures.

If we make it out of all of this (and this is written in the belief that we will), the system will be whatever works best. The builders will find the useful pieces wherever they are, and invent new ones when needed, all without reference to ideological coloration. "How do we get the right things done?" will be the watchword of the day, every day. And the context of those who bring it on will be: All men and women who are touched by the effort grow taller, and become healthier, stronger, more autonomous, and more disposed to serve.

Leo the servant, and the exemplar of the servant-leader, has one further portent for us. If we assume that Hermann Hesse is the narrator in Journey to the East (not a difficult assumption to make), at the end of the story he establishes his identity. His final confrontation at the close of his initiation into the Order is with a small transparent sculpture: two figures joined together. One is Leo, the other is the narrator. The narrator notes that a movement of substance is taking place within the transparent sculpture.

I perceived that my image was in the process of adding to and flowing into Leo's, nourishing and strengthening it. It seemed that, in time... only one would remain: Leo. He must grow, I must disappear. As I stood there and looked and tried to understand what I saw, I recalled a short conversation that I had once had with Leo during the festive days at Bremgarten. We had talked about the creations of poetry being more vivid and real than the poets themselves.

What Hesse may be telling us here is that Leo is the symbolic personification of Hesse's aspiration to serve through his literary creations-creations that are greater than Hesse himself-and that his work, for which he was but the channel. will carry on and serve and lead in a way that he, a twisted and tormented man, could not-as he created.

Does not Hesse dramatize, in extreme form, the dilemma of us all?

Except as we venture to create, we cannot project ourselves beyond ourselves to serve and lead. To which Camus would add: Create dangerously! 

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What Is Servant Leadership?

The concept of servant leadership goes back millennia, but the term itself was first used by Robert Greenleaf in his 1970 essay, “The Servant as Leader.” This leadership philosophy has skyrocketed in popularity since then, with numerous books published on the topic and increased attention being bestowed on it in the media and popular culture.

We sat down with Rebecca Herman , Graduate Professor of Leadership at Purdue Global and an organizational culture expert, to learn more about servant leadership and its benefits.

What Is a Servant Leader?

“There are many ways to define it,” Herman says, “but my personal favorite goes back to Robert Greenleaf's definition: ‘The servant leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first.’”

The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership further defines servant leadership as “a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.”

What does this mean? It means that a servant leader focuses on the growth and well-being of employees and other stakeholders in their organization. Servant leaders seek to help the people they serve grow as individuals.

“If they are growing, then they desire to perform and achieve,” Herman says. “They have more capability to accomplish things, and therefore they're really serving in return, and it becomes a cycle of positive service and performance, which I believe makes servant leadership exceptional.”

How Does Servant Leadership Differ From Traditional Leadership?

Traditional leadership, Herman notes, focuses on such things as strategy, goals, financial performance, and customer satisfaction. “Those things aren’t bad, of course,” she says. “Those are things we expect leaders to do. We want our CEO to focus on things that are going to bring us profit.

“But servant leaders go further. They focus on providing their employees with development opportunities. Employees today want to feel they have a job where they can succeed. They want an opportunity to be coached and mentored by someone. And since servant leaders put people first, they get to know them on a different level. They help them to develop, they give them opportunities because they empower them versus micromanage them.”

What’s Driving the Growth of Servant Leadership?

“We live in a very fast-paced technological world,” Herman says. “We are inundated with information at such increasingly large levels that it's almost impossible to keep up with. We're people first, and our basic human needs are needing to be met.

“Servant leaders understand how to build a workplace culture where teams and community are valued. And people want that real feeling of community in the workplace because they don't have it in their lives.”

Herman says our present culture can be disconnecting.

“We are incredibly virtual today,” she says. “We have virtual jobs, serve on virtual teams, and get to know people virtually on social media. We text more than we speak on the phone or face-to-face. Even dating is done on an app—you have the option of swiping left or right to determine if you may want to meet someone. People are craving real relationships and real connections. Plus, this goes back to that whole idea that we all really want to feel we've contributed to the world, that we want work that has true meaning.”

The Benefits of Servant Leadership

Increased employee loyalty and a beloved company culture are benefits of this style of leadership. Productivity and problem-solving are also bolstered with servant leadership.

“Servant-led employees don't fear that if they take a risk and try to do the right thing, they could get punished,” Herman says. “I think that makes them perform at more of a risk-taking level, as long as they're doing it based on the goals, the mission, and the core values of the organization.

“And that ultimately leads to how that business performs,” she says. “If every person is performing at their best, imagine what the organization is going to be like. People who receive coaching and personal development are equipped to be empowered to make decisions to serve their customers. Empowered employees are more engaged, and this increases job satisfaction, which increases retention. You want great people to stay a part of your organization.”

Well-Known Servant-Led Companies

Some of the best-performing companies are well-versed in this style of leadership. Herman named the following companies with servant leaders at the helm:

• Southwest Airlines
• Whole Foods
• TDIndustries
• Men's Wearhouse

“When we think of these organizations, we often think about how outstanding their customer service is,” she says. “It really isn't accidental, because they're servant-led companies, so their servant-led employees want to make sure the customer is always cared for.

“These are not just the best companies to work for, they're also very high-performing companies—some of the most profitable and successful in the business world.”

And there’s a reason these are familiar companies with familiar stories being told. Servant leaders are very values-based and mission-driven, so they share stories frequently. That is an additional benefit for a servant-led company looking to build or sustain a brand.

Do You Aspire to Be a Servant Leader?

Making a decision to become a servant leader is making a decision to succeed and to lead your company to success.

“You need to know that it's going to become who you are more than what you do,” Herman says. “This is great because it bleeds into your personal relationships and who you are in your community.

“Being a servant leader is amazing, but it's a huge commitment because you're really going to have to take very intentional actions to be a servant leader. It's really about truly walking that talk every day, and modeling that behavior.”

Herman says that the greatest leaders have a desire to serve the greater good—and that they may encounter pushback.

“There will be people who will say that you're a little crazy,” she says. “They're going to say that it doesn't work if you want to call yourself a servant leader. But you have to be willing to defend that and stand up for it. Be prepared because you will face a lot of resistance.”

Herman compares servant leadership in the workplace to the ultimate servant leadership in the home.

“I don't want to say that leadership is like parenting, but parents are really servant leaders in many ways,” she says. “And I don't know many parents that would be considered soft or weak. They want to have the best for their kids. That's why they discipline. That's why they try to help them be the best they can be.

“Being a servant leader will change you, and it will change those around you. It can be a little frightening, but the results are worth it.”

Learn More About Being a Servant Leader

Herman recommends these books to read more about servant leadership:

• On Becoming a Servant Leader by Robert Greenleaf and Peter Drucker
• The Servant Leader: How to Build a Creative Team, Develop Great Morale, and Improve Bottom-Line Performance by James A. Autry
• The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business, and Community by Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert
• Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership: Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving by James W. Sipe and Don M. Frick
• The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership by James C. Hunter

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What Is Servant Leadership and Why Does It Matter?

Should a leader be a servant to the people.

Posted December 9, 2018 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma

What is the purpose of a leader? Should a leader set direction, decide strategy, and tell others what to do, or should a leader be a facilitator, helping the group to achieve shared goals ?

Most of us think of a leader as the person in charge—the decision maker, the authority, the person who tells us when to jump and how high. Yet, another approach is to view the leader as performing a service for the group or team—a servant leader.

Servant leadership is an old concept, with historical roots in Confucian philosophy . The modern version of servant leadership was conceptualized by Robert Greenleaf, who worked for 40 years at AT&T. Greenleaf argues that a leader should prioritize followers’ welfare and well-being and serve followers by providing for their needs and responding to their concerns. The result will be a high-functioning team.

According to one model of servant leadership (Liden and colleagues, 2008), there are seven critical behaviors that servant leaders perform:

1. Conceptualizing. The leader utilizes his or her experience and the resources provided by the organization to help solve problems.

2. Emotional Healing. The servant leader is supportive of followers and sensitive to their feelings and ideas. The goal is to be available and listen to followers and their concerns.

3. Putting Followers First . This is the core of servant leadership. It’s not about the leader.

4. Helping Followers Grow and Succeed. As in all theories of exemplary leadership, servant leaders grow the leadership capacity of followers, leaving them better off and better able to lead in the future.

5. Behaving Ethically. Caring about others first, and doing the right thing are critical to servant leadership.

6. Empowering. The process of empowering followers builds leadership capacity.

7. Creating Value for the Community. Rather than focusing on the outcomes for the leader and the followers, the servant leader is concerned about making a positive impact on the larger community—the organization, the sector, and the nation.

Servant leadership is different than traditional approaches to leadership. It seems particularly appropriate for government leaders (they should serve the people who elected them), religious leaders, and leaders of nonprofit organizations. Many for-profit organizations have also adopted servant leadership as a model for their managers and executives.

Does it work?

A growing body of research suggests that servant leadership affects followers positively—followers become more engaged and motivated. As a result, there is a positive impact on performance.

Liden, R.C., Wayne, S.J., Zhao, H., & Henderson, D. (2008). Servant leadership: Development of a mutidimensional measure and multi-level assessment, The Leadership Quarterly, 19 , 161-177.

Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. , is the Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology at Claremont McKenna College.

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Everything you need to know about servant leadership

Servant leadership 101.

Servant leadership is a concept that has been gaining more traction in the business world due to its emphasis on creating strong relationships between leaders and their teams.

The concept has existed for centuries, although Robert K. Greenleaf firs t formalized it in his 1970 essay : “The Servant as Leader”. This essay sparked a revolution and marked the beginning of a new era for leadership – one based on service, kindness, and trust. The idea behind servant leadership is to lead with humility and selflessness rather than domination or power. By putting the needs of others before their own, servant leaders strive to create a productive work environment while ensuring their team members reach their highest potential .

Get a complete view of servant leadership:

• The pros of Servant Leadership
• The cons of Servant Leadership
• How to implement Servant Leadership: 9 Steps
• Three Things to remember about Servant Leadership

1. The pros of Servant Leadership

Servant leaders act not only as supervisors but also as facilitators who motivate and inspire their subordinates to achieve excellence . Servant leadership’s focus on fostering collaboration, building trust, and developing team members makes it an attractive way for organizations to cultivate high-performing teams.

When it comes to the pros of servant leadership, several unique benefits come with this approach:

Positive Atmosphere

Employees who work under a leader who is focused on helping them to be better professionals are more likely to be productive and engaged with their work. The supportive environment these types of leaders foster can also lead to increased creativity among team members and i mproved communication, which helps everyone understand each other better.

Increased Motivation

Another benefit of servant leadership is that employees working under these leaders often become more motivated since they have someone at the top whom they respect and feel inspired by.

