Servant Leadership versus Transformational Leadership

Servant Leadership as it compares to Transformational Leadership

Transformational and servant leadership are rooted in the study of charismatic leadership. An early conceptual model of "charismatic leadership" has been closely linked with the work of Max Weber, who described the leader as a charismatic person who exercised power through followers' identification with and belief in the leader's personality. Both transformational and servant leadership are both inspirational and moral.

Transformational leadership is defined as having four conceptually distinct elements: charismatic leadership/idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Bass, 1996). Servant leadership has six distinct components: valuing people, developing people, building community, displaying authenticity, providing leadership, sharing leadership (Laub, 1999). These behaviors are listed under the dimension heading in Table 1. Two questions are addressed in this analysis. The first asks the extent to which the specified leader behaviors overlap in the two models. The second question examines the extent to which each model may be appropriate for clearly distinct contexts.

The Seven Habits of Servant Leadership

To create a servant workforce, you must put into practice seven guiding principles or 'habits' that encourages sensitivity, integrity, and a sense of community within your organization.

1.Be an Active Listener - In the words of Steven Covey, "you must first seek to understand, then to be understood." Problems, whether they are coworker disputes or handling a large spurt of production delays or downsizing your workforce, all require a degree of listening first to what employees need to un...

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...al growth in all who work with them. For any effective leader, he or she must listen and possess the ability to persuade, conceptualize, grow, and build a strong sense of community, but for the servant leader, these are necessary traits to cultivate, develop, and demonstrate in one's daily interactions with others. However, it is easy to lose sight of these ideals, especially in an age where profits outweigh people, but servant leaders are able to take a step back, reflect, and put into daily practice these qualities to overcome such hardships and obstacles.

Bass B. M., Avolio B. J. (Eds.). (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Kuzmenko, Tatiana N. (2004) Transformational and servant leadership: content and contextual comparisons. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies