mindset.

Credit: Robert K. Greenleaf (1904-1990), also Jim Collins (1958-) Good to Great, Level 5 Leadership 

Summary:

Greenleaf wrote about “servant leadership” in 1970. In his essay titled, “The Servant as Leader” he 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?“

Real world application:

paul mallett has sought to apply the philosophy of servant leadership throughout his community service career. In all roles he has deliberately positioned himself as the worker or the service leader that cares for others. In his tenure as State Manager of Anglicare’s Children, Family and Community Services, he led the Therapeutic Residential Care program. With 35 staff, the decision to invest significant time and money in Sanctuary Model training for all staff was based on the belief of helping staff to grow in order for the staff to more safely support young people to grow. When the funding was lost and the 35 staff faced redundancy, paul led the process of group meetings, and one-one-one meetings with all affected staff. paul worked with each individual until each one was redeployed, contracted to the new provider, or supported into other organisations. paul saw that it was his duty (not the duty of a delegated team leader or human resourced officer) to serve the displaced staff and ensure each was supported at the end of the contract.

Concept detail:

One way to communicate what servant leadership is about is to contrast it with some general observations of traditional leadership.  Servant leadership is about empathy, foresight, and stewardship. Servant leaders seek to identify and act upon opportunities to serve others. Traditional leadership is often about obtaining a rank, or status, and the use of power and control to drive performance. Servant leadership in contrast is characterised by the sharing of power and resources, the creation of safety, and the achievement through engagement. While the effectiveness of traditional leadership is often measured through the lens of “outputs”, servant leadership is concerned with success  through growth and change. Servant leaders spend considerable amounts of time listening, and asking open ended, prompting questions, and co-designing solutions. While traditional leaders spend a lot of time talking and telling their direct reports what to do. Servant leaders understand it’s not about them. They are constantly seeking to learn and growth themselves, and  it is about helping their direct reports move forward. For traditional leaders, it’s about them, it’s about demonstrating what or how much they know, and doing the things that get them to where they are going.

When a servant leader authentically and consistently leads in the manner outlined above certain benefits aggregate. This includes: enhanced team work and collaboration; a more positive work environment and more joy experienced at work more of the time; greater discretionary effort demonstrated by staff and reduced staff turnover; greater creativity and innovation; deeper learning and mastery of skills; and a strong sense of team identity and culture develops. Most importantly, leadership can manifest at all levels and future leaders are prepared. It does, however, take longer to complete some tasks, such as making decisions. Some staff, principally those who relish direct leadership, require additional time and support to thrive in the environment.