Better Decisions

Servant Leadership encourages team members to think independently while remaining connected to make decisions collaboratively. This results in smarter solutions arriving faster since everybody’s thoughts and ideas can be considered without anyone feeling overwhelmed or left out.

Greater Job Satisfaction

Servant leaders create an environment where team members are valued and respected, which can lead to greater job satisfaction. This can result in lower turnover rates and more loyalty to the organization.

Improved Communication

Servant leaders focus on listening and empathizing with team members, which can lead to improved communication and greater understanding among team members. This can make it easier to resolve conflicts and work together effectively.

Greater Ethical Standards

Servant leaders prioritize the needs of their employees, customers, and other stakeholders, rather than just focusing on profits or other short-term goals. This can lead to a more ethical and socially responsible organization that is better able to meet the needs of its stakeholders over the long term.

Stronger Teamwork

Servant leaders encourage collaboration and teamwork, leading to stronger relationships and a more cohesive team. This can result in improved efficiency and greater productivity.

Empowerment

Servant leaders empower their team members to take on leadership roles and make decisions, which can lead to greater ownership and accountability among team members. This can result in greater creativity, innovation, and problem-solving skills.

In summary, servant leadership brings many benefits to an organization, including a positive atmosphere, increased motivation, better decision-making, greater job satisfaction, improved communication, greater ethical standards, stronger teamwork, and empowerment. These factors can ultimately lead to a more productive, engaged, and successful organization.

2. The cons of Servant Leadership

Despite all its advantages, there are some drawbacks to servant leadership as well. These include:

Lack of Results Focus

These types of leaders tend to be less demanding regarding results because they want to ensure their teams are happy and content. As a result, there might be times when performance goals are unmet or individuals who could have accomplished more don’t reach their true potential because of this leniency.

Difficulty Connecting with Leaders

Some people may find it challenging to connect with such a leader if they’re used to traditional methods of management which rely on intimidation rather than mutual respect.

Potential for Passivity

Servant leaders are known for being humble, compassionate, and selfless, which can sometimes lead to passivity. They may avoid taking a firm stance or making difficult decisions, making it hard for the organization to move forward decisively.

Limited Control

Servant leaders tend to give their team members more autonomy and decision-making power, which can lead to a lack of control over the overall direction of the organization. This can make it challenging to achieve a shared vision or to implement large-scale changes.

Difficulty in Scaling

Servant leadership works best in small teams or organizations where the leader can easily connect with each team member. It can be difficult to scale this approach to larger organizations where the leader may not have the same level of direct contact with each employee.

Resistance to Change

Servant leadership is a relatively new concept, and not all employees or organizations may be open to this new way of leading. There may be resistance to change among employees who are used to a more traditional, hierarchical leadership style.

Risk of Being Taken Advantage Of

Servant leaders put the needs of their team members above their own, which can sometimes lead to them being taken advantage of by their team members. They may be more likely to put up with poor performance or bad behavior from team members, which can ultimately harm the organization.

3. How to implement Servant Leadership: 9 Steps

Fortunately, organizations can take steps towards implementing servant leadership successfully to avoid its drawbacks while getting the most out of its benefits. Here are some tips for successful implementation:

1. Evaluate Existing Practices

Start by evaluating existing managerial practices and identify any areas where improvement needs to take place for servant leadership principles to thrive.

2. Provide Training & Recognition Programs

Invest in providing staff with training in areas such as communication and collaboration so they’re better equipped when dealing with each other or having open discussions about various topics related to employee satisfaction. Additionally, provide rewards or recognition programs that recognize those who go above and beyond expectations set by managers and peers alike.

3. Encourage Open Dialogue & Transparency:

Create an environment where dialogue between team members is encouraged regardless of one’s position — from the bottom up — so everyone feels like they have ownership over contributing ideas or solutions when necessary without fear of reprisal from higher-ups. Also, ensure transparency between all involved parties so information sharing becomes part of the natural culture within the organization instead of feeling forced or uncomfortable for anyone concerned.

4. Focus on Feedback & Development Opportunities

Maintain an ongoing dialogue between management and staff by offering regular feedback sessions concerning individual performance, strengths/weaknesses, etc., while also providing development opportunities allowing personnel to hone skillsets needed to grow professionally long-term basis.

5. Empower Employees

Give employees the autonomy and resources to take on leadership roles and make decisions. This will help them feel more engaged and motivated, and it will also help the organization to become more flexible and responsive to changing circumstances.

6. Lead by Example

As a servant leader, it’s essential to lead by example. Demonstrating the values and behaviors that you want to see in your team members will help to create a culture of servant leadership throughout the organization.

7. Encourage Collaboration

Encourage collaboration and teamwork by creating opportunities for team members to work together on projects and by recognizing and rewarding team efforts. This will help to build stronger relationships and a more cohesive team.

8. Communicate the Vision

Communicate the vision and mission of the organization, and make sure that everyone understands how their role fits into the overall goals of the organization. This will help to create a sense of shared purpose and motivation among team members.

9. Regularly Review Progress

Regularly review progress and make adjustments as needed. Monitor the effectiveness of the servant leadership approach, gather feedback from team members, and make changes as necessary. This will help to ensure that the organization is constantly improving and moving in the right direction.

4. Three Things to remember about Servant Leadership

What servant leadership is.

Servant leadership is a philosophy and approach that puts the needs of others before your own . By focusing on service, humility, and trust in the workplace, servant leaders can create a productive and collaborative environment where everyone can thrive .

Implementing this leadership style requires commitment from both leader and team members alike, but it is an effective way to foster collaboration and success. With the right actions, support and dedication, servant leaders can help to take their teams—and their organization—to the next level.

Servant leadership can lead to a more ethical and socially responsible organization , as it prioritizes the needs of the employees, customers, and other stakeholders.

This approach can also increase employee motivation and job satisfaction, which in turn can result in lower turnover rates and higher commitment and loyalty to the organization.

The benefits of servant leadership are also evident in better decision-making, as it encourages independent thinking and collaboration among team members.

As with any leadership approach, there are also some potential downsides to servant leadership. It can be challenging to implement in organizations that are highly hierarchical or that have a strong “command and control” culture.

Leaders need to be aware of these potential drawbacks and find ways to mitigate them, such as setting clear performance goals, creating a culture that values mutual respect, and being prepared to make difficult decisions when necessary.

In conclusion, servant leadership is a leadership style based on serving others and putting the needs of employees, customers, and other stakeholders first. It can lead to a more engaged, motivated, and productive workforce, better decision-making, and a more ethical and socially responsible organization.

Implementing servant leadership requires a change in culture and mindset, training and development opportunities, open dialogue, transparency, focus on feedback and development opportunities, empowering employees, leading by example, encouraging collaboration and communication of the vision, and regularly reviewing progress.

While it may have its challenges, the benefits of servant leadership make it a practical approach for any organization looking to improve its performance , employee satisfaction, and overall success.

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Servant Leadership 101: How to Be a Compassionate Leader

Create a more positive and productive workplace by using these tips for empowering employees through servant leadership.

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Serving your employees’ greater good might be a leader’s best tactic. Research shows that servant leadership boosts profits and employee morale. This ethically-driven management style prioritizes employee support so you can build influence, authority, and collaboration.

If you want to create a positive work environment that allows your people to thrive to their fullest potential, here is everything you need to know about becoming a servant leader. 

What is Servant Leadership? (Servant Leadership Definition)

Servant leadership is a management philosophy that focuses on the growth and well-being of employees as a means to create a thriving organization. Rather than accumulating power, dominating a conversation, or leading with force, a servant leader aims to propel the team forward with their stewardship and community-building. Think of the servant leader as both a coach and a cheerleader for a team:

• They make the plays (set strategic direction)
• They design the training regimen (provide the necessary tools)
• They entrust each player with the responsibilities for their position (allow task ownership)
• They inspire and empower their team to take action

Servant leadership has roots that span back to ancient times. However, retired AT&T executive Robert Greenleaf first coined the term “servant leader” in his seminal 1970 essay The Servant as Leader . After decades in corporate leadership, Greenleaf realized that organizations thrived when leaders acted like supportive coaches who served the needs of employees and the organization. The concept of servant leadership is briefly defined in his assertion that “the organization exists for the person as much as the person exists for the organization.”

Who are Servant Leaders? Servant Leadership Examples

From Abraham Lincoln to Gandhi to Nelson Mandela, servant leaders have empowered entire nations and movements by leading with a “community first” mentality. Instead of hogging the spotlight or using domineering tactics, these humble leaders were known to put their people first and empower them to push objectives forward. 

Legacies can be complicated and nuanced, but based on historical observation, here are some of the most notable historical servant leaders:

• Mahatma Gandhi : Honored as India’s greatest spiritual and political leader, Gandhi led millions of impoverished people to peacefully and nonviolently win India’s independence from Great Britain. 
• Abraham Lincoln : The famed 16th President of the U.S. used servant leadership to lead the country through the Civil War, preserve the Union, and end slavery.
• Nelson Mandela : As the leader of the South African anti-apartheid movement, Nelson Mandela lived by his words: “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. : As one of the most renowned social justice leaders of the 20th century, MLK Jr. led the Civil Rights Movement with a non-violent, servant approach. He never desired to be remembered by prizes or accolades and instead cared more about helping his people achieve justice. 

You might be wondering how the servant leadership tactics of these religious and political leaders can be applied to your company. While they are incredibly inspirational, many examples can seem out of reach to a modern small business owner or manager. 

Again, it’s hard to know exactly what goes on in the day-to-day of an organization, but these modern-day executives are known for using service-based tactics to lead their teams to success: 

• Jack Welch , Former CEO of General Electric, famously wrote, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” 
• Herb Kheller , Founder of Southwest Airlines, said, “Your people come first, and if you treat them right, they’ll treat the customers right.” 
• Cheryl Bachelder , CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and author of Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others said, “The leader must have both – the courage to take the people to a daring destination and the humility to selflessly serve others on the journey.”
• Joel Manby , Former SeaWorld, and Herschend Enterprises CEO said, “Servant leadership brings out the best in people.” 
• Art Bator , CEO of Datron World Communications, Inc. and Founder of Servant Leadership Institute wrote the book Equip to Serve: 100 Ways to Help the Ones You Lead .

