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 ...
Most cultures I find relate in many ways. They all display characteristics of servant leadership. I discovered that the Indian culture holds one to moral and ethics within the culture and religion. In a mirror image of Christians, Indians believe that your destiny is base off the seeds one sows while here on earth. The Indian culture does not recognize their beliefs and morals as servant leadership and have a different way of presenting the concept. One of the ways that one will find that servant leadership is presented different is in their religious practice of Hindu. Over all the Indian culture diverse context and religion
Servant leadership consists of leaders helping their followers become leaders themselves. The use personal skills such as empathy, compassion and listening to help their followers succeed. It is not necessarily the most popular form of leadership but, it has been proven successful b those leaders who implement it in their work practices. Servant leaders typically have a strong bond with their team. They are the base and the foundation of their teams.
The two most intriguing leadership styles presented in the readings were transformational leadership and servant leadership. Both leadership styles are relationship-oriented, that is, in order for these leadership styles to be effective, positive relationships must exist between leaders and followers. Also, both leadership styles reject the role of leader as being reserved for those individuals in designated positions of power, but rather a quality that may be exhibited by any individual (Kelly, 2012, pp. 10-11). However, the differing goals of each leadership style is the seemingly critical factor that separates transformational leadership from servant leadership.
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.
Servant leadership is a leadership style that is more democratic instead of autocratic. The employees are the center of this model. This leader is one that assesses the employee in the professional and personal growth. Servant leader follow the model established by Robert Greenleaf in 1977. Using Mr. Greenleaf’s ten characteristics, those will show the benefits of this type of leadership for both the company and employees. Does this style really do want is said of it. Yes, based on the research, this style is more beneficial toward the employees making them into employees that are more productive and want to stay with that company. When more companies follow this style, the retention of their employees will be higher as they would have
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
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
According to Northouse (2013), “Servant leadership is an approach focusing on leadership from the point of view of the leader and his or her behaviors” (p. 219). The servant leadership approach was designed to put subordinates first and to build and develop them to the personal capacities. There are ten characteristics of s Servant leader: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of the people and building community. The model consists of three components: antecedent conditions, servant leader behaviors and outcomes. An effective leader puts their subordinates first; they are honest, trustworthy and supportive in order to get the staff to work to their full potential.
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
Over this past semester, VUSM 101 Leading by Serving has taught me about many values. These values include Franciscan Values, Viterbo Values, Servant Leadership, and my own Personal Values. This class also taught me that each person has their own values and those values are what make you unique. These values also influence what gifts a person has. I have discovered that by evaluating my core values, I am able to interpret the gifts that I have received from God and how I will be able to use those gifts throughout my life.
Leaders in general are a significant part of the follower’s success on and off of the result charts. As we know, there are people who lead much better than others. The question then becomes, what makes this leader different? Or even, what makes this person a leader? And what is setting him/her apart from the rest of the leaders? And the answer is their individual leadership style determined by certain traits. In terms of the context of what is significant to the leadership that has taken place in my life, we will be analysing and unpacking transformational leadership as my primary leadership type along with servant and transactional leadership traits seen in the works of someone significant in my life.
Servant leadership is a set of practices or a philosophy that have a focus of enriching the lives of others. Servant leadership also focus on building better organizations and creating a world that is caring and just. Although servant leadership is considered to be a timeless concept by some, the phrase “servant leadership” was thought of by Robert K. Greenleaf’s essay that was titled The Servant as A Leader, published in 1970. Robert Greenleaf believed that the servant leader all started from the individual person having a natural feeling of being one that wants to serve first. Robert Greenleaf believed that a choice in which the leader made which he referred to as a conscious choice, is what aspires
From George Washington to Winston Churchill, decades of strong and driving leaders have helped to make the world go round. These great leaders have been known to use and learn certain techniques such as servant leadership, consensus building, ethical choices, and the common good to become significant people that better the community. One may ask, why are leaders needed? Well, in today’s chaotic world, stability is necessary. Leadership is the stability needed that determines right from wrong and that makes decisions for everyone. In the Youth Butler Leadership course, I have solved a community issue with the community project called “Let’s Dodging Destructive Driving”, learned and mastered new concepts of servant leadership to change myself,
Vocation is our call to be the best that we can be, each of us in our own way, so that we may better ourselves and society. Servant leadership is the truest fulfillment of our responsibility to charity and social concern. Servant leadership provides a charismatic self-identification, and thus we can better define our lives and commit ourselves to a fruitful vocation.
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.