After reading various essays and commentaries on servant leadership I thought about a criticism of the theory that wasn't addressed in the readings. Are servant leaders taken advantage of and in certain instances seen as pushovers rather than true leaders? If we review the basic concept of servant leadership, my definition would be a leader who does what’s necessary to ensure his followers are successful. Is this what you really want from a leader? In my opinion that answer is no, you want a leader to exhibit these “I will help you by all means” characteristics in certain situations, but not all of the time. If this is done all of the time I see this “leader” as a targeted pushover. The lesson commentary referenced the role of parenthood as an example of servant leadership. “Parents serve their children’s needs so that the children can develop into healthy adults…so that they can help their own children develop” (Lesson 11 Commentary, p. 2 Houston). For us parents out there, we know that this can be a slippery slope. If you always come to the rescue of the child, they will not learn ...
There has been a bit of research done on the nature of servant leadership. The belief is that many organizations are moving from the traditional style of leadership to a more servant based style. Larry C. Spears (2010) and Kent Keith (2016) note a few characteristics of one who is a servant leader. The characteristics proposed by Spears (2010) are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to others growth, and community building. These traits will often manifest naturally becoming more enriched as time goes by through experience. Keith (2016) references only four elements of servant leadership. He begins with an element of morality, then of the servant focus, concern for others’
Servant leadership expresses that personal values of leaders lead from their values and beliefs, while meeting the needs of others. The leader concentrates on changes to include increased truth, better teamwork and cooperation, improved leadership skill, along with high levels of trust (Russell, 2001). The human resources framework focuses on leadership styles of support, advocate and empowerment, and provides efficient and transformative change for your organization by addressing human issues, leading to greater accomplishment of goals and better individual, team, and organizational performance. Servant leadership styles easily covert over to the human resources framework, and give a manager more tools to become more effective for both the employees and the
The importance of servant leadership should not be underestimated and it can be simplified and embodied in one timeless phrase: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. When applied to leadership the result can be phenomenal. Those who wish to serve do so with their hearts, it is not forced nor is it with resentment. The servant leader serves out of acceptance and ownership of their ability and duty.
In my life, my grandfather has always been my role model. He valued his beliefs and always abides by his values. My grandfather is a pastor. His leadership position in church gave him many responsibilities. I was never disappointed because he always tried to live an honest life. He was always trustworthy, reliable and responsible not just in church but also for his family. People followed his lead because he was always true to his words; he literally practiced what he preached. Credibility was the basic foundation for my grandfather’s leadership position. His credibleness has helped the church stay
Leaders will act as role models to inspire their followers. Besides, the leader will challenge the followers to take a greater ownership of their work. Transformational leaders normally understand follower’s strength and weakness so that the leader will not affect their performance when allocating task for them. Nevertheless, transformational leadership can inspire or motivate followers to achieve a better result compared to originally planned (Mihhailova, 2014).
3). Through the service of others, servants as leaders create positive changes in the lives of others that lead those served to act more autonomously (Block, Blanchard, Wheatley & Autry, 2006). The goal of a service leader is to help others achieve their highest level of functioning. Those served are then motivated to become service leaders as well (Block, Blanchard, Wheatley & Autry, 2006). Thus, servant leadership focuses on commitment to helping the individual served grow in their abilities. In turn this gives the served individual confidence in their work and personal abilities which then transforms into a desire to help others do the
Leading by example is the main idea. Servant leaders do not want to be in the first line and they prefer to guide their employees from a distance. They distinguish because of their personality, their behavior and their values. The only disadvantage is that in a competitive financial environment it is difficult from them to be recognized.
The people I believe who exemplified a servant leader throughout this journey were easily recognizable. Those that I felt portrayed a true servant leader were Darius’ buddies, along with Darius
In the context of paradox, leadership, is someone who can serve people and lead them at the same time. According to Spears (2010), servant and leader are two contradictory terms; generating a paradoxical thought of servant leadership (p. 12). A servant is a person devoted to helping others. They make sure the people’s needs are taken care of. In contrast, a leader is a person who shows the way and gives orders, but doesn’t serve one’s needs but his own. Yet, a servant leader, “is a servant first” (Spears, 2010, p. 17). A servant leader starts from the bottom and works his way up. For instance, it's like climbing a mountain, which allows people to follow him. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. was a true servant leader. He transformed
Servant leadership can be thought of as an inverted triangle where the leader is supporting the organization at the point. As a result of this leadership style, leaders are more in tune with their teams. They have more insight on their team and the inner workings of their organizations.
Though I did not think of the entire answer, I believe that the complete definition of a servant leader was discussed when I participated in an interview with Mrs. Hubner, as I completed my case study on Mrs. Vietti, and as I discussed leadership qualities in my PLC group. During my meeting with Mrs. Hunber, one quality that she discussed that
Many leadership styles exist. The determining factor if a leadership style is effective or not is often how it is carried out and if it is appeasing to those, the leader is attempting to lead. One of the leadership styles that has become popular is Servant leadership. Although Greenleaf developed servant leadership more than thirty-five years ago and he identified ten characteristics that pertain to servant leadership. (book p. 56) Servant leadership has been successful in various industries and its popularity continues to increase.
Many people want to attain and hold influential positions in society whether it would be in the field of science, politics, education, or in public service. However, many people tend to forget how servitude is one of the main life highways to travel in order to arrive at that successful destination called “Leadership.” Nevertheless, there was one man who knew how powerful the concept of servitude was in order to grasp the reigns of successful leadership. Socrates was a phenomenal philosopher, scholar, teacher, and servant. Socrates leadership style was unique in regards to letting students communicate among one another in an articulate theological reasoning process by questioning and probing at one’s belief system in order to seek self-purification.
(Hegarty & Cusack, 2016, p. 68). This is a leader who focuses on building relationships through honesty and input from others. After authentic leadership, there are others who prefer to use the servant leadership theory. Abraham Lincoln is an example of a servant leader. During the timeframe of his presidency, he contributed to preserving the Union and also freeing the slaves, which shows his willingness to commit for the greater good of people (The people’s forum, 2016).
Stone, A. G., Russell, R. F., & Patterson, K. (n.d.). Transformational versus servant leadership: A difference in leader focus. Retrieved from http://www.regent.edu/acad/sls/publications/conference_proceedings/servant_leadership_roundtable/2003pdf/stone_transformation_versus.pdf