Servant Leadership Characteristics: Top 10 Attributes of a Servant Leader

From international political movements to coaching a small team toward a business goal, the principles of servant leadership can be applied to any setting where a group of people needs to accomplish a shared goal. Here are the ten principles of servant leaders defined by Larry Spears and Robert K. Greenleaf Center for servant leadership:

• Listening : While all leaders are valued for their communication skills, the servant leader is particularly committed to intently listening to others. They ensure their team feels comfortable coming to them with problems or concerns. They are receptive to feedback and seek to understand their people without defensiveness or assumptions. They are always improving their listening skills and couple this attentiveness with periods of reflection about how to act on what they’ve heard.
• Empathy : A servant leader is highly emotionally intelligent and attuned to the feelings and perceptions of others. They strive to empathize with their staff or followers and demonstrate concern for their well-being. They are supportive during challenges and ensure that people feel truly accepted as team members. 
• Healing : The servant leader is aware of the broken spirits and emotional hurt of people from all walks of life. They approach management through the lens of kindness and community. They help people feel accepted and safe in a social or work environment. It is also essential that a servant leader has healed their wounds and triggers. 
• Awareness : Self-awareness is crucial for a servant leader to recognize their shortcomings and take action to improve objectively. The servant leader is also acutely aware of the climate in which their business operates and the role of their team within a larger vision. They look at business through a holistic lens (for example, investing in employee training and morale for long-term success) rather than a reductionist or narrow-minded approach (for example, profits first even if it means employee burnout or losing team members).
• Persuasion : Rather than using their authority and power to force people to comply, a servant leader uses their persuasive skills to convince others to take action. They are not interested in coercion or authoritarianism. Instead, they convince their team to join together for goals that meet the needs of the greater good. They build consensus and compromise within groups. 
• Conceptualization : Servant leaders have the unique capability to dream big. They can conceptualize goals and visions that may seem impossible to their followers. Yet their ability to think beyond day-to-day realities helps to inspire and motivate people forward. They are visionaries who can balance logical, daily decisions with long-term conceptual thinking. 
• Foresight : Great leaders can foresee a situation’s likely outcomes by understanding past lessons and making educated predictions. Servant leaders have strong intuition and build trust with their followers by utilizing foresight to instill confidence and take strategic steps forward. 
• Stewardship : Stewardship is the ability to hold something in trust for others. A servant leader stewards the greater good of their team, community, and society. They commit to serving the needs of others rather than controlling them. 
• Commitment to the Growth of People : Servant leaders firmly believe that people have intrinsic value far deeper than their contributions as workers in an organization. They don’t look at their staff as “cogs in a machine.” Instead, they are committed to nurturing their employees’ and colleagues’ personal and professional growth. This can include professional development, taking an interest in people’s suggestions, or helping laid-off employees find new jobs. Servant leaders show genuine care for people’s well-being.
• Building Community : Lastly, a servant leader uses their influence to create a sense of community within an organization. They want to bring people together so that they feel part of a greater cause. This can occur within the business (for example, through staff sports teams or meetups) and outside the workplace (for example, leading a company volunteer day at a local homeless shelter). 

In this TED Talk, professor of servant leadership Thomas Thibodeau dives deeper into how these concepts can be applied in contemporary organizations.

Pros and Cons of Servant Leadership

Like all management styles, servant leadership is only suited to specific personality types and situations. This leadership model may not work for everyone in every situation. The key pros and cons of servant leadership include:  

How to Implement Servant Leadership: 5 Tips to Become a Servant Leader

Servant leadership theory may sound nice on paper, but how does it look in real life? This unique leadership style can require a significant mindset shift from the leader-first mentality. These simple tips can help you transition to a servant leadership style daily. 

• Praise your team before praising yourself

It’s no secret that praising people for their hard work makes them feel appreciated and motivates them to perform better. Studies show that praising employees can improve success and personalized appreciation boosts productivity . Even a simple compliment can make a big difference. But many managers feel uncomfortable or anxious about giving compliments . Moreover, hierarchical leadership styles often praise managers for their team’s accomplishments, while lower-ranking employees go unrecognized.

In other words, hard-working people crave recognition, but they often feel like their efforts go unnoticed because their boss feels awkward about complimenting them. Much of the praise is channeled toward the management level. 

How does servant leadership remedy this paradox? It leads with a “praise my people first” mentality. Servant leaders are humble and don’t hog the spotlight. For example, when Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize, his acceptance speech had nothing to do with praising himself. Instead, he highlighted the suffering and efforts of African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement and ensured they received the honor:

“I accept this prize on behalf of all men who love peace and brotherhood. I say I come as a trustee, for in the depths of my heart, I am aware that this prize is much more than an honor to me personally. Every time I take a flight, I am always mindful of the many people who make a successful journey possible – the known pilots and the unknown ground crew.” -Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech

The response of MLK Jr. to an award as grand as the Nobel Peace Prize is a great reminder of how servant leaders use the spotlight to elevate their cause, not their ego. Instead of putting yourself on a pedestal for your team’s accomplishments at work, you can: 

• Consistently compliment your team with personalized and timely praise.
• When you are praised, turn the spotlight onto your staff sometimes.
• If you get a raise or a promotion, take your team for a celebration lunch to thank them for their efforts. 
• Report positive feedback about your team to higher-level management. 

Servant leadership is about the “we,” not the “me!”

• Shift your mindset

Much of the servant leadership philosophy starts with a mindset shift. Many modern leaders have been engrained with a cutthroat business mentality—they operate from a place of rugged individualism, authoritarian decision-making, and a “profits first” mentality. While this may work for some organizations, it is incompatible with the servant leadership style. 

If you want to shift to a more “people first” mentality as a leader, simple changes to your thought patterns can help transform your interactions with your team: 

• Empower people by sharing responsibilities

A servant leader is the polar opposite of a micromanager . They are willing to let go of certain responsibilities and give their team ownership of their tasks. Rather than monitoring and controlling every little detail of people’s work, a servant leader trusts that their team can operate independently. Still, the leader is always there to coach and steer them in the right direction. 

Autonomy of tasks empowers people to approach their job with confidence and pride. It motivates employees to feel committed to their work. They can get their work done with the excitement that their name will be stamped on the final product. To allow more task ownership and independence, try:

• Offering more flexible employee schedules so they can use their time management strategy.
• Create a balance between micromanaging and being too “hands-off”. Offer project outlines, open door questioning policy, and periodic check-ins. 
• Allow employees to create their own workload by assigning a few tasks at once and letting them execute how they see fit. 

Remember, micromanagement is the enemy of servant leadership! If you have struggled with micromanagement, you can ease your shift to servant leadership. Henry Steward, CEO of workplace consulting company Happy , believes that micromanagement is the number one frustration employees experience. His key suggestion? 

Give more explicit, clear guidelines, and then offer your team the freedom to execute. 

This might sound like:

• “Here are the guidelines for this upcoming project. The main goal is to X, and the deadline is Y. I believe in your capability to execute it on your own, but please come to me if you need clarification or have any questions. We can check in about your progress in our next meeting.”
• “I made this detailed list of expectations for your new role. All of your training up to this point has prepared you for this, but don’t feel like you’re going at it alone. I am giving you the reins, and please feel free to let me know what I can do to support you through the transition.” 
• “The primary goals of this assignment are X, Y, and Z. I am excited to see what direction you decide to take. As long as you ensure X objective is met, please use your creativity and expertise to make it happen.”
• Practice active listening

Research shows that good listening correlates with better leadership . One could argue that a servant leader cannot exist without superb listening skills. Servant leaders are highly receptive to others’ opinions and feedback. Instead of turning their nose up to subordinates who try to voice their ideas, servant leaders humbly quiet their voices so they can listen to people and make them feel important.

This can look like:

• Offering ample opportunities for their staff to lead meetings, engage in dialogue, and participate in decision-making processes.
• Accepting constructive criticism from their workers and regularly asking for reviews on their performance. 
• Maintaining an “open door” policy regarding any issues in the workplace.
• Being in tune with the body language, tone, and unsaid words of any employee interaction.

To be a better listener, you can also incorporate these charismatic listening cues into your daily interactions: 

• Make eye contact while people are talking to let them know that you are present.
• Use verbal feedback like “mhm,” “aha,” or “wow.”
• Lean in to show you are interested. 
• Protect yourself from wandering thoughts by staying focused with your torso, feet, and eyes facing toward the speaker. 
• Be an emotional highlighter by using your facial expressions to show that you are sad, excited, surprised, or empathetic with what they are communicating. 
• Provide resources to help your staff grow 

Above all else, servant leaders are called to help develop people. They invest in their team so that people feel valued and committed to the organization. Think about it: When someone has invested in you, did you feel more loyal and invested in them? Investments in personal or professional development could reap massive returns for your company in the form of better employee retention, higher profits, and greater productivity. 

To help your staff grow, consider providing these development resources: 

• Pay for employees to attend relevant conferences or seminars.
• Ask about peoples’ career goals and find ways to elevate them toward that trajectory. For example, offer them bigger projects or help them connect with higher-level executives that could aid them in the future. 
• Host retreats or training that add soft skills to your employees’ toolbox. Vanessa Van Edwards, founder of ScienceofPeople.com leads communication-based corporate training to refresh and energize teams.
• If someone shares a struggle they are having (that you can’t fix), follow up with a thoughtful email, including a TED Talk, an inspirational quote, or an article that might help them resolve it. 
• Bring in expert speakers to teach your team about specific topics they care about. Bonus points if you survey them to see what they want to learn! These could be fun skills like cooking, mindfulness or serious skill training like coding and negotiation.
• Gift your staff books on professional and personal development (perhaps one of these 18 Best Business Books for Entrepreneurs or the 43 Best Books for Self-Improvement to Boost Your Confidence ).

Key Takeaways: Practice Servant Leadership with Daily Shifts to Support Your Team 

No one becomes a servant leader overnight, but anyone can apply the principles of this compassionate leadership style. If you want to empower your team by beginning the shift toward servant leadership, remember to:

• Praise your team before praising yourself : Offer regular positive feedback and avoid hogging the spotlight when recognition happens. 
• Shift your thoughts to a “people first” mentality : Notice how traditional leadership styles can engrain certain thought patterns into your daily management activities. Work to shift towards more compassionate and team-oriented ways of thinking.
• Allow ownership of tasks : Give your employees the trust and empowerment to execute tasks and projects independently. Rather than micromanaging, act as a coach supporting them when needed. 
• Practice active listening : Use body language and charismatic cues to show that you care about what your team has to say. Allow them to participate in decision-making processes and maintain an open door for feedback. 
• Invest in employee growth : Build a loyal following by showing that you care about your team’s well-being. Invest in their personal and professional development by helping them learn and advance. 

Finding the right leadership style for you can take time and experimentation, but there is no doubt that you want to bring out the best in your team. If you want be a more captivating leader that people want to follow, learn more about developing your Executive Presence: 10 Ways to Become a Charismatic Leader .

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Servant Leadership Explained by a CEO: Pros/Cons, Examples.

Servant leadership has been a rare sight during my career as a CEO in the world of business. I am confident that Servant Leadership can be useful in business, especially in our modern times when corporate responsibility is becoming ever more important and many employees seek a cause they can support to serve the greater good. Servant leadership is the answer to many of these things.

What is Servant Leadership?

