Making others Successful: Servant Leadership
Servant.
Leader.
Could these words be interchangeable? Can servants be leaders? Can leaders be servants? Imagine the change of mindset if someone defined himself as a servant rather than a supervisor. A leader’s perception of his or her role will guide decision-making and one’s approach to people and tasks.
Robert Greenleaf is often referred to as the grandfather of the Modern Empowerment Movement. He spent over twenty years at AT&T, and then subsequent years studying effective leaders. He is the author of many books on Servant Leadership. According to Greenleaf, the Servant Leader is a person who serves first, who helps support, encourage, and lift others up. As a result of such role modeling, others will observe and learn to also lead by serving.
In the most basic terms, Servant Leadership is about meeting the highest priority needs of another person. Consider one person you encountered yesterday, whether at home, at work, or elsewhere. At the time of your encounter with them, what do you think they needed most from that interaction? What was their highest priority need? It may have been counsel, encouragement, recognition, or perhaps a pragmatic need. Did you recognize it? If so, did you seek to meet it? This is the mindset of a servant, but many of us don’t normally think this way.
As we recall our interactions, it is much easier to state what we desired from these encounters than it was to recognize what they needed from us. Notice that I am using the word “needs” here, not “wants.” As servant leaders, we ought to train ourselves to recognize our team members’ high priority needs and seek ways to meet them, but not their every whim.
According to Greenleaf, true Servant Leadership removes barriers and empowers people to get things done, which helps them grow. One important responsibility of a leader is to create the right environment to support team members’ growth. In the Far East, the people plant a tree called the Chinese Bamboo. During the first four years they water and fertilize the plant with seemingly little to no results. Then in the fifth year, as they continue applying water and fertilizer, in five weeks’ time, the tree grows ninety feet in height!
The obvious question is: Did the tree grow ninety feet in five weeks, or did it grow ninety feet in five years? The answer is that it grew ninety feet in five years. The multi-year effort of nurturing the environment of the small plant was essential to its development. There would be no Year 5 without Years 1-4. Sometimes people, projects, and ideas are like that. We must not give up—especially on yourself. Keep watering, fertilizing, and nurturing people, skills, and visions.
Leaders intentionally present opportunities as a means for growth to occur. These moments give team members a chance to rise to the occasion, while serving as environments to develop their own skills and leadership. We need safe environments where those in our care can mature personally and professionally. This requires forethought and knowing our people. It is tilling the soil for their growth.
Servant leaders recognize the knowledge, skill, and capability levels of their teams. They create opportunities to add value to their people which, ultimately, strengthens the organization or ministry. Servants put others’ needs before their own. They achieve great results by meeting the needs of those in their care. If you want to lead well, serve well.
What needs do you recognize in your team and what opportunity can you provide to help them with their development?