Servant Leadership
Earlier this week I had the opportunity to enjoy a presentation by Dr. Neal Berte on Development As Servant Leadership. In his speech, Dr. Berte described many approaches to leadership. The most interesting approach he described in my opinion was Servant Leadership. I want a better understanding of this term so I began an in depth look at it.
Robert Greenleaf coined the phrase Servant Leadership and defines it as: Servant Leadership is a practice of a philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions. Servant leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening and ethical use of power and empowerment.
Larry Sears, CEO of the Greenleaf Institute, describes 10 characteristics critical to becoming servant leaders: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment and community. He further states that these characteristics show the very power of the concept servant leadership. Explanations of these characteristics can be found at the Hampton House web site, however, I will examine a couple of those explanations here:
Healing: one of the greatest strengths of servant leadership is the ability to heal one's self and others. Learning to heal is a powerful force.
Persuasion: servant leaders rely on persuasion, rather than positional authority to make decisions.
Robert Greenleaf coined the phrase Servant Leadership and defines it as: Servant Leadership is a practice of a philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions. Servant leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening and ethical use of power and empowerment.
Larry Sears, CEO of the Greenleaf Institute, describes 10 characteristics critical to becoming servant leaders: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment and community. He further states that these characteristics show the very power of the concept servant leadership. Explanations of these characteristics can be found at the Hampton House web site, however, I will examine a couple of those explanations here:
Healing: one of the greatest strengths of servant leadership is the ability to heal one's self and others. Learning to heal is a powerful force.
Persuasion: servant leaders rely on persuasion, rather than positional authority to make decisions.
Conceptualization: Ability to dream big dreams. Seeing beyond the day-to-day realities.
Foresight: learning from the past. Intuitiveness.
Dr. Berte in his speech, defines three qualities of Servant Leadership:
~ An attitude of service needs to permeate all that we do.
~ Meaningful involvement of others in the process; taking the time to be a good listener.
~ Adding the quality of creative courage; with the rapid change in our society and we need courageous people to appreciate and direct change in our world.
He goes on to state that he believes that the greatest need in our world today is to focus on being Servant Leaders in all aspects of society.
What type of leader will you be?
Recommended reading: Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, 25th Anniversary Edition, Robert K. Greenleaf.
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