Servant Leadership focuses on improving people, society, and organizations. In Servant Leadership, the leader serves others, which leads to strong ethics, and engaged, motivated employees. A servant leader with too much focus on serving others can lose track of organizational goals and purpose.

This article explains Servant Leadership in-depth, with its history, pros and cons, characteristics, examples, and how to become a good servant leader. I also share some thoughts and stories on servant leadership based on my experience as a CEO. Check out our video on Servant Leadership below if you prefer that medium, or keep on reading for great insights on servant leadership and how to become a great servant leader.

What Are the Characteristics of a Servant Leader?

How is a servant leader different from a transformational leader, what are the pros and cons of servant leadership, how can you be effective at servant leadership, servant leadership – my story, who are some examples of servant leaders.

It’s commonly thought that a servant is always at the lower end of the totem pole. That’s far from the truth. There are some leaders who transform the positive qualities of servitude into strong leadership qualities. This is the framework of servant leadership – one of the most humbling of all leadership styles .

Great servant leaders typically have good listening skills, lots of empathy, the ability to develop others, good persuasion skills, and big picture thinking abilities. Servant leadership often leads to high employee engagement, highly motivated employees, and a strong sense of ethics. Servant leadership can sadly lead to much focus on the individuals with less focus on the actual goals of the organization as a consequence. Furthermore, servant leadership is known to take a long time to establish and that is doesn’t work in all organizations. A servant leader needs to have very little or a complete lack of ego – this is an unusual trait among leaders. 

Servant leadership was first conceptualized by Robert K. Greenleaf (in his 1970 essay “The Servant as Leader”[1]. He described two broad categories of leaders:

• Servant-first
• Leader-first

A person who is a leader-first is more concerned with exerting power and achieving personal gains. On the other hand, a servant-first leader puts people first. As Martin Luenendonk[2] states, “Servant leadership is something innate- the wish to serve is not something you instill in yourself, it is a feeling that comes from within.” Great care is taken to ensure that the highest priority needs are being met. The servant-first leader strives to help people grow and make a lasting positive impact on society.

Ultimately, a servant leader relinquishes most of his or her authority. It’s a completely selfless type of leadership that focuses on improving people at their core and organizations in their entirety. These are strong elements also present in democratic leadership style and transformational leadership style which you can find in our portal for leadership styles . (In fact, I suggest you take our democratic leadership course with lessons on inclusion, participation, and teamwork created by a CEO.)

Greenleaf suggested that servant leaders should display eight qualities.

1.   Good Listening Skills

A servant leader is only able to meet the needs of those being served if those needs are understood.  Therefore, listening is important, especially active listening where a lot of questions are also asked. This leader should understand verbal and nonverbal cues in order to effectively discern the true needs that should be met. (Article tip: Why should leaders speak last? )

2.   Empathy is part of servant leadership

Empathy is a big part of servant leadership. This quality enables the servant leader to identify with and care for team members. It’s a quality that helps build trust within the team and provides a struggling team member with the support needed to move forward.

3.   Ability to Develop Others Holistically

There is much more to a person than the work he or she is able to produce. Servant leaders look at the holistic wellness of those they lead. They want their team to be well mentally, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. For an even more dedicated style on developing people, read about coaching leadership and how to create a leadership development plan .

4.   Servant leaders have awareness

Servant leaders are emotionally intelligent. Help Guide[3] defines emotional intelligence as “the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.” It has four attributes:

• Self-management
• Self-awareness
• Social awareness
• Relationship management

Emotional intelligence helps servant leaders identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within a team. Equipped with this knowledge, the servant leader can work with the team to improve the organization. (Get a free copy of our E-book “7 Tips on How to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence” here: Emotional Intelligence E-book .) You can wathc our video on Emotional Intelligence below, or continue reading about Servant Leadership.

5.   Persuasion

All this empathy, holistic development, and concern help the servant leader achieve the primary objective of leadership – the development of an organization. In essence, the very nature of servant leadership helps him or her persuade the team to achieve its true potential. 

6.   Big Picture Thinking

Big picture thinking adds a visionary element to servant leadership. Therefore, servant leaders are able to conceptualize a plan for the way forward. This helps them encourage the team to do the day-to-day tasks necessary to achieve the ultimate goal.

7.   Make Informed Decisions

Servant leaders learn from past mistakes so that the organization can improve going forward. They also frame present realities with this historical evidence in mind and use this information to make future decisions. Perhaps the biggest contributor is that servant leadership builds on good listening skills which combined with empathy means that the leader gets a lot of input from the organization in order to make informed decisions. (There are strong similarities between democratic leadership and transformational leadership when it comes to listening and gathering input. You can find them here: leadership styles .)

8.   A Knack for Community Development

The organization’s team isn’t a servant leader’s only concern. This leader is also concerned about the growth of the community in which the organization is based. There are always ways for the team to add social value. The giving nature of servant leadership has some similarities to the love and care of spiritual leadership .

You can learn about many of the above things in our democratic leadership course which contains some of the secret tips to drive engagement and participation that I have used during my career as a CEO. Servant leaders benefit greatly from implementing democratic leadership as well. Check it out here: democratic leadership transformation course . Keep reading or check out our main article on leadership styles for information about more than 25 other useful leadership styles.

The primary difference between a servant leader and a transformational leader is that servant leaders develop the people within the organization and community while transformational leaders inspire people within the organization to work towards a common goal. A transformational leader does care about each team member. However, the time and care a servant leader would take to develop each team member is missing. We have an in-depth article on servant leadership compared to transformational leadership if you are interested.

Advantages of Servant Leadership

1. team morale is high.

A leader using servant leadership genuinely cares about the team. People thrive in these settings and are highly motivated to put out their best efforts. Team members are, therefore, more likely to be loyal to the organization. (Compare with Affiliative leadership which is also focused on caring.)

2. Collaborative decision-making increases employee engagement

A team works best when the opinions of all team members are valued, in a similar fashion as in democratic leadership. (Check out my master course on democratic leadership .) Servant leaders facilitate collaborative decision-making. They understand that each person brings a unique set of experiences and ideas. Furthermore, those on the front lines tend to understand more than upper-level management. Remember to stand back with your own opinions to let others be heard: Why should leaders always speak last?

3. Strong example of ethical behavior

Servant leadership means setting strong examples of truly ethical leadership. Although ideas are welcomed, those ideas that negatively impact the organization are rejected. Additionally, the servant leader leads by example, uses ethical leadership , and tends not to do anything unethical.

You can find the above-mentioned democratic and affiliative leadership styles here: Leadership Styles .

Disadvantages of Servant Leadership

1. it takes time to build servant leadership.

Relationship building forms an important part of servant leadership. It takes time. Team members need to be engaged and the leader has to take the time to understand who they are and what motivates them. Understanding their needs and creating solutions to meet those needs take time.

2. It doesn’t work with every organization

There are some industries where servant leadership is a misfit. For instance, a military leader would be ineffective because he or she wouldn’t have the power to make quick decisions – life or death decisions that could seriously affect his or her people. When quick decisions are of great importance, consider commanding leadership instead.

3. The team can lose sight of goals

The heavy emphasis on holistically developing each team member can result in the team losing sight of the organization’s goals. A servant leader should bear this in mind and learn how to strike the delicate balance between the two and not sacrifice the purpose of the organization in favor of people development. After all, most organizations need some elements of pacesetting leadership as well.

4. The flip side of motivation

Servant leadership can decrease employee motivation. The team starts off with a huge burst of motivation because they feel like they matter. However, that can eventually take a turn for the worse if the leader has to step in to solve specific problems or challenges. Why exert extra effort when the leader solves the problem him or herself anyway?

5. In Servant Leadership, ego takes a backseat

Self-sacrificing behavior is a common feature of servant leadership. This makes servant leaders hard to find since most leaders like a sense of power and control. Ego has no place in servant leadership. A certain level of ego is a normal contributor for people to strive for leadership positions. 

Keep on reading on how to be good at servant leadership as well as some experiences from my career below, or go to our main article with information on more than 25 leadership styles , including commanding and pacesetting leadership that were mentioned above.

Servant leadership can create a beautiful work environment if you know how to use it well. Remember that it should come from a genuine place; people can detect fake and inauthentic servant leaders. Here are some tips for effective deployment and usage of servant leadership.

1. Be a selfless mentor

You have to develop a mindset of service – you are there to serve. The crux of your role relies on helping each team member grow. It’s not something that you can delegate unless you also coach and instill servant leadership in a thorough way in your mid-level leaders, which in turn takes time. Hence, servant leadership can be difficult to scale in larger organizations. Some additional advice can be found in our article on the Coaching Leadership Style . You might also consider creating leadership development plans for yourself and managers that report to you.

2. Develop a culture of service within the organization.

It’s good to teach your team how to serve each other and develop supportive work culture. Establishing a charity arm of the organization also helps the team understand the importance of their social responsibility. Learn how to influence culture as a leader , this is crucial for wider and deeper culture changes.

3. Build strong communication skills.

Communication is critical for servant leadership. You should become an active listener and learn how to pick up on non-verbal cues. I recommend reading our article 17 tips to improve communication .

4. Keep the organization’s goals in mind.

You can find the middle ground between developing your team and ensuring that goals are met. Servant leaders do relinquish some authority but that doesn’t mean that you’re weak. You can show genuine empathy and care for your team while helping the organization succeed.

The first time I read about servant leadership I was a bit surprised since it fits how I work relatively well. A lot of my success as a leader has been built on some of the principles of Servant Leadership. Reading and learning about servant leadership also humbles me since it reminds me of how much more I have to learn and how many more things I need to perfect. After all, life is a learning journey that never ends. Still, I am happy to see that so many of the things I do fit well into servant leadership. Let me give you a few examples.

How I am aligned with servant leadership?

I pride myself on being a good and active listener . I ask a lot of questions to fully understand the person in front of me as well as the topic being discussed. This has served me well since I can collect several perspectives from different levels of an organization when approaching a decision. Hearing thoughts and perspectives like this has given me very valuable information over the years and it has also built a connection with the person in front of me. I seem interested, curious, and wanting to understand, which requires as well as indicates empathy which in turn builds trust. The very tangible outcome is that it improves my possibilities of making informed decisions . I have packed loads of tips on how to do this in my democratic leadership course .

Several people have given me feedback concerning my high expectations of them as individuals. It turns out that I have several times also had a higher belief in their capabilities than they have had themselves. This has helped to build close relationships where the individuals have performed and developed more than they thought they could. This would have been impossible without a good deal of empathy and some visionary thinking.

Furthermore, I always feel it is important to be aware of the emotions and thoughts of others. I adapt my message and attitude to what seems to be needed depending on the emotional state of the person in front of me. Do I always succeed in this? Definitely not. However, being aware of this aspect and actively trying to understand people from this perspective has certainly worked in many situations. Hence, I have most certainly made a better impact on people since I have been aware of the emotional aspects of things. I constantly read books about body language and communication in general in order to sharpen my understanding and ability to read the emotional state of other individuals or groups. (I have collected a lot of my communication tips in this article: 17 tips on how to improve communication .)

