Throughout our many years of developing and delivering executive leadership programs, the underlying philosophy has always been linked to servant-leadership. This always seemed fitting since the majority of our work was within the public sector. In this essay, we would now like to take a deeper dive into the more complex meaning of being a servant-leader with the hope of stimulating your thoughts about it, encouraging conversation, and helping each other to grow as humans.
Let’s begin by examining a key concept by Robert K. Greenleaf, the modern founder of this school of thought, in his seminal book Servant-Leadership: “The servant-leader is servant first...then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.”
Notice the focus on the pre-requisite of being a servant first, followed by a conscious choice to aspire to lead. This may seem very basic, but in our experience consulting with leaders, we have been more accustomed to people being in leadership roles and then trying to adopt a servant-leadership style. It is a much more powerful understanding of servant-leadership with Greenleaf’s emphasis on committing to a life of serving others as the primary and essential ingredient prior to being “eligible” to aspire to leadership. Service is the core, not the whipped cream on top. What a world that would be if all our leaders consistently demonstrated service to others first and foremost, prior to becoming considered for a position of leadership.
Greenleaf discusses the “top ten” abilities of a servant-leader as follows:
· Listening
· Empathy
· Healing both self and relationships with others
· Self-awareness
· Reliance on persuasion rather than positional power
· Conceptualization (big picture over day-to-day)
· Foresight
· Stewardship
· Commitment to the growth of people
· Building community
Each of these demonstrated abilities deserve a future issue dedicated to understanding each one at a deeper level. Developing and applying each of these abilities should come before we truly aspire to lead. This suggests that all of us have a lot of internal work to do prior to leading. Lest any of us get discouraged, though, servant-leadership is a lifelong practice and we can do on-the-job training toward becoming a servant leader each and every day. We just start wherever we are.
A second understanding from Robert K. Greenleaf’s essay, “The Servant as Leader,” that continues to frame a better understanding is expressed this way:
“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 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?”
Being a servant-leader, then, is ultimately about growing others, helping them improve themselves, their lives, and their own willingness and ability to become servant-leaders, and to serve others in their life’s work. It sounds so simple, but what it means is that servant-leadership is not directly focused on production, as much as it is on people. Production is a secondary result, that also needs to be focused on helping others through whatever the production mission of the organization is.
In these times of “quiet quitting”, workplace tensions, and global and environmental challenges, it seems that servant leadership is even more necessary for us, for our civilization, for our society. So how do we begin?
In the words of our favorite servant-leader and one familiar to many of our readers, Justice Bill Mims: “Servant-leadership is not about thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less often.” We focus on others and truly listen to them – not to react or answer, but to get to know them, to get to know their gifts, their motivations, their desires, and their challenges. We focus on helping them in their journey.
Reflection: Think of when you first felt called to serve. Were you a child? Were you an adult? How did you respond to that calling? How do you live out that calling still? Also, when reflecting on the ten abilities of a servant-leader, which one are you focusing these days on growing?
We would encourage you to use this time as a chance to really look inward and maybe take a deep dive into your own journey toward servant-leadership. Check out some really good resources at the Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership at Seton Hall University: https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/.
Thanks, as always, for reading. Please join the conversation and let us know your thoughts and the ways you are seeking to grow. We are all partners on this journey; we are all travelers just trying to do a bit better each day.
* Ka-tet - A group of people bound together by ka (destiny) for a sense of purpose. Credit: Stephen King from his novel, The Gunslinger.
TEO Ka-tet is the property of James Burke and Linda Pierce operating as TEOconsulting, LLC
https://teoconsulting.org/
I recently served as a peer coach at the National Conservation Leadership Institute. It was a humbling experience working with 6 extremely analytical and mostly introverted fellows. I am neither! There comes a point when you have to realize that everyone has their own path and all you can do is provide enough support and trust so that they can find their own way. In the end, I hope they realized that I listened to their struggles, empathized with how they wanted to grow, gave them enough guidance to continue their journey and let them grow in their own way. We all learned something at the end of the residency that I think left them with a great support network. Sometimes the best servant leadership is to simply be present and be patient to see what will grow. Holding steady is not always easy.