What is Servant Leadership?
A servant-leader is first and foremost a servant. It is through the dedication and commitment to serve others that the servant-leader then begins to lead. Servant leadership focuses on ten various characteristics, which help to define the a servant-leader, as well as give the servant-leader areas of their everyday life and interactions with others to grow and improve upon. "Can the two roles [of servant and leader] be fused in one real person, in all levels of status or calling? If so, can that person live and be productive in the real world of the present? (The Servant-Leader Within A Transformative Path: Greenleaf)" This is a fundamental question posed by Robert Greenleaf; the Leadership House in turn, was formed to practice servant-leadership as part of an experiment to begin to explore Greenleaf's philosophy of Servant as Leader.
10 Characteristics of a Servant Leader
1.LISTENING – Leaders are known for their avid communication skills. An important aspect of communication is effective listening, which implies that one is actively focusing on the conversation at hand. It is necessary for a servant-leader to listen carefully, and receptively, to what is (and is not) being said. It is also imperative for one to listen to their inner voice by engaging in regular periods of reflection, which becomes essential to the growth of the servant-leader.
2.EMPATHY – It is important that the servant-leader strive to understand and empathize with others. One needs to accept the differences in others and not reject them a people. “The most successful servant-leaders are those who have become skilled empathetic listeners.”
3.HEALING – The ability to heal one’s self and others is a great strength of a servant-leader. Many people suffer from a variety of emotional “hurts”. The servant-leader has the potential to help alleviate that hurt. Greenleaf writes, “There is something subtle communicated to one who is being served and led if, implicit in the compact between servant-leader and led, is the understanding that the search for wholeness is something they share.” The servant-leader has the opportunity to “help make whole” those around them.
4.AWARENESS – General awareness, along with self-awareness, is important to the strengthening of any servant-leader. There needs to be a commitment to foster such awareness. Greenleaf observed, “Awareness is not a giver of solace – it is just the opposite. It is a disturber and an awakener. Able leaders are usually sharply awake and reasonably disturbed. They are not seekers after solace. They have their own inner serenity.”
5.PERSUASION – Persuasion is the effort of the servant-leader to convince others, rather than coerce compliance. It is the ability to influence others without relying on their position of authority. “The servant-leader is effective in building consensus within groups.”
6.CONCEPTUALIZATION – Conceptualization means to “think outside the box”. It is the ability to look at a problem from various perspectives, thinking beyond day-to-day realities. “Servant-leaders seek to nurture their abilities to ‘dream great dreams.’”
7.FORESIGHT –Foresight is very similar to conceptualization. It is the ability to think ahead and envision the possible outcome of a situation. ”Foresight is a characteristic that enables the servant-leader to understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequences of a decision for the future.”
8.STEWARDSHIP – A steward is one that is able to guide or direct something such as a project or an event. According to Peter Block, author of Stewardship and The Empowered Manager, stewardship means, “holding something in trust for another.” Servant-leaders work to “serve the needs of others.”
9.COMMITMENT TO THE GROWTH OF PEOPLE – Servant-leaders believe that people have “an intrinsic value beyond their tangible contribution as workers.” It is a responsibility of the servant-leader to nurture the personal, academic, professional, and spiritual growth of those around them.
10.BUILDING COMMUNITY – Building community is the act of bringing together a group of people and uniting them through their common interests, goals, ideals, etc. The servant-leader strives to bring about a sense of community (a cooperative spirit) to a group or organization. Relationships are formed as well as strengthened during this process.
Our Book
Each summer the members of the Leadership House are mailed a book to read over the summer to help introduce them to the ideas of servant-leadership and the fictional residence hall on which our program is based. These lessons and stories are currently being studied by our members in the book The Servant Leader Within: A Transformative Path written by Robert K. Greenleaf and edited by Hamilton Beazley, Julie Beggs, and Larry C. Spears.
The Goose Story
Next
fall, when
you see Geese
heading South for
the Winter, flying along
in V formation, you might
consider what science has dis-
covered as to why they fly that way:
as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an
uplift for the bird immediately following. By
flying in V formation the whole flock adds at least
71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.
People who share a common direction and sense of community
can get where they are going more quickly and easily
because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.
When
A goose falls
out of formation,
it suddenly feels the drag
and resistance of trying to go it alone
and quickly gets back into formation to take
advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.
If we have as much sense as a goose,
we will stay in formation
with those who are headed the same way we are.
When
the Head Goose
gets tired, it rotates back
in the wing and another goose flies point.
It is sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs
with people or with geese flying South.
Geese
honk from behind to
encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
What do we say when we honk from behind?
Finally,
and this is important,
when a goose gets sick, or is
wounded by gunshots and falls out
of formation, two other geese fall out with that
goose and follow it down to led help and protection.
They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly, or until
it dies. Only then do they launch out on their own, or with another formation
to catch up with their group.
If we have the sense of a goose,
we will stand by each other
like that.
Our Favorite Quotes
“The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test is: do those serves grow as persons; do they while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?”
~Robert K. Greenleaf
“Moral principles do not emerge from theory, but from testing and experience.”
~Larry C. Spears
“For a family to be a family, no one can ever be rejected.”
~Robert K. Greenleaf
“In fact, if you should join this house, you may be graduated from here before you fully understand it.”
~Robert K. Greenleaf
“I know I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it hadn’t been for my time in the Leadership House.”
~Brandon Faza, House alumni
“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”
~Theodore M. Hesburgh