As stated above, in order to be able to persuade people, you need empathy and relationships. Trying to help people in finding the way forward and truly understand them leads to better persuasion capabilities. Becoming good at leadership is a lifelong development effort. Never stop learning how to help, lead and work with people. Check out our repository of leadership styles articles if you want to keep on developing yourself.

Pros and cons of servant leadership – examples

I have experienced and seen how strong a vision and big picture can be if more people are involved. Involving people is great for collecting ideas on where to go and how to get there. It also anchors the vision, creates a sense of empowerment and accountability. The vision becomes “ours” and not “mine”. This is very powerful when it comes to motivation, inspiration, and willingness to execute – all of this improves the outcome if you ask me. You can get these elements with democratic leadership and transformational leadership as well. (Both can be found here: leadership styles .)

However, I have also experienced the disadvantages of servant leadership. Sometimes a leader must make difficult decisions that have bad consequences for people. Some will understand, some will not, and your relationship will suffer depending on the situation and the reactions to your behavior. I have found myself trying to avoid some necessary decisions a bit too long in order to avoid jeopardizing the relationships obtain through my leadership.

Is the ego gone? No, it isn´t. A true servant leader would shelf the ego and I must admit I haven´t fully been able to do that. Not yet at least. I have managed to limit my ego and make it less of a problem for others, so I feel I have taken steps in the right direction. Not sure if I will ever truly be able to fully disconnect my ego and if I do, I fear some of my abilities and skills could suffer from a complete absence of ego.

I also need to develop my aim to develop the community. This has not been close at hand in any of my roles and the organizations have often involved so many communities that it has been difficult to really work with this aspect of servant leadership. The lack of community development and a bigger “cause” means my leadership style is much more similar to Transformational Leadership, which has many similarities to Servant Leadership. This is a major deviation from the basis of Servant Leadership which should revolve around a greater good. (Check our servant leadership vs. transformational leadership for a deeper analysis.)

Do you reflect on your leadership often? Any thoughts on how you fit into the concept of servant leadership? Please comment below.

Would you like to learn about alternatives to Servant leadership? Go to our main article with more than 25 different leadership styles explained.

Mother Teresa- (1910 – 1997) – Roman Catholic Nun

Mother Teresa is one of the best-known servant leaders. She is the epitome of the self-sacrificing qualities a servant leader needs. Forty-five years of her life were dedicated to taking care of the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying in Calcutta. She inspired others to contribute their lives to charity. Perhaps she could also be considered a spiritual leader ?

Dalai Lama (Lhamo Thondup)  (1935- present) – Spiritual Leader of Tibet

The 14th Dalia Lama, Lhamo Thondup, fled his homeland in 1959 and set up a Central Tibetan Administration in India. He is a revered spiritual leader who has helped his followers solve several hard problems. As Jack Chua [4] states,” He has made it his mission to serve humanity by always choosing the path of peace, happiness, and enlightenment, in accordance with his religious principles.”

Cheryl Bachelder (1956 to present)- Former CEO of AFC Enterprises (Parent Company of Popeyes)

Bachelder used servant leadership to completely transform Popeyes. She was CEO of the fast-food giant from 2007 to 2017 and entered the company at a time when earnings were in the red. There was no growth and a major breakdown between the company and franchisees. Her influence increased sales by 25 percent and profit by 40 percent in 2014.

She transformed the workplace into one where everyone was treated with respect and dignity. Her team listened to and responded to the needs of franchise owners. Those leaders who didn’t fit in with the egoless environment left and collaboration increased.

Do you have other examples of servant leaders? Do you have something to share concerning your own servant leadership? Please tell us more in the comment section below.

Still thirsting for knowledge on how to become a better leader? Keep on reading about leadership styles . I personally recommend the Goleman framework, it has helped me tremendously in my career as a senior leader, you can read our article here: Six leadership styles based on Emotional Intelligence . Check out our free E-book “7 Tips on How to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence” by clicking here: Newsletter Emotional Intelligence E-book .)

https://jonathansandling.com/ten-principles-servant-leadership/ https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/ https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/7-secrets-of-servant-leadership-that-will-lead-you-to-success.html https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/heres-a-top-10-list-of-the-worlds-best-ceos-but-they-lead-in-a-totally-unique-wa.html https://www.pointloma.edu/resources/business-leadership/7-values-servant-leadership https://www.ottawa.edu/online-and-evening/blog/march-2021/5-proven-characteristics-of-a-servant-leader

[1] https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51473514e4b0090a1cad74f9/t/5194e399e4b0b0879dc2e8ef/1368712089353/Greenleaf+essay+part+one.pdf

[2] https://www.cleverism.com/servant-leadership-guide/

[3] https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/emotional-intelligence-eq.htm

[4] https://leaderonomics.com/leadership/lead-like-famous-servant-leaders

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Building Stronger Communities: The Role of Servant Leadership in the Modern World

A servant leader shares power, puts the needs of employees first, and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. Not only is this leadership style grounded in ethics and empathy, it has proven to create a more productive, collaborative, and successful workplace. 

As the story above demonstrates, servant leadership is an infinite loop of positive influence that develops strong leaders by serving the needs of others first . The power of servant leadership lies in its ability to inspire and empower individuals to reach their full potential, fostering a culture of trust and sustainable growth.

Key Takeaways

What is servant leadership.

Servant leadership is a philosophical concept in which people establish a leadership role not through traditional top-down power structures, but by serving with the innate desire to fulfill their team’s and community’s needs .

Those who practice this leadership style multiply leaders by positively influencing those they serve and fostering consistent development in their followers. For this reason, it is an infinite learning process that produces maximum influence and impact, making it one of the best leadership styles .

Greenleaf and “The Servant as Leader”

“The servant-leader is servant first . . . It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead . . .” Robert Greenleaf, “The Servant as Leader”

Greenleaf spent 38 years working for AT&T, rising to the ranks of Director of Management Development. During his career, he noticed a negative shift in business culture and realized that although people desired to be in a leadership role, they didn’t have it in their hearts to serve others. Because of this, businesses started lacking integrity, operated with poor ethics, and began negatively impacting their employees and customers.

The 10 Principles of Servant Leadership

Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enrich the lives of individuals, build better organizations, and ultimately create a more just and caring world.

1. Listening

Servant leaders practice active listening with their team members and facilitate constructive conversation . They value their input and feedback and are responsive and attentive to their concerns and needs.

2. Show Empathy

3. foster healing.

Servant leaders are committed to the personal and emotional well-being of their team members. They work to create an environment that promotes personal growth and healing , which is done by providing emotional support, encouraging team members to share their opinions and grow in their roles, and seeing the best in employees by recognizing their gifts and talents. 

4. Demonstrate Self-Awareness

5. persuade with positive influence.

Rather than relying on their authority to get things done, servant leaders use influence and persuasion. They seek to convince others to follow their lead rather than coerce compliance. This is possible because servant leaders establish a trusting, open, and honest relationship with their followers or team members. 

6. Cast Vision and Conceptualization

7. use foresight as a strategic tool.

Servant leaders have the ability to foresee future outcomes by using their past experiences and present realities to make predictions that help guide their followers or employees . In Greenleaf’s essay, he writes, “Foresight is the ‘lead’ that the leader has. Once he loses this lead and events start to force him to act, he is a leader in name only.” Essentially, foresight is a strategic decision-making tool that proactively guides the organization in the right direction. 

8. Act as a Steward

9. commit to growth in people.

Servant leaders are deeply committed to the personal and professional growth of their team members. They nurture the personal, professional, and even spiritual growth of employees.

10. Build a Trusting Community

Servant leaders strive to build a sense of community within their organizations. They facilitate collaboration and promote a sense of belonging and mutual support among team members. Organizations that are built to last have leaders who put the needs of others ahead of their own. Companies excel when those at the top focus on helping everyone in the business to flourish and fulfill their goals. 

Servant Leadership vs. Traditional Leadership

Here are the four key differences:

2. Power Dynamics

3. approach to success, 4. decision-making, why companies need servant leaders, exploring other leadership philosophies .

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Why is Servant Leadership Important?

The concept of servant leadership has been around for a while but has received growing consideration over the last decade because of its positive individual and organizational outcomes.

According to a 2021 NCBI study , Servant Leadership: A Systematic Literature Review and Network Analysis, “the moral nature of leaders has started to be considered not only necessary for the good of society but also essential for sustainable organizational success.” 

Service before self is becoming the mantra of our time. And servant leadership has become a defining characteristic of organizations that are attractive to employees, successful in their industry, and impactful on society at large.

• What is servant leadership?

Coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in his essay, The Servant as Leader, the term “servant leader” means one who focuses primarily on the well-being of their employees and the communities they’re part of. They are a servant first and foremost, always putting the needs of their team above their own. In contrast to traditional forms of top-down leadership, servant leadership is a philosophical approach, a set of behaviors and practices, that emphasizes the growth and humanity of the employees being served.

What sets the servant leader apart is that they put the well-being, growth, and success of those they lead and manage before their own personal ambitions. They see their success as measured by their employees’ successes, and thus have a greater incentive to lead by example and invest in the growth of their team. They weigh their responsibility to their team as greater than their responsibility to the company’s bottom line. 

A servant leader is someone who others genuinely want to follow.

• Why is servant leadership important?

In today’s workforce climate, it’s imperative to adopt the practice of servant leadership if you want to be a successful leader or manager. Putting a strong emphasis on workplace culture, pay equity, and fair employment practices, employees today are done putting up with managers and leaders who don’t live out the values of their organization. 

According to the Pew Research Center , more than 40% of the workforce is already made up of Millenials and Gen Z — and this percentage will only continue to rise. 

These generations have made it clear that their top priority when choosing an employer is that the company cares about the overall well-being and development of its employees. According to Gallup , the primary characteristic that Millennial and Gen Z job candidates are looking for in an employer is that they “care about their employees’ well-being.” This differs from previous generations, whose primary concern is to work for an ethical organization, and instead demonstrates the importance of caring leadership in the future of our workforce. 

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• Servant leadership traits and skills

Arguably displaying the most intentional form of leadership, the servant leader sees their own long-term success defined by the success of those they lead. To lead this way requires humility and the ability to acknowledge when you’re wrong, and for most of modern history, admitting fault was unheard of among executive-level managers. That practice, however, has not aged well as more and more of those engaged in and entering the labor force want leadership that demonstrates humility . 

There are traits and skills to being a servant leader that must be learned and practiced continuously — even the most renowned leaders are not perfect. Despite your best intentions, you may sometimes fall short of these criteria.

