What is Servant-Leadership?
From The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership
Servant-Leadership is a practical philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first, and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions. Servant-leaders may or may not hold formal leadership positions. Servant-leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment.
In 1970, Greenleaf wrote The Servant as Leader, a powerful little essay that continues to gain influence today. In it, Greenleaf described some of the characteristics and activities of servant-leaders, providing examples which show that individual efforts, inspired by vision and a servant ethic, can make a substantial difference in the quality of society. Greenleaf said true leaders are chosen by their followers. He discussed the skills necessary to be a servant-leader; the importance of awareness, foresight and listening; and the contrasts between coercive, manipulative, and persuasive power.
Robert Greenleaf, the man who coined the phrase, described servant-leadership in this way.
The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve – after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.
"The difference manifest itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer , is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, will they not be further deprived?”
Larry Spears, the CEO of the Greenleaf Center, describes servant-leadership in this way.
“As we near the end of the twentieth century, we are beginning to see that traditional autocratic and hierarchical modes of leadership are slowly yielding to a newer model – one that attempts to simultaneously enhance the personal growth of workers and improve the quality and caring of our many institutions through a combination of teamwork and community, personal involvement in decision making, and ethical and caring behavior. This emerging approach to leadership and service is called servant-leadership."
Taken from the Introduction to Reflections on Leadership published by John Wiley in 1995.
For complete information visit their website at http://www.greenleaf.org/.
On Character and Servant-Leadership:
Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders
In an article On Character and Servant-Leadership:Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders Larry C. Spears, chief Executive Officer, The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership has identified a set of ten characteristics of the servant-leader of critical important and central to the development of servant-leaders. These ten characteristics are:
- Listening: Leaders have traditionally been valued for their communication and decision making skills. Although these are also important skills for the servant-leader, they need to be reinforced by a deep commitment to listening intently to others.
- Empathy: The servant-leader strives to understand and empathize with others. People need to be accepted and recognized for their special and unique spirits. .
- Healing: The healing of relationships is a powerful force for transformation and integration. One of the great strengths of servant-leadership is the potential for healing one's self and one's relationship to others.
- Awareness: General awareness, and especially self-awareness, strengthens the servant-leader. Awareness helps one in understanding issues involving ethics, power and values.
- Persuasion: Another characteristic of servant-leaders is a reliance on persuasion, rather than on one's positional authority, in making decisions within an organization. The servant-leader seeks to convince others, rather than coerce compliance.
- Conceptualization: Servant-leaders seek to nurture their abilities to dream great dreams. The ability to look at a problem or an organization from a conceptualizing perspective means that one must think beyond day-to-day realities.
- Foresight: Closely related to conceptualization, the ability to foresee the likely outcome of a situation is hard to define, but easier to identify. Foresight is a characteristic that enables the servant-leader to understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequence of a decision for the future.
- Stewardship: Peter Block (author of Stewardship and The Empowered Manager) has defined stewardship as "holding something in trust for another." Robert Greenleaf's view of all institutions was one in which CEO's, staffs, and trustees all played significant roles in holding their institutions in trust for the greater good of society. Servant-leadership, like stewardship, assumes first and foremost a commitment to serving the needs of others. It also emphasizes the use of openness and persuasion, rather than control.
- Commitment to the growth of people: Servant-leaders believe that people have an intrinsic value beyond their tangible contributions as workers. As such, the servant-leader is deeply committed to the growth of each and every individual within his or her organization.
- Building community: The servant-leader senses that much has been lost in recent human history as a result of the shift from local communities to large institutions as the primary shaper of human lives. This awareness causes the servant-leader to seek to identify some means for building community among those who work within a given institution.
These ten characteristics of servant-leadership are by no means exhaustive. However, they do serve to communicate the power and promise that this concept offers to those who are open to its invitation and challenge.
Spear's complete article may be found on the Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership website link:
http://www.greenleaf.org/leadership/read-about-it/articles/On-Character-and-Servant-Leadership-Ten-Characteristics.htm
Leadership Education Consultants
The Episcopal Church website http://www.episcopalchurch.org includes a developing list of leadership educational consultants from the Office for Ministry Development, Life Long Learning.
1. Center for Baptismal Living, Ambler, PA,
The Center's mission is to join with others in reclaiming the centrality of Baptism in the life of the Church and the life of every Christian through providing a multifaceted effort to support, encourage, enhance, and equip congregations and individuals in the ministry and vocation of the Baptized. While the Episcopal Church is our primary mission, we welcome and share with all Christians.
One resource offered here is a Commissioning of Daily Life Ministers with A FORM OF COMMITMENT TO CHRISTIAN SERVICE IN DAILY LIFE
Unless your congregation is intentional about teaching, recognizing and supporting daily life ministry most people don't identify themselves as ministers. They don't recognize that they have any responsibility to minister in the workplace by being a competent worker or calling into question the quality or worthiness of a product. (Follow link above for complete article.)
2. LeaderResources, Leeds, MA,
A consulting and publishing organization that helps dioceses and congregations prepare the people of God for ministry and leadership.
3. Servant-Leader Development Center, Inc. Alexandria, VA,
The Center's purpose is to help individuals and organizations develop a servant-leader approach to life and work. Workshops and conferences offered.
More Leadership Websites
There is a wealth of websites devoted to this topic. Here are two more of interest.
1. Servant-Leadership Associates - Helping to discover and develop the spirit which defines and motivates persons and institutions.
One Definition:
Servant-Leadership is a disciplined spiritual journey dedicated to the growth of persons and institutions undertaken in the context of community rooted in relational power exercised for the Common Good.
2. San Diego Leadership Initiative - Mission Statement The SDLI Mission is to train and educate San Diego’s nonprofit, profit and civic leaders in Servant (Service-Based) Leadership, and promote projects and initiatives furthering the 10 Values of Servant Leadership.
Teenagers and Servant Leadership
by Dawn Beintema
Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words. If you really think about it, I could finish this article right here. Is there anything more you need to know about raising children? How many times have we all heard, “it’s not what you say, it’s what you do that counts”? This is not new information, yet it could make a profound difference in the way we raise our children. As the author I need to admit up front that I am not a perfect parent, far from it. However, it has been the hard lessons that have increased my awareness of what a disservice we parents are at times to our children.
complete article...
