Recently, I have been on my
soapbox about the disease of toxic leadership that has become epidemic in our
businesses, agencies, and organizations but
that the cure was a pivot to a revolutionary style of leading others called Servant
Leadership. This got me thinking out loud that perhaps if I described what the
qualities of a Servant Leader were, then you may be more inclined to embrace
Servant Leadership since chances are you already are one! Or, that you can be if you are strong enough.
Based upon Robert Greenleaf’s ground-breaking 1977
book, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and
Greatness, I believe there are eight essential qualities that
differentiate a Servant Leader from a traditional, top-down or transactional
leader. Further I believe the YOU have them inside of you, but you have to
release and further develop them. I have modernized (or Billified!) some of the
terms, however, based upon Greenleaf’s work and some of my observations, the eight
qualities include:
Self-Awareness –
Servant Leaders have keen insights as to how they are feeling and responding at
any given time. They are very aware about their areas of strength and talent as
well as those that need to be developed. This allows you to everyday implement,
what leadership expert and professor Ken Blanchard labels, a recalibration
of both your motives and actions toward the advantage of those you lead.
Leaders who lack such self-awareness are prone to be self-obsessed and self-deluded.
Listening
(Present) – Greenleaf states that great leaders listen to others. I
call it being present with them which goes beyond simply listening but really understanding
the person or people you are leading. Such understanding could include their hopes,
concerns, motivations, eventual life and career goals, etc.
Growing
Others (Equipping) – I believe that one of the most important
jobs of a leader is to equip others to do and be their best. In fact, Greenleaf
stated for any organization to function at its maximum, it must develop
its members and then release them to do important
work. Equipping can cover many things but must include the attitudes, knowledge,
and skill sets team members need in order to be successful in your specific
organization.
Empathy
(Proximate) – Servant leaders lead with a great deal of
empathy which I define as understanding with action. Servant
Leaders get proximate to their stakeholders so that they can not
only understand their hopes, fears, and aspirations but then also actively act
upon that understanding to make people and situations better. In order to do
so, Servant Leaders know they cannot lead from behind a desk. They know they must
talk face to face with those that they lead in their natural habitat, not some nice quiet office.
Stewardship
(Resource Management) – Servant Leaders are great stewards of the
resources they have available to them. This certainly includes the human
wealth in their organizations but also the facilities, equipment,
reputation, and other assets. Servant Leaders value all of them and “spend”
them strategically in the service of others.
Conceptualization
(Defining the Reality) – leadership expert John Maxwell often
shares that the primary job of a leader is to define reality.
This essentially means that leaders very clearly articulate the vision, mission,
purpose, and values of the enterprise and understand they can delegate many
things but not those. Further, Servant Leaders do not hold back in sharing the
good, bad, and ugly of the current status of an organization even if it may be
costly to do so in terms of reputation, market share, and morale. Servant
Leaders understand you cannot be anything you are not, but you can always be
more than you are!
Foresight
(Vision) – Servant Leaders are visionary leaders but I that is why
many people believe they cannot be an empowering leader because they lack some grandiose
vision for their organization or their part of it. The simple truth is that
having a compelling vision does not have to be some earth
shattering epiphany. In fact, a compelling vision can be as simple as making
sure one classroom has all the supplies it needs for a year. One community has
safe drinking water. One child is saved from human traffickers. One business is
big enough to give someone else a job. All is takes is for you to develop the
habit of seeing “more and before”
others do according to author, John Maxwell. That “more and before” often takes
the form of what you believe to be the preferred future state for your organization
and those that it serves.
Persuasion
(Influence) – it is my firm belief that if you start to
master the above qualities, you cannot help but be persuasive and incredibly
influential. I know that that the term “persuasive” carries the baggage of
really meaning “manipulative” but Greenleaf did not see it that way. He shared
that effective leaders use their persuasion to convince rather than coerce.
Such a style of leadership is what researcher and author Jim Collins refers to
as a Level 5 Leader. A leader that
is both incredibly humble and incredibly competent because they are so tuned
into their people and their talents that she leverages those for the success of
the organization or enterprise. People do not have to follow Level 5 Servant Leaders, they want to!
Now I know that all of the
above is much easier described than done. Trust me, there is nothing easy about being a Servant
Leader. It takes incredible focus and intention to be one. You see it’s easy to
bully but it’s harder to serve. It’s easy to push others down than to lift them
up. It’s easy to lead in the old way because it takes significant moral courage
to lead in a more empowering way.
Here’s the thing. I KNOW you
have these qualities with you! You can master all of this. You just have to make the decision to develop
them. Leadership has been described in many ways, but I have often heard it
said that leadership is a choice.
You and you alone can determine the type of leader you will be. So what’s it
going to be? Are you going to embrace the qualities described above or are you
going to lead using old and outdated methods and attitudes? That choice will
not only define your leadership, it will define your entire life! As pastor and
speaker Andy Stanley shares, if your leadership is all about you, it will last
just long enough to be someone’s bad example. On the other hand, if your
leadership is all about others, its positive effects will last long after you
are gone!
As always if I can help you and
the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would
invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the
training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact. I am also
pleased to announce the launch of my first book, Leading Out Loud: Strategies for
Raising Your Leadership Voice! available on Amazon.com. Also, as a
bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and
enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a
mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be
critical to add value to your organization!
Yours in Leadership,
Bill Faulkner
Principal Consultant – Out
Loud Strategies
Independent Coach, Speaker,
and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team TM
Email
= bill@outloudinc.com
For more information on the
John Maxwell Team, please visit
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