Let’s use a common scenario in any work environment:

What would happen if your boss was unsatisfied with your team’s output?

• How would you respond?
• By taking full responsibility and protecting your team and co-workers, or throwing someone under the bus to your boss in order to avoid the blame?

You’ve probably been there before and know that these situations can arise quickly or without warning. Often, you don’t have much time to consider how you should act, and it’s easy to protect yourself without considering what would happen to others. That’s why it’s crucial to cultivate your beliefs into practice so that when the moment counts, you’ll be there for the people you work with, those you care about, and those who depend on you.

• How to become a servant leader

Servant leadership is a practice. It’s a daily process of learning and unlearning fundamental habits you may have as a leader that contribute to your employees’ experience and your company’s growth. Becoming a servant leader often means going against any base instincts of self-protection and self-promotion, and instead, choosing to rise above those instincts in order to help those below you. It means lowering yourself so you can raise up the people who you are responsible for and ensure their success, growth, and positive well-being.

With intentional time and effort, servant leadership is something that can be learned. 

Though this is not a one-size-fits-all journey, there are three important qualities that all servant leaders must possess: 

Emotional Intelligence:

To become a leader who truly makes a difference, you must devote time to growing your emotional intelligence , the ability to acknowledge how you feel and respond instead of react. As millions of new graduates enter the workforce, it’s important for leaders to model this vital characteristic to their employees and future leaders.

Self-Awareness:

Awareness of self and others is crucial to being a servant leader. In “How to Become a Better Leader,” published by the MIT Sloan Management Review, self-awareness was found to be the most important capability for leaders. When you’re self-aware, you can adjust your behavior to change how you’re perceived by your employees and how you make them feel. The bottom line: understanding yourself is key to cultivating who you will become. 

Persuasion:

This is where the leader part of servant leadership comes into play. Larry C. Spears, CEO of the Larry C. Spears Center for Servant Leadership, argues that “the servant leader seeks to convince others, rather than coerce compliance. This particular element offers one of the clearest distinctions between the traditional authoritarian model and that of servant leadership.” 

The servant leader seeks to convince others, rather than coerce compliance.

• Take the next step at PLNU

Invest in the success of your employees and business by becoming a servant leader. In PLNU’s M.A. in Organizational Leadership program, you’ll have the opportunity to discover your management and leadership styles and learn how to apply your strengths through the lens of servant leadership. Watch our video below to learn more.

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Servant leadership: empowering others to accomplish.

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Two high-performance leaders have made an incredible difference in my life: one in the corporate world in North America and the other in the nonprofit sector in the Middle East. In hindsight, I can see that while the two have very different personalities, divergent backgrounds and varying skill sets, both modeled servant leadership in very impactful ways. And both have consistently demonstrated the principles of this philosophy over decades, exemplifying its effectiveness in a range of environments.

The corporate professional started by managing just a few individuals and now leads thousands, deploying the same principles he used in the beginning. Likewise, when I met the leader in the Middle East, he was overseeing the largest field in his organization; now, years later, he heads a small group of developing leaders from a distance and continues to model the same principles.

Robert K. Greenleaf coined the phrase “servant leadership” in 1970; it describes an approach in which the aspiration to lead is driven by a desire to serve others. In his essay “The Servant as Leader,” Greenleaf explained, “A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong.”

This approach provides a unique lens through which to view the components of leadership. The foundations of fruitful leadership are often articulated as character, skill and knowledge; and when these aspects are seen through the filter of servant leadership, those in positions of authority are uniquely equipped to improve not only their own companies and organizations but entire communities.

While different situations require varying models of leadership, I see a global need for leaders to consider putting our collective weight behind the servant leadership model. As we direct high-performing teams, we as leaders need to avoid the pitfalls of self-centeredness and seek to empower others to accomplish our organizations’ goals through their gifts and talents.

Servant leadership moves us to be better leaders through six key principles.

1. Listen well. To truly address the opportunities and challenges before you, take time to hear instead of being heard.

2. Value people. Focus on others and create space for direct reports and colleagues to flourish.

3. Call it like it is. Communicate the current realities as well as the future direction of the organization you lead.

4. Ask powerful questions. Raise questions that push you and your team to new ways of overcoming obstacles and identifying breakthroughs.

5. Empower people. Encourage your team to tackle challenges and opportunities in their unique way.

6. Be real. Humbly allow your team to see you when you are weak and need their help.

If you want to sharpen several of these skills, I recommend starting with a quick read of Coaching 101 by Robert Logan and Sherilyn Carlton. Though it takes a lifetime to completely ingrain these principles, by being intentional in growing in each area, you will improve your impact and grow the effectiveness of your team.

For example, one powerful question that has led to many amazing outcomes is, “What will you do to overcome this challenge?” Asking this allows team members to articulate their own solutions and often leads to the best way forward.

This optimal path ahead often involves equipping others. As I consider the two leaders I mentioned at the beginning of this article, one characteristic that stands out is that in the years I have known them, they have invested in others, shaping them as servant leaders and deploying them in areas where they will develop other servant leaders. In both cases, they impacted their people, organizations and communities for good, not only through their own actions but through the efforts of those in whom they had invested. May this be true of us as each one of us leads in our spheres of influence.

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Servant Leadership Essay

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Introduction

Definition of leadership, definitions of servant leadership, history of servant leadership, characteristics of servant leadership, how servant leadership bridges with management, works cited.

This paper is based on the topic of servant leadership. It highlights the history of the concept, the various definitions of the concept by different authors and how the concept bridges with management. Servant leadership fits in management by helping managers fully understand the issues which affect their employees.

Through servant leadership, managers are able to cultivate a cohesive organizational culture which holds the organization together as one people. Key scholars who have defined the concept include Robert Greenleaf, Larry Spears and John Schermerhorn.

It will be argued that servant leadership is indispensable especially for those organizations which aspire to realize their mission and vision in an effective and efficient manner. Also discussed are the characteristics of servant leadership as well as its shortcomings.

Leadership is defined as the ability of a person to influence other people to do things which they would not have done without the influence. People with this ability are referred to as leaders and can be found in different contexts.

In the context of organizations, leading entails the leader consolidating the efforts and resources of the organization and focusing on the future by setting up a vision for the organization which it intends to achieve in a given period of time using the consolidated efforts and resources.

Leading constitutes building and sustaining teamwork, strategic thinking, managing conflicts, coaching, inspiring a shared vision, problem solving, performance management and accountability, decision making, delegation, systems thinking, leading change, dealing with ambiguities, developing trust, employee development, customer service, innovation and creativity, emotional intelligence, servant leadership, quality and productivity improvement.

According to Robert Greenleaf and Larry Spears, servant leadership involves a leadership derived from the passion to serve rather than to lead. With this definition, serving others precedes leading them (Greenleaf and Larry 123).

On his part, Larry Spears defined servant leadership in terms of four elements namely power sharing in decision making, a holistic approach to work, service to others and cultivation of a sense of community (Spears 4).

This definition portrays a servant leader as one who does not keep things to himself or herself but one who applies efforts to reach others so as to have all people get involved in making decisions which affect them.

According to John Schermerhorn, servant leadership is based on the commitment to serve others and the passion to help others realize, develop and use their talents as they work in organizations which benefit the society as a whole (Schermerhorn 315).

The concept of servant leadership was developed by Robert Greenleaf in 1970. According to him, servant leadership was based on the philosophy that for leaders to be effective, they must have the passion to serve others. He was disturbed by the many instances where leaders wanted to lead or become leaders first so as to serve people.

His argument was that if people and organizations were to put service first, they were able to transform the world and make it a better place to live.

He argued that servant leadership was the key to the realization of a world with justice; a world where people were not driven by their self interests but the desire and passion to stand for those who are oppressed and those who are not able to articulate their feelings in a highly competitive and biased world.

Kurt Lewin outlined three broad categories of leadership namely autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire. These types of leadership are distinguished by the characteristics of the leaders and the techniques they use in their leadership.

The autocratic type of leadership is characterized by failure to share power with others. In an organizational context, autocratic leaders are the sole decision makers and they perceive the other employees simply as objects which are not capable of making any decision.

Democratic leadership is the opposite of autocratic leadership. This leadership is sometimes referred to as participative leadership because the leaders lead through bringing everybody on board in decision making with the idea that inclusiveness brings about sustainability as far as realization of organizational goals and objectives is concerned. With this style, all members of the team are involved in identifying essential goals and strategies for attaining those goals.

Servant leadership falls under the category of democratic leadership which is characterized by the inclusion of everybody in making decisions which affect their work and their organizations at large.

The laissez-faire type of leadership is actually not leadership at all because people just do as they wish. This type of leadership lacks a central authority responsible for making decisions. It is rare to find organizations with this type of leadership today.

One of the defining characteristic of servant leadership is the ability of the leaders to listen to their followers. What is more valuable to the servant leaders is listening not talking to others. They pay close attention to what their followers have to say. They then think how their followers can be assisted to realize their full potential at the work place. Listening makes the leaders bond with their followers which enhance teamwork in organizations (DelHousaye and Robert 25).

After listening to employees, servant leaders try to put themselves in the shoes of the employees. This enables them to accurately understand the issues affecting their employees and what can be done to solve them.

Servant leaders are fully aware of their strengths, weaknesses, biases, feelings and values. This awareness enables them to serve their followers effectively. The leaders can capitalize on their strengths to bring everybody on board in decision making. They are also able to work on their weaknesses and biases so that they do not affect their ability to serve their followers.

Servant leadership is also about the leaders having a foresight. The foresight enables servant leaders to understand through intuition where the organization has come from, where it is and where it wants to be in the future and how to get there.

Servant leaders are able to persuade and appeal to their followers. The ability to persuade and appeal to the followers makes the leaders very influential. The ability to influence followers is very crucial especially in the implementation of organizational change.

Through the influence, the leaders are able to convince their followers to accept the change and therefore, organizational change is implemented with little or no resistance from the employees.

Servant leaders also have high degrees of commitment to the growth and development of people and organizations. They are ever focused on the enhancement of employees’ skills as well as development of their organizations. Servant leaders are also committed to the establishment of communities of people within organizations which enhances cohesiveness within organizations.

Under the servant leadership philosophy, all members of organizations are involved in identifying organizational goals and development procedures for reaching those goals. The role of the servant leader is to facilitate the attainment of organizational goals.

In organizations with servant leadership, employees are able to give their suggestions freely and are involved in decision making. Morale, capacity and relationship between the leaders and employees are greatly improved.

Servant leadership enhances teamwork and employees’ performance thus creating a productive work environment. If servant leadership is adopted by leaders, employees are likely to use their skills and capabilities to their fullest (Neuschel 37).

As mentioned above, servant leaders have a great influence on their followers. The leaders are capable of directly inspiring the employees to become motivated and focused on realization of good results. The influence of the servant leaders makes employees to become agents of change in their organizations.

