Servant Leadership

Introduction

Just as sand’s tiny grains which are carried by the wind builds up to make a huge dune, also a large number of communities and people which is ever increasingly going  for the servant-leadership are drastically building up ready to fight and stand up for their conviction and  intentions (Sullivan, 2004). The servant-leadership concept has continuously fanned the revolution idea in the working people’s minds in different parts world wide. It has always been very common for managers regarding their hired workers as mere tools for profit gaining; this is an attitude which has been witnessed since the beginning of industrial revolution age (Sullivan, 2004). However, things have been changing for the last few decades due to the servant-leadership concept. The idea of servant-leadership belongs to its initiator Robert K. Greenleaf who introduced a new approach towards the concept. This was greatly contributed by his vast experience in education and consultation on matters of leadership.

Most of the Greenleaf’s theories and ideas on leadership and service gradually won the attention of workers, managers, educators as well as representatives of several social layers who were interested in service issue, management and also personal problems. It has been due to the effect of these theories that most traditional autocratic behavior seems to have taken the backseat to pave way for more democratic means of managing enterprises and organizations. However, in the process of personal leadership plan which will end up improving my servant leadership skills as a manager I have to consider the feeling that, I as a person who wants to serve, then this choice of deciding to serve will create an aspiration to lead (Greenleaf, 2004). The great issue now is that, is there any personal growth of those been served or as they are being served do they become wise, healthier freer or more autonomous in a way which could likely indicate them as becoming future servants.

However, as we experience a swift and drastic shift from hierarchical and autocratic leadership models towards a servant-leadership, there is  always need to involve others in the process of decision-making which is based strongly on caring and ethical behavior, and enhancing the workers growth as well as improving quality of their life (Greenleaf, 2004). By combining the words servant and a leader Greenleaf come up with servant-leadership a term which seems paradoxical.  However, according to Greenleaf I have identified ten leadership qualities which can improve my servant-leadership skills and they are as follows; listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to peoples growth and building community.

Listening: Decision-making and communication skills always need to be balanced, that is, by mainly by my deep commitment to be an intent listener of other people. As a servant leader I will always seek to know the groups will as well as clarifying that will (Greenleaf, 2004). I will always need to listen receptively to all what is said as well as what is unsaid in order to hear people’s inner voice. Hence listening combined with reflection will be very vital in the well- being, growth as well as improving my servant leadership skills.

Empathy:  In the process of improving my servant leadership skills I should also strive to always empathize with other people as well as accepting and recognizing people’s unique spirits (Sullivan, 2004). There is also the need to assuming my co-workers good intensions as well as not rejecting them as people even at circumstances when they are not willing to accept certain performance or behaviors’. Empathy also promotes the aspect of coexistence whereby I will be embracing every person as he/she is.

Healing: Healing is another important aspect of servant-leadership skills improvement mainly because relationship healing is regard as a force which can lead to integration and transformation (Greenleaf, 2004). Thus as I strive to improve my servant leadership skills I will want to learn how to heal my self as well as my relationship to other people. This is because there are so many people hurt emotionally due to the broken spirits; hence I should help those whom I come into the contact with becoming whole again.

Awareness:  I will always need general awareness as well as self awareness in order to be in a position to understand issues which involves power, ethics as well as values (Greenleaf, 2004). I will also need to start viewing almost all the situations in which I am in from a very holistic position. Thus I should not consider awareness as the solace giver but an awakener and distributor. As a servant leader I need to be reasonably disturbed as well as sharply awake and have my inner serenity (Sullivan, 2004).

Persuasion: In the process of improving my servant-leadership skills I should mostly relay on my persuasion power but not my positional authority as a manager in the process of making decisions. I should always seek for ability to convince other people, rather than coercing them to comply (Sullivan, 2004). This aspect offers a very clear distinction between servant-leadership and the authoritarian model of leadership. Thus as a servant leader I will always strive to be effective at consensus building skills (Greenleaf, 2004).

Conceptualization:  In order to improve my servant-leadership skills I should learn to nature my abilities to dream big dreams (Greenleaf, 2004). I will also try to look at people and problems from what is called conceptualizing perspective, which means I will be in apposition to think beyond realities of day-to-day. Thus I will be required to couple discipline together with practice. This is because many leaders end up being consumed by their need of achieving goals which are short-term. This means that I will be required to stretch my thinking in order to seek a balance between daily operations approach and conceptual thinking.

Foresight:  I also need to be in a position to embrace the ability of foreseeing a situation’s likely outcome, which will be enabling me as a servant-leader to be able to understand the lessons learned from the past, embracing the present realities as well as consequences which are likely to accrue in the future as a result of decision made (Sullivan, 2004). Foresight also requires an intuitive mind.

Stewardship:  Stewardship involves holding something for another person in trust. Greenleaf believed in the aspect that trustees, CEO’s and staffs of any organization play the great roles of holding these organizations for the greater society’s good in trust (Greenleaf, 2004). Thus, in order to improve my servant-leadership skills, I will be required to commit my self to serving other’s needs. I will also be required to emphasize on persuasion and ness, rather than control.

Commitment to the growth of people:  As a good servant leader I should believe there is an intrinsic value of people beyond their contributions which are tangible as workers. Thus, in order to improve my servant-leadership skills I should commit my self to the growth of my people, by doing all which is in my power as a manager to nurture their professional and personal growth (Sullivan, 2004). I can do this by making sure there are available funds for their development, taking interest personally in their suggestions and ideas, as well as encouraging involvement of workers in decision making (Greenleaf, 2004).

Building community:  As someone who upholds servant-leadership, I should be able to sense that the shift of people from their local communities into large communities has contributed to a lot of loss. As a result of this awareness I will then be in apposition to identify the possible ways of building a community in the organization (Greenleaf, 2004). Thus, all the people in the organization will embrace the sense of being one community.

Conclusion

Servant-leadership can be regarded as a long-term and a transformational approach to work and life. This is in the essence of creating the way of being which is potential to create a positive change in the society. Servant-leadership emphasizes on collaboration and service to co-workers. However, the ten characteristics discussed above are able to communicate the promise and power which servant leadership can offer to the people who welcomes the challenge and invitation. There is a lot of transformational power which can improve someone’s servant-leadership skills drasticall

References:

Greenleaf, R. K., (2002). Servant-Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, L.C. Spears, S.R. Covey, & P.M. Senge (Eds). Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press.

Sullivan, J. J., (2004). Servant First: Leadership for the New Millennium. USA: Xulon Press