Servant Leadership

Servant leadership theory first evolved in 1970 in Robert Greenleaf’s essay “The Servant as Leader”. Greenleaf says that is was a leader’s job to be a servant to their followers, customers, and the community before they worked for their own personal gain. This type of leadership can have a very positive impact on an organizations success. Instead of dominating and telling employees what should be done, a leader will empower their associates and inspire them to go above and beyond. Servant leadership focuses on team building and relationships. The theory says by having good relationships with your associates and taking care of their needs, they will in turn take care of the guests and give excellent service. This style of leadership is widely seen in a company like Marriott, founded on the principle that if you take care of your employees, they will take care of your guests and in turn create loyalty and increased long-term growth. The theory incorporates employees into the decision making process therefore creating “buy-in” from employees and fostering a greater work ethic and job satisfaction. Servant leadership defines a leader through ten major characteristics: listening, empathy, healing relationships, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to human resource development, and commitment to building community. All of these help a leader become a better servant to the needs of their employees. Although servant leadership has only been around 40 years, the theory dates back to 4^th century B.C. Chanakya wrote in his book Arthashastra, “the king shall consider as good, not what pleases himself but what pleases his subjects, the king is a paid servant and enjoys the resources of the state together with the people.” The leader focuses on pleasing his subjects to create a harmonious society and a productive one at that. I think this style of leadership is helpful because it helps the leaders to be more aware of their environment and surrounding issues. I feel that leaders with this attitude are more likely to succeed as a company because every one has input and participation with the overall goal and accomplishing it. There might be some trouble when it comes to a leader’s personal goals, although if they are successful with their team, it seems logical they would move up through the company. The servant leadership style does not leave opportunity to identify a specific individual either for a success or discipline action. It makes it harder for one person to stand out amongst a group that is more focused on success as a whole rather than individual accomplishment. Overall, I think servant leadership is a good philosophy to lead by, but at times it will be necessary to adapt the leadership style to the situation. A good leader will utilize multiple leadership styles throughout their career, knowing that there is not one best philosophy for all challenges.

further reading: http://www.greenleaf.org/