Servant oriented leaders have an exceptional ability to create and sustain a cohesive organizational culture. A cohesive organizational culture is one in which all members of an organization hold to similar beliefs and values which bring them together as an organization.

In cohesive organizational culture, it does not matter the organizational structure but what matters is the commitment of each and every member of the organization to the organizational beliefs and values.

Servant leadership leads to establishment of teams which work together.These teams give themselves a social identity which holds them together. The social identity leads to cooperation among the team members in all aspects which brings forth a multiplicity of ideas about how to undertake the tasks thus leading to innovation in organizations (Trompenaars and Ed 63).

Servant leadership leads to increased productivity because the employees are committed to the success of their organizations and to them; motivation comes as a result of organizational success not individual success. Every employee therefore brings his or her ideas in the organization. These ideas are combined and transformed into new ways of doing things in a more efficient and effective manner.

However, servant leadership has some shortcomings. One of them is that if not properly managed, it can lead to job dissatisfaction because it gives the employees more say in decision making by allowing them to make decisions on matters affecting their work. Such freedom can make the employees overwhelmed leading to confusion and ambiguity due to lack of a firm central authority.

If not properly managed, it can also lead to poor employee performance and increased turnover. The lack of a firm central authority for decision making may create confusion in the work place leading to low performance and increased turnover. It can also lead to duplication of duties or even failure to perform some tasks due to ambiguity and confusion.

Servant leadership is a philosophy of management but not really a style of leadership. The philosophy has been applied in many areas such as management, education, administration and in religion. In management, servant leadership enables managers to become more effective in their capacities. It also enables them to be more acceptable by their followers.

Servant leadership transforms managers into leaders thus creating what is known as management leadership which is very rare in organizations. Having managers who are leaders is very crucial for organizations which aspire to attain their goals and objectives.

The reason is that management leadership goes the extra mile to focus not only on the tasks to be performed but how they are supposed to be performed and what can be done to enhance the performance of those tasks (Blanchard and Phil 82).

Management is the art of getting things done through people. Many organizations have policies, procedures and guidelines that govern the decision making process. The manager must understand how to get people do what they are supposed to do as well as know what exactly gets done, the results to be achieved and how best the results can be achieved in an efficient manner.

For managers to effectively get employees do the right thing at the right time and in the right manner, they must be appealing to them. It should not be a matter of commanding employees on what to do or simply giving out instructions in form of job descriptions.

For managers to be able to attain their organizational objectives effectively and efficiently, they must be ready to serve their employees so that the employees can serve the organizations. They must understand that employees are social beings who have social, psychological and emotional needs.

They should also understand that employees do not work only for financial gains but also wish to get the intrinsic value of work. In this regard, servant leadership can help managers bond with their employees and view the tasks as a collective responsibility not as segmentation of jobs for various individuals. In other words, the managers must learn how to manage or lead from the front.

Management involves making decisions such as hiring and firing, adopting new market strategies and new human resource policies. A manager therefore should be a person who exercises authority and leadership over other people.

In organizations, people are seen as a resource that is relatively flexible and easy to control for organizational gain. Human resource management therefore centers on articulating the needs and aspirations of the workers and meeting their needs, giving them challenges and helping them towards self actualization.

The articulation of the needs of the workers is only possible if managers embrace servant leadership which can help them develop organizational core values centered on respect of employees.

The management functions include planning, organizing, selection or staffing, directing, controlling or coordination, recruitment, budgeting and reporting. For the human resource manager, planning means the determination of a human resource program that would contribute to the goals established for the organization.

To do this, the manager must focus on the economic, social and political environments in which the organization operates. He or she must also establish the resources needed to make the plans work.

Servant leadership aids the planning aspect by ensuring that all stakeholders are involved in the planning of all activities of an organization. Since servant leadership is all about serving others and not concentrating power on oneself, servant leaders usually organize a stakeholders meeting or workshop during which they agree on what to be done, by who, where, when and why.

During the stakeholders meeting, a work plan can be developed by members of the organization or a department in the case of big organizations. The involvement of all stakeholders in the planning of activities increases organizational efficiency because everybody is made aware of what to do.

In other words, the stakeholders own the plan of their organization. The involvement also increases employee motivation because they understand that they are valued by the management and thus utilize their potential in executing those tasks included in the work schedule.

The directing aspect of management is the actual doing of work. It is done by finding appropriate ways of motivating or getting people do their work willingly and effectively. The manager must provide directions to the staff and also help them through effective explaination and communication of what is expected of each and every one of them.

Servant leadership aids the directing aspect by ensuring that all employees are assisted to understand their roles, responsibilities and how to undertake them. The servant leader does not simply give instructions and sit down to wait for results but he or she goes the extra mile to ensure that all employees are assisted to overcome their challenges in their lines of duty.

The servant leader is always available to offer social, psychological, emotional and technical support to the employees. As a result, managers using servant leadership philosophy have been described as applying hands on approach in their management.

After controlling, the manager determines how well jobs have been done and what progress has been made towards attaining the set goals. He or she must know what is happening and make the necessary changes to ensure the attainment of the set goals and objectives (Sipe and Don 35).

Servant leadership enables managers to carry out employee appraisals in a manner which is all inclusive and not offensive to the employees.

The servant leader makes the employees fully understand why they are appraised, the results of the appraisal and what they stand to gain or lose from the appraisal. The servant leader also ensures that the appraisal of employees leaves the organization more united than divided.

After the appraisals, the servant leader must ensure that all employees are rewarded accordingly. Those who are found to be performing poorly should not be condemned but they should rather be assisted to overcome the challenges which make them perform poorly.

Servant leadership is based on the passion to serve others not to lead them. Servant leaders therefore put service first before everything else. They are empathetic, persuasive, influential and committed to building communities of people wherever they work. They also have the ability to listen to others effectively.

Servant leadership bridges with management in that it helps organizations have what is referred to as management leadership, which is very important for the attainment of organizational goals and objectives. Servant leadership is people based. The servant leader aspires to help others realize and utilize their potential to their fullest.

He or she is not driven by the desire to command others but rather by the passion to see everyone assisted to achieve what he or she wishes to achieve.

Organizations with servant leadership also have a cohesive organizational culture which is very crucial for the stability of organizations. However, if not properly managed, servant leadership has the potential of slowing organizational progress due to lack of a firm center of power for decision making.

Blanchard, Kenneth, and Phil, Hodges. The Servant Leader: Transforming Your Heart, Head, Hands, & Habits, Nashville, Tenn.: J. Countryman, 2003. Print.

DelHousaye, Darryl, and Robert, Brewer. Servant Leadership: Seven Distinctive Characteristics, Scottsdale, Ariz.: Scottsdale Bible Church Press, 2004. Print.

Greenleaf, Robert, and Larry, Spears. The Power of Servant-Leadership: Essays, San Francisco, Calif.: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1998. Print.

Neuschel , Robert. The Servant Leader: Unleashing the Power of Your People, Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 2005.Print.

Schermerhorn, John. Management, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2010. Print.

Sipe , James, and Don , Frick. Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership: Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving, New York: Paulist Press, 2009. Print.

Spears, Larry. Focus on Leadership: Servant-Leadership for the Twenty-First Century, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2001. Print.

Trompenaars, Fons, and Ed, Voerman. Servant Leadership across Cultures: Harnessing the Strength of the World’s Most Powerful Leadership Philosophy, Oxford: Infinite Ideas Ltd., 2009. Print.

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1. IvyPanda . "Servant Leadership." April 24, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/servant-leadership-term-paper/.

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Essay on Servant Leadership

Leadership is defined as a state of offering skills that guide a team or an organization. A good leader steers their team in the right direction. The fate of a business, a company, or an organization lies in the hands of its leader or group of leaders. Therefore, understanding different leadership styles are very critical. The various leadership styles include servant leadership, autocratic leadership, democratic leadership, transformational leadership, and many others. Over time, the true definition of a good leader has been lost. There has been a perception that a good leader must be feared and be authoritative. In my opinion, excellent leader puts themselves in other people’s shoes. Good leaders are humble and always place the interest of others ahead of theirs. Leadership skills entail mastering the art of serving others, and that is who a servant leader is.

Servant leadership is a term that Robert K. Greenleaf invented in his essay, ‘A Servant as a Leader.’ He describes a servant leader as someone who instinctively serves before leading (Greenleaf 2021). The skills portrayed by such leaders bring out their personalities as generally selfless people. For some, leading means having as many material possessions as possible. Servant leaders focus on giving than receiving or taking. In his essay, Greenleaf states that servant leaders are “stewards of their organizations’ resources” (2021). The needs of the people they serve come first at all times and situations. This highlights a distinct characteristic of servant leadership that is not always portrayed by the other types of leaders. By offering their services to people directly below them, the goal of servant leaders is the best health, financial, professional, and intellectual status and needs of the people they serve (Tait 2020).

While others may portray servants as weak, leaders with servant leadership skills are bold and brave, on the contrary (Mike 2013). Being a servant entails inviting critiques and using them to strengthen their leadership. By employing servant leadership skills, such leaders prove they are willing to learn from others. They are ready to put aside their ego and strive to encourage autonomy amongst their co-workers and employees. This form of leadership is better than the other types since they purpose to serve their people, and the fruits of their service automatically follow. Serving the community is not at the expense of profit: it encourages profit. An organization led by servant leaders creates a platform for employees and co-workers to express themselves freely. As a result, workplaces potentially become non-toxic environments with motivated employees. Consequently, this encourages innovation that finally helps achieve the company’s mission and vision. Even though the primary goal of servant leaders is to create an impact on the lives of their associates and co-workers, Tarallo, in his article, states that the performance of companies led by such leaders is much better than other companies (2018).

In conclusion, a good leader serves, is humble and selfless. The main goal of a leader should be to deliver by empowering the people they do and those around them. Servant leaders possess these qualities and virtues; hence, to successfully meet the objectives of a group, team, or company, a good leader should master the art of servant leadership.

Work Citations

Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. “What Is Servant Leadership?”  Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership , 2021, www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/.

Mike, Thomas. “Servant Leadership… Be a REBEL with a CAUSE.”  Innovation on Purpose , 22 Oct. 2013, innovation-on-purpose.com/2013/10/22/servant-leadership-is-not-about-being-nice-or-weak-it-is-being-a-rebel-with-a-cause/. Accessed 13 Sept. 2022.

Tait, Brian. “Council Post: Traditional Leadership vs. Servant Leadership.”  Forbes , www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/03/11/traditional-leadership-vs-servant-leadership/?sh=1b565f15451e. Accessed 13 Sept. 2022.

Tarallo, Mark. “The Art of Servant Leadership.”  SHRM , SHRM, 2018, www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/organizational-and-employee-development/pages/the-art-of-servant-leadership.aspx.

