Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership        

“A better society, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people,” was the vision of Robert Greenleaf (Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership). Greenleaf did not invent the concept. The idea of a leader serving others was documented hundreds of years before Jesus, who is probably the most famous servant leader of all time. Greenleaf did coin the phrase “servant leader” (SL) in his essay The Servant as Leader published in 1970, which began the modern day notion (Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership). The idea behind servant leadership is the opposite of most organizational charts and can be pictured as an inverted pyramid. The leader is not in charge of everyone who reports up to them, but the servant to his/her subordinates. The leader’s main goal is making the organization successful through development of their human resources. In other words, using the Golden Rule [do unto others…] in business will naturally and positively affect the bottom line of the company.  

The concept sounds simple, but it is easy to see how human nature can get in the way of effective servant leadership. The characteristics and behaviors of a servant leader (SL) are easily outlined on paper, but difficult to practice in reality. James Heskett, Professor Emeritus of the Harvard Business School said, “Servant leadership is experienced so rarely because of trends in the leadership environment, the scarcity of human qualities required, demands that the practice places on the practitioner, and the very nature of the practice itself” (Heskett). The first requirement to being a successful SL is to put yourself last. Jesus Christ said it best, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (Gospel According to Mark 9:35).

What does it take to put yourself last and be a successful SL? The traits of a SL are similar in scope to those outlined in the “Big Five.”  The Big Five is a classification that developed from the Trait Theory, which states that behavior patterns form the personality (Nelson 38-39). Personality research revealed that behavior patterns could be segmented into observable traits that help us understand why we act in certain ways (Nelson 39). One outcome of this study was a classification of five qualities (Big Five) that affect work life: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience (Nelson 39). The Big Five are interconnected with the seven characteristics of a SL: “a person of character, who puts people first…a skilled communicator, a compassionate collaborator [with] foresight, is a systems thinker and leads with moral authority” (Sipes 4).

An extrovert is a person who enjoys being around people. A SL takes this concept a step further showing empathy (skilled communicator), care, and concern (puts people first) for the people they are around (Sipes 5). Being agreeable is a component of being a compassionate collaborator. A measure of agreeability is required to relate to the differences and diversity of each person in the workplace (Sipes 77). Likewise, emotional stability and openness to experience are the benchmarks of a SL. A systems thinker who is also a compassionate collaborator can stand back, be removed from a heated exchange, and systematically work through all the options without reacting in an angry way (Sipes 56). The SL, being a skilled communicator and compassionate collaborator, must be open to the ideas of their coworkers. The SL embraces diversity, which is also evidence of being open to experience.