Servant Leadership

It is rare to find servant-leadership in an organization, the culture must be right for servant leaders to thrive. Servant leaders will not last long in an organization where the culture does not value collaboration, and leadership is seen as ‘us’ and ‘them’ by the frontline. Sadly, many organizations are set up just like that.

Servant leaders have a different mindset and approach to how goals are realized, they set goals that support the vision of the company, they empower their team to creatively consider those goals, and collaboratively work on the plan to achieve them. The goal of the organizational leader with a servant leader mindset is to work with the team and be the advocate for removing roadblocks. Helping them see the way, and then walking in that way.

All this may sound fuzzy and even be considered a ‘no-brainer’ by some, but it’s not easy being a servant leader, you own interests need to be put behind the team members interests. The Vision of the organization is embraced yet the path to achieve it must they empower the team to accomplish. The team members must see you as committed to supporting their success not as they are the means for you to claim success. There is a big difference. Leaders who acknowledge the team members accomplishments and contribution to the next level rather than take the credit for a job well done are servant leaders and it is natural for them.  

In her book, “Jesus CEO, Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership”, Laurie Beth Jones focuses on the role of a servant leader and how they respond to challenges faced by their organization and team. She writes about how servant leaders develop self-mastery and how they gain strength through relationships with those they serve. It’s a great book and one I recommend, the wisdom it contains is Universal.

The bottom line is, humility as a leader is a foundation of servant leadership, it is not weakness to be humble, it is a strength. Servant leaders gain great strength in their humbleness. Consider the greatest leaders you can think of, I expect all of them displayed a servant leadership character and mindset and were humble at heart. We would all do well to pause and consider our own leadership and take to heart what it means to be a servant leader.