Servant Leadership is a concept that is interpreted in a variety of ways and interpreted differently by many different people. Some believe that Servant Leadership is a philosophy that certain leaders believe in by developing characteristics in order to follow this philosophy while others believe is a set of leadership practices in which one must gain skills by practicing certain set of rules. Although these beliefs are justified and believed by many, Servant Leadership is truly a journey that an individual endures by first becoming a servant to the community and then becoming a leader but a leader whose main priority is to serve humanity. The journey of becoming a Servant Leader also leads to these individuals gaining characteristics in order to become a successful leader. These characteristics include awareness, supportive, confidence, ability to empower, and genuine.
A Servant Leader’s main purpose is to build a community and serve humanity. This involves a Servant Leader to be supportive to not only their followers, but also to everyone around them. Along with this, a Servant Leader should have the ability to empower. Empowerment and being a supportive person go hand in hand. By being supportive of all ideas and suggestions by their followers and peers, Servant Leaders can create a positive environment in which everyone feels welcomed and appreciated. This type of positive atmosphere allows for personal growth due to the feeling of empowerment which directly comes from support. For example, if a team of employees get together every so often to come up with ways to improve their business, the introverted employees will feel less comfortable in speaking up their thoughts than the outgoing employees. If the leaders of the grou...
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...ator” test where our personalities were analyzed through a series of questions. The test gave a very thorough description which we brought to class the following week and discussed the different types of personalities. I never realized how differently we all thought as individuals and why we all think the way that we do. I feel that I have become more aware of myself and the way I think along with how some of my peers think. I will always think twice when dealing with certain individuals and be more cautious on how I treat them as well.
With all of these lessons, and my own definition of Servant Leadership, I hope to continue this journey throughout these four years and apply them to my career and thereafter. I hope to be a successful leader by applying these lessons for the rest of my life while being a servant to my community, my peers, and humanity as a whole.
What is a servant leader? A servant leader is a individual that wants to serve first and is selfless. “The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” (Keith) A servant leader can be anyone in a group setting from a work place, education, religion and cultures. Jesus was a servant leader. He was selfless he died on the cross for our sins. He was selfless and while here on earth was always helping people and teaching the way of the lord.
Servant leadership, as defined by Kretiner and Kinkicki (2015, p.486), is putting the needs of others, including employees, customers, and community ahead of one’s own needs. This management style requires selflessness and humility from management so the organization can focus on serving key stakeholders. There are ten characteristics of a servant-leader as identified in the text
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, as defined by Spears (2010) “Servant leadership seeks to involve others in decision making, is strongly based in ethical and caring behavior, and enhances the growth of workers while improving the caring and quality of organizational life”. Spears (2010) goes on to describe ten pillars of servant leadership: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. Listening is not only listening with purpose to the employee but also communicating the views and goals of the organization to the employee. Empathy is about understanding and accepting employees as well as recognizing employee efforts. Healing aids in helping employees on an emotional level, employees go through turbulent times throughout their career; therefor the servant leader is a liaison within the relationship. Awareness, self-awareness strengthens the leader values and ethics, awareness aids the leader in looking at problems from a more integrated approach. Persuasion is seeking to convince rather than coerce employees or persuading employees rather than using an authoritarian approach. Conceptualization is looking beyond day-to-day problems and dreaming big, while day-to-day operations are important for the organization, leaders must keep their eye on the bigger
Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that augments the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and creates a more just and caring world, they put the team first, and themselves second (MindTools, 2015). Servant leaders are able to demonstrate their traits through interaction with followers and other leaders within the organization. The characteristics of servant leaders include their commitment to the growth of people, stewardship, and building community, and provide leaders with the opportunity to experience change and to invite followers to change (Savage-Austin & Honeycutt 2011). Servant leadership encourages leaders and followers to ‘raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality’, and set their leadership focus: follower’s first, organizations second, their own needs last (Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). The servant leader focuses on the needs of others to include team members.
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.
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.
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.
Becoming a leader requires the ability to offer oneself as a clear, trustworthy and supportive individual that inspires others by servicing those in the surrounding environment. A servant leader works to empower others through encouragement rather than power. Although the name servant leadership may seem like a paradox, those that work to serve others ultimately blossom into leaders that others are more willing to follow and trust. Servant leadership is composed of several different qualities that are melted together in order to become a successful leader. Robert K. Greenleaf constructed the term “servant leadership” in order to describe a leader that puts others before themselves while empowering and inspiring others to act as their best selves
Servant-leadership is a way of life that evolves and matures with the passage of time. This way of life transforms spiritual people, with strong and stable emotions, into someone who has a deep understanding of truth and the world around them.
Servant Leadership is a way of life, serving others first, it is not just a leadership technique. “Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy which addresses the concerns of ethics, customer experience, and employee engagement while creating a unique organizational culture where both leaders and followers unite to reach organizational goals without positional or authoritative power” (Carter & Baghurst, 2014, p.1). As stated by Ann McGee-Cooper “anyone could lead perfect people, if there were any.” The challenge “is to learn to develop the imperfect people who we all are” (as cited in Spears, 1995, p.59). A leader who adopts the Servant Leadership philosophy looks like a part of the team, patient and caring, not someone directing
Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” (Smith, 2001) As a Servant Leader you must lead by example and demonstrate charismatic traits. Throughout the bible many of the leaders posed the necessary characteristics and demonstrated the necessary behaviors to live a righteous life. Jesus Christ modeled the behavior of servant leadership and exemplified every area of it. When Jesus humbled himself onto death that is servant leadership; “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John
I am continually learning and growing in my leadership roles by applying knowledge gained through education and experience.true application I 'm will continue to model the way throw action. demonstrating the qualities that continue to support and inspired a shared vision by enlisting others to challenge the process to keep teaching the next generation are morals, values, and beliefs.I am utilizing the knowledge through my leadership training to inspire others to
Taking any type of personality test can lead to a lot of thought and reflection on yourself,
Servant Leadership means to serve others and to lead. It puts everyone else first teaching to put others before yourself, with this leading qualities emerge. Just being or having leadership qualities doesn’t always work. Most leadership models show possessive towards the better for themselves, some work out while others don’t, mostly I think because the unwillingness to see others before yourself is a hard concept for some to understand and use. You can be a great leader but if you don’t understand servant qualities or serve for the benefit of others your probley not much liked. Most I don’t think know what Servant Leadership is or means, I didn’t until this course opened it up to me.