Before reading about characteristics of servant leadership, I tried thinking about what I already knew about this type of leadership. Some of the thoughts I had were: leaders put others before themselves and leaders go beyond their responsibilities to help others. When I read Chapter 7 from The Special Education Teacher as a Servant Leader, I found that I was correct but did not have the full answer. 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 …show more content…
Mrs. Vietti was the perfect candidate to observe and interview because she is still a leader in the classroom as well as a leader in a formal position. The biggest point that we discussed about leadership was attitude. She feels that having a positive attitude is the best way to display leadership. Thought he reading did not mention attitude much, I believe that a positive attitude can help build a community, which is one of the characteristics of a servant leader. In the science department, we are trying to rebuild the community from disputes that happened over the course of the past couple years. While we all teach different contents of science at different levels, one of the most helpful qualities that help us work together are the positive attitudes that come from most educators in the department. During my evaluation, one of the strengths that were notes was my positive attitude even when things do not go quite right. My attitude and willingness to work with other to build a community is my strongest servant leadership characteristic. I enjoy having close relationships with coworkers and discussing different techniques used in the …show more content…
I liked discussing how each quality can be incorporated into that classroom and how they can benefit the working environment. Though we talked about several different qualities, I believe that the “healing” characteristic is the most challenging for me. Though I am sensitive by nature, I have found myself become more callused towards how a student’s performance is linked to their disability due to the level of special education that I work in. I work with students’ labeled as having learning disabilities. These students are one track below the general education curriculum and I feel most are placed at my level due to laziness (that is my callused thinking). Though I they need the help, it is the lack of homework turn in, effort put towards their work and their “I don’t care” statements I hear on a daily basis that frustrates me in my efforts to help them. Another reason why I believe I am becoming calloused is because of the parents. During past teacher conferences, I had a few parents try to use their child’s disability as an excuse to why they were not completing homework, their excessive amount of tardiness to class, and the number of times they check their cell phone during class. I enjoy having a relationship with parents, but one of my biggest peeves is when individuals use their disability as excuse to why they cannot do a task before they even
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
Servant leadership is a designation coined by Robert Greenleaf in 1970 in an essay entitled The Servant as Leader. In this essay, he describes the servant leader and a servant first contrary to one who is a leader first. The difference is the servant chooses to put others needs before his own while the leader first may later become a servant from the promptings of a sense of right and wrong or simply because they are coerced in that direction (Greenleaf, 1991).
“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent” (Douglas MacArthur). Being a leader is something a lot of people strive to be, and leadership is a quality that comes in many different shapes and sizes, but it is a quality that anyone can possess. As there are many different types of leaders, there are also various distinctive models of leadership for leaders to follow. Both the Relational Leadership Model and Servant Leadership are unique, widely used leadership models in today’s society. Their philosophies of leadership juxtapose with
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 Servant Leader discusses the importance of leaders who adopt a service oriented attitude in which they care for the needs of others before their own. A servant leader need not be an actual servant or have ever been a servant to become a servant leader. Rather, a servant leader is born with or adopts an “others first” disposition. Climbing through the ranks may help to create a servant leader, though it is not necessary. When leaders choose to see that the needs of their followers or their organizations are the highest priority they become servants.
Primary service is the key. Many view this as a contradiction because the leader is leading and serving. How can a person do both? Good servant leaders are good listeners. The communication between the leader and the follower being served allows the leader to listen to the follower first, in order to understand what the other person has to say and to understand their needs. These leaders practice empathy as well. Understanding what the follower is facing or feeling is comforting to the follower because it validates their importance to another person. The ability to heal a person through care and the concern for a person’s well being is another quality of a servant leader. These are only a few of the characteristics that generate a strong servant leader. Mother Teresa said, “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.” Her words describe exactly what servant leaders do. Servant leaders serve others willingly because they find joy and pleasure in doing so. The outcome of serving others in this manner is growth and social impacts for a greater good. When there is an improvement in self-actualization, followers improve in their goal reaching or task completion by understanding their full potential to do
Servant leadership is becoming a more “sought-after” concept in today’s society, but what exactly is servant leadership? Does it mean different things to different people? Although the three books, The Servant as Leader, The Servant, and Lead Like Jesus, all center around servant leadership, each author takes a different perspective on the meaning of being a servant leader. Robert Greenleaf addresses leadership from a straight-forward stance; saying that a good leader must be a servant-first by finding the will within themselves to put the needs of their group before their own. James Hunter discusses servant leadership through a story involving everyday people that the reader can relate to. He uses Jesus as a guide to explain how to initiate character development that will, in turn, fashion servant leadership. Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges offer a new perspective on servant leadership by bringing Jesus into the picture on an even deeper level than Hunter. They explain that by knowing Jesus Christ and developing an intimate personal
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 ...
Steward or Servant-leadership characterizes a model of leadership in which the leader undertakes a supportive, service orientated role among stakeholders and employees. The leader assists by building the skills of employees, minimizing obstacles, and enabling creative problem solving and innovation. “The characteristics associated with servant leadership include incorporating active listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and community building” (Spears, 2002). Servant leaders build up their employees and surround themselves with good people and then motivate them to achieve greatness and this starts at the top within BMW
Leaders come forth depending on the kind of situation, in which they are need. This type of leadership is typically known as “situational leadership,” where the key concept is every situation is different, so each situation requires a specific, unique leader. For a person to be a great leader, one does not have to necessarily assume a “bossy” persona, which is stereotypically characterized with all leaders, but being a leader based on listening. Being this background leader is known to many as, “servant leadership.” Servant and situational leadership is how I can characterize my leadership style so far since I have joined the student leadership community at Hillwood High School.
Larry Spears explains that a servant leader is one who is a servant first. A goal of the servant leader is to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. I can honestly see myself as a servant teacher because my goal is to make sure that my students are successful. My lessons are geared toward their needs and their interests. I can see this transferring into my role as an educational leader. Spear’s also indicates that servant leadership is not a “quick-fix” approach. The way my mind works as an ISFJ, is to think methodically about how to approach a task. My goal is to take the time in processing all the components before jumping into a situation to only try and get the job done. According to Spears characteristics of servant leaders are: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and building a community (2005, p. 3-4). As an ISJF, listening is a natural characteristic in which I excel. When I listen I am also able to show empathy for the concerns of an
In order to be a servant leader, one needs to develop and know their inner characteristics. It is the inner qualities of the person that determine the quality of his or her performance (Page and Wong, 2000). At the heart of these characteristics should be a genuine desire to serve others for the common good. These leaders will motivate followers through investing in them and empowering them to do their best (Page and Wong, 2000). There are several characteristics that one can have. In The Servant, James C. Hunter lists the characteristics of patience, kindness, humility, respectfulness, selflessness, forgiveness, honesty, and commitment (pg. 24). Another set of characteristics are given by Spears (2010), these are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community (pg. 27-29). Out of these characteristics there are more that can probably be named. Looking at these, the three key characteristics are patience, humility, and selflessness. These three can be used to not only achieve a good balance but also achieve all of the
There are many servant leaders in this world , but there were only two that really stuck out to
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.