Servant leadership

I am fascinated and encouraged by the concept of servant leadership.

For those who may not know of servant leadership, I’ll let Robert Greenleaf, who coined the phrase, explain it:

“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?”

Take a moment and think about that this means. It flips the model of the top-down, traditional authoritarian leadership. The one where the employee exists to support their manager.

The number one priority of a servant leader is to support and encourage their employee to grow into their full potential. They share their power instead of hoarding it.

The traditional authoritarian style of leadership is very concerned with roles and positions. Management retains all decision-making authority and scrutinizes the results of employees.

Servant leadership, a participatory style of leadership, delegate more tasks to the employees. Gives them the authority to make decisions on more and more tasks. And the employee grows in responsibility and role.

The business world can be ruthless. Often complicated with outdated and unnecessary politics. It seeks to keep a line between workers and management. And ordains someone a “leader” not through results by rather hierarchy.

This is why the concept of servant leadership is a great source of optimism for me. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can do it better by following its principles.

I hope someday to see my team flourish because of it.