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Being a Servant Leader, Essay Example

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Introduction

Leadership is often defined as the process by which one or more individuals are able to influence the greater aspect of operations of a particular society. Individuals given the chance to stand as leaders are expected to create possible ways by which they would be able to stand as bridge between human expectations and the actual realization of the said assumptions. Most often than not, expected to provide better ways of gaining advancement in the society, leaders are often required to have particular skills that would make it easier for them to complete their tasks at a more competent status. Nevertheless, there is no single option of leadership that is required for everyone else to follow. As for a fact, every leader is expected to adapt a system of his own; a system of leadership that would work for the situation and the people he deals with and would actually have a great impact on how he puts up with such situations through the skills that he has as a leader and as a person.

It is also said that there is a leader in everyone else; this notes the idea that every person has the capacity to lead; however not everyone is expected to be a good leader. While leadership can be practiced and learned, the most important factors that make an individual a good leader should be innate and considerably grounded from the actual being of the person. For instance, a person who has long patience with others and has persistence when it comes to completing his own tasks would of course be expected to become a highly effective leader. On the other end, a person who has less control of his anger or his emotions might end up messing up the whole group than actually helping them to realize their best options of growth. Control and self-discipline are two among the most important aspects of good leadership; however, there are still other characteristics that make a person a good leader. In the discussion that follows, a person’s capacity to become servant leader shall be given attention to. Based on the personal being of the author of this writing, the different assumptive attitudes of the author shall be given attention to as they relate to the different assigned readings about good leadership.

What is a Leader?

To lead, to guide; these are the most common responsibilities of a leader. An institution or an organization is expected to have particular goals and missions. To reach those goals, the people in the said organization need to be lead by an individual who knows what those factors are and what values they represent for the whole organization, the people and the society that they serve. The chosen or assigned individual to take such responsibility is often able to attain particular requirements especially noted to have an impact on how the people perform alongside the whole organization as a team of unified individuals.

In relation to historical record, leaders are noted to have a common condition or attitude that allows them to be effective in giving guidance to other people [especially among groups]. These individuals are notably motivated and specifically driven by their desire to influence others. It is because of that drive that they are able to manifest a sense of authority among others. However, not all who are properly driven are able to gain the reputation of being entirely good leaders. As for a fact, many among the current leaders, although they are properly driven end up losing the real essence of true leadership therefore developing particular shortcomings that makes them less of a well-celebrated individual. Practically, a leader is a person who is able to balance his motivation with the desire to work for others as well as work with others to be able to come up with more efficient ways of directing an organization or the whole society towards a progressive stance of development.

Who is the Leader?

A good leader can be made, he need not necessarily be born a good leader. However, the attitudes that one develops as he grows older specifically defines his being as a good person thus enabling him to become a good leader later on. Learning from the family roots, gaining knowledge from culture and achieving particular lessons taught by life itself, a good leader is someone who is able to take both the good and bad and make them work for the best conditions that the world can thrive with. In short, a leader is a person who is willing to adjust himself, improve his capacities as well as develop his skills for the sake of providing others with a better option of living.

Personal Leadership Definition

In a personal context, the author of this material tries to develop particular attitudes that help in becoming a good servant leader. Being a leader specifically notes the capacity of one to guide others, however, when it comes to being a servant leader, the demarcation line lies on the capacity of a person to serve others fully while also affecting them or influencing them to work towards one specific goal. The idea of influence is dependent on how much positively motivated they become because of the one leading as he sets the proper example for them to follow rather than simply directing them with the tasks that they are expected to complete.

From the point of service, the author of this essay entails to create a distinct pattern that would provide him with the chance to personally develop a system that is specifically directed towards becoming a servant leader. Knowing what the group to be lead is expecting from the leader should be the base foundation of the individual’s system of leadership. This would allow for a better process of relationship development between the leader and the members of the group.

Among the strengths of the author that is still being planned to be improved includes the capability to respond to the needs of others through listening to their concerns as they talk about it and as they manage to present it as part of their daily routines. Being sensitive with their concerns at all times is a specific matter that makes the author of this essay an individual ready to serve others in relation to what they need and what they deserve as members of a particular group. Another strength of the author includes the capacity to adjust to what others want and what they actually deserve to receive. An example of this is that of the manner by which the author is willing to adjust to the situation of the others thus making it easier for them to also create adjustments on themselves to be able to meet up with the requirements of performing with the entire group as a united entity.

There are also some weaknesses that the author is noted for. One of which is that of the lack of control when it comes to directing the people according to the tasks that are supposed to be completed. Relatively, this weakness has a strong impact on how the entire group performs. Understandably, improving such manner of control would allow the author a better sense of understanding how the group would actually be able to adjust to the whole situation as needed especially when it comes to the aspect of managing the people and how they are supposed to perform according to requirements. In a way, gaining such control would also be a part of serving them and their needs as members of the group.

Learning along the way is a part of becoming a good leader. Most often than not, it could be realized that it is the willingness of an individual that becomes the core source of a person becoming a good leader. There are instances when changes needed to be given attention to should be considered accordingly. When it comes to making sense out of the different situations that a particular group encounters, a good leader is able to make a distinct indication on how the balance of dealing with the needs of the organization, the needs of the members of the group and the needs of the leader as well.

References:

Kouzes, JM. (2006). Christian Reflections on The Leadership Challenge . John Wiley and Sons Publishing.

Bess, T.L. & Harvey, R.J. (2001). “ Bimodal score distributions and the MBTI: Fact or artifact?”. The Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology , San Diego 2001.

Covey, S. R. (1989). Organizing change: Upward Spiral . Free Press.

Nowack, K. (1996). Is the Myers Briggs Type Indicator the Right Tool to Use? Performance in Practice, American Society of Training and Development, Fall 1996, 6.

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Impact of Gifts

University of wisconsin-green bay foundation, being a servant leader: q&a with dr. susan gallagher-lepak.

Dr. Susan Gallagher-Lepak, Dean of the College of Health, Education and Social Welfare (CHESW), is retiring after a 40-year career. She has spent 21 of those years at UW-Green Bay. Over her tenure, she has helped build CHESW into a college that prepares students to meet critical needs in Northeastern Wisconsin. Those include the need for nurses, K-12 educators, social workers, health information specialists and community health educators. She founded the Innovation in Aging Competition (now Innovation On-Ramp) which celebrates and fosters student ideas. She also personally supports student success as a donor to endowed scholarships. We asked her about her story, her successes and her leadership at UW-Green Bay.

What brought you to UW-Green Bay?

You know, it was serendipity. I was working for quite a few years as a nurse and then finished my PhD in Rehab Psychology and began working as a licensed psychologist. My husband relocated to Green Bay and I didn’t find the position that I was looking for here. I happened to see in the Press-Gazette a listing for a tenure track nursing faculty position. It wasn’t really on my radar to teach, but I interviewed and got excited about being at UW-Green Bay and teaching in nursing. That was a great start. Timing is so important in any career

What are you most proud of over your 21 years here?

In my dean position, I’m proud to have strengthened programs in Nursing, Social Work and teacher preparation—areas where our community needs positions. A highlight was starting the pre-licensure Nursing program, putting new nurses into our community. It was a heavy lift. It took not only all the approvals from our University and UW System, but also donor support. We needed to build facilities that would align with our needs for this new program. We couldn’t have done it without tremendous donor support to build, for example, the Aurora BayCare Medical Center Nursing Skills Center in Wood Hall. I’m also proud that during my tenure as Dean, we started the first educational doctorate program at UW Green Bay, an Ed.D. in First Nations Education. And currently, we have a new doctorate that will launch in 2024, an Ed.D in Applied Leadership. I’m proud of being part of putting doctoral programs at UWGB on the map. Simply said, I am proud to have been of service to healthcare, the University and the community. A career in service is important. I hope my example of service will inspire others to follow in this path.

What have you learned about leadership?

When I started at the University, I wasn’t a formal leader. Then I moved into the chair role, I moved into the Dean role, and I’ve had a lot of learnings about leadership. Leadership is about working with people. It’s about working with people to prioritize the right initiatives, the right moves at the right time to create momentum. I’ve learned to work with donors and think about their desires for the University and where they can fit. People in our community want to help, and I’ve worked to be the vehicle to help them find what they’re passionate about. There’s plenty to find. I learned a lot of great lessons about leadership, and I hope I’ve been a strong leader to move the college forward and impact the university.

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D.C. Councilmember Arrested on Bribery Charge

           WASHINGTON – Trayon White Sr., the D.C. Councilmember representing Ward 8, was arrested yesterday on a criminal complaint charging him with bribery. White, 40, is Chair of the Council’s Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs, which oversees several agencies including the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS).

           The complaint alleges that, beginning in June 2024, White corruptly agreed to accept $156,000 in cash payments in exchange for using his position as a D.C. Councilmember to pressure government employees at Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) and DYRS to extend several D.C. contracts.  The contracts at issue were valued at $5.2 million and were for two companies to provide Violence Intervention services in D.C.  As alleged, the $156,000 White agreed to accept in exchange for using his official position to pressure renewal of those contracts to particular companies was three percent of the total contract value.  According to the complaint, White’s agreement with a confidential human source (the owner of the companies) – including the source’s payments to White of $35,000 in cash on four separate occasions (June 26, July 17, July 25, and August 9, 2024) and the source showing White a document reflecting how White’s three-percent cut was calculated based on those contracts – was captured on video. 

           The arrest and charge was announced by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, D.C. Inspector General Daniel Lucas, and Executive Special Agent in Charge Kareem A. Carter of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Washington, D.C. Field Office.

           “Because the investigation into the alleged bribery scheme involved contracts that could soon be awarded and other potential official acts that could be taken, our Office took swift steps to address the alleged crimes we were investigating,” said U.S. Attorney Graves.

           This ongoing investigation is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI Washington Field Office, the D.C. Office of the Inspector General, and the IRS Criminal Investigation Washington Field Office.

            A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025

The former president and his backers aim to strengthen the power of the White House and limit the independence of federal agencies.

Donald J. Trump intends to bring independent regulatory agencies under direct presidential control. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times

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By Jonathan Swan Charlie Savage and Maggie Haberman

• Published July 17, 2023 Updated July 18, 2023

Donald J. Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands.

Their plans to centralize more power in the Oval Office stretch far beyond the former president’s recent remarks that he would order a criminal investigation into his political rival, President Biden, signaling his intent to end the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from White House political control.

Mr. Trump and his associates have a broader goal: to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him.

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He intends to strip employment protections from tens of thousands of career civil servants, making it easier to replace them if they are deemed obstacles to his agenda. And he plans to scour the intelligence agencies, the State Department and the defense bureaucracies to remove officials he has vilified as “the sick political class that hates our country.”

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