Servant Leadership: What It Is And How To Develop It
Servant leadership might sound like a contradiction in terms, but it's a longstanding idea. I'm going to explain the concept here and talk about some ways to put it into action.
Understanding Servant Leadership
Servant leadership is a set of skills that helps you empower others. While it is often presented as a leadership style, I believe that anyone can nurture and develop this method.
In a more general sense, I believe that leadership itself is a set of skills that you develop. Just like nobody is born a golfer, nobody is born a servant leader.
When you see someone who makes something look easy and natural, chances are that there's a lot of work behind that level of skill. That's as true in leadership as it is in golf.
Is your leadership style incompatible with the servant mode of leadership? Probably not. It's much more likely that you need to put in some more practice in order to get the results you want.
Why Servant Leadership Is Important Right Now
Servant leadership is a service-based leadership style. It's what many contemporary workplaces need at the moment.
This set of skills helps you turn high levels of diversity into an advantage rather than a challenge. It helps you get the perspectives you need to navigate uncertainty.
If that sounds useful, then you're not alone. Many leaders are working at embodying these core values and polishing these skills:
Serving those who most need it
Sharing authority and decision-making power
Demonstrating empathy and emotional intelligence
Creating a safe space to take risks
Setting service as a career priority
Building trust and setting an example
Empowering members of your team
At a time when people are feeling more disconnected, the servant leader attempts to bring everyone back together. These skills seem almost custom-made for our current situation, despite the fact that the servant leadership model is decades old.
Developing Servant Leadership Skills
One of the things I like to reiterate with my coaching clients is that leadership is something you do, not an attribute of who you are. That means that you don't necessarily have to become a full-time servant leader. You can simply develop the skills that you find most useful and use those as part of your own personal style.
If you are looking for a place to start, soft skills are among the most important to servant leaders. Try practicing skills such as active listening and empathy. Both of these will help you identify the times when you need to use your other leadership skills to empower and assist the members of your organization.
Letting Your Team Lead
From the list of values for this leadership approach, you might think it's hands-on. However, many of the best servant leaders enjoy motivated, engaged teams that are willing to take risks without direct guidance or permission from the executive levels. Are you ready to step back with servant leadership and let your team succeed?