Examples Of Servant Leadership

Change in Thinking There is debate over the differences of management and leadership. There are different viewpoints and definitions of leadership as well. How do we know what the difference is and what definitions of leadership work the best? James C. Hunter in The Servant differentiates management from leadership by doing and influence (1998). Management is what you do and leadership is the influence and impact you have upon the people you come in contact with (Hunter, 1998). There are many different styles of leadership which include authoritarian, benevolent dictatorship, and participatory to name a few (Page and Wong, 2000). The model everyone is trying to emulate and make a framework for is servant leadership. Servant leadership
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
It is also a leader that is able to accomplish the goals at hand by being able to motivate and empower others to help in reaching those goals. In order to become a servant leader, one needs to have patient, humility, and selflessness. First, a nurse that is not selfless is probably in the wrong career. A nurse should be able to meet the needs of others. They should be able to listen, empathize, and trust in what their patient is saying. A nurse that is not selfless cannot accomplish these important tasks. Second, a nurse must be humble. Humility leads to becoming a better nurse. They are not afraid to ask if they are not sure. They are not afraid of failing to learn how to do the task better next time. A nurse is humble around patients as well. The nurse is aware of the needs and wants of the patient, is able to persuade the client without coercion to do the right thing, and educates them to grow and become healthy again. Lastly, the nurse has to patient. They have to be patient when listening to hear the full story. They must be patient in the healing process due to the time that it could take. The nurse must be patient and not rush when conceptualizing what is best for the patient. They must be patient to help build the community because sometimes it takes one or two or multiple attempts to educate the patient until it is understood. Nurses need to have these three characteristics because they