A servant leader may aspire to share power with others and encourage the development and growth of others. This trait may involve listening carefully to followers to better understand their needs, but it also involves leaders holding themselves and others accountable for their words and actions. There have been several critiques of servant leadership. In one such critique, Sendjaya and Sarros used the same biblical account as Akuchie, and claimed that it was Jesus Christ, not Greenleaf, who introduced the notion of servant leadership into everyday human affairs.
They argued that this leadership principle was so important to Christianity that it was picked up by all four Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The researchers argued that servant leaders have a particular view of themselves as stewards who are entrusted with developing and enabling followers to reach their full potential. However, Sendjaya and Sarros' research work did not propose a testable framework or distinguish between this and other leadership styles. A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of individuals and the communities to which they belong.
While traditional leadership often involves the accumulation and exercise of power by the 'top of the pyramid', servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform at their best. Servant leadership occurs when the leader's primary purpose and responsibility is to serve his or her people. A servant leader focuses on the people directly below him or her, rather than on the company as a whole.
In servant leadership, the leader ensures that followers grow in all areas: their profession, their knowledge, their autonomy and even their health and physical development. Servant leadership is a style based on the desire to serve and give to their community. By putting the needs of others first, you empower people to do their best. When community members see your passion and commitment through your actions, they want to be connected to you.
Servant leadership goes against the belief that leadership is defined as hierarchical, patriarchal and related to wealth or status. Instead, as the name suggests, it focuses on serving others to help them grow, often without the title or recognition that comes with many leadership roles. Robert Greenleaf, the originator of servant leadership theory, chose this name because it is contradictory and the polar opposite of typical leadership theories. This style represents the opposite of the traditional leadership model.
In this model, the team sees the leader as the focal point of a team. Employees support them in achieving the company's goals. Servant leaders are a revolutionary group that takes the traditional power leadership model and turns it completely upside down. This new hierarchy places the people or employees, in a business context, at the top and the leader at the bottom, charged with serving the employees above them.
And that is how servant leaders like it. Servant leadership is a development method for leaders. Servant leadership stresses the importance of a leader's role as a steward of the group's resources, and teaches leaders to serve others while still achieving the goals set by the company. In addition to some of the early definitions and distinguishing characteristics of servant leaders, researchers and leadership experts have used research to expand on them.
Many companies view employees as cogs in a wheel that exist solely to help the organisation advance its goals. In their review of the literature on servant leadership, Eva, Robin, Sendjaya, van Dierendonk and Liden argued that, for research, servant leadership should be defined as an ( approach to others-oriented leadership ( that manifests itself through the individual prioritisation of the follower's needs and interests, ( and the outward reorientation of their concern for the self towards concern for others within the organisation and the wider community. In this essay, Greenleaf explains how and why he came up with the idea of servant leadership, as well as the definition of a servant leader. And in this expert interview, a valuable discussion of the misconceptions and realities of servant leadership is addressed.
Leo was seen as a servant at all times, but without him, the team felt lost and realised that he was their true leader who helped everyone and brought out the best in everyone. The authors proposed three key elements that capture the essence of servant leadership and differentiate it from other leadership styles: motive (the underlying personal motivation to take on a leadership responsibility, which requires a strong sense of self, character and psychological maturity), mode (that they lead by prioritising the needs of subordinates over organisational outcomes) and mindset (that servant leaders are managers who redirect the focus of their followers to others). The primary focus of a traditional leader is to improve the business position of the company or organisation in the marketplace. A servant leader asks open and follow-up questions as a matter of course, not just when something goes wrong.
Everyone has strengths and it is a good leader who can bring a team together to achieve a GOAL. James Sipe and Don Frick, in their book The Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership, state that servant leaders are individuals of character, those who put people first, are skilled communicators, are compassionate collaborators, use foresight, are systems thinkers and exercise moral authority. These scales were created because, while servant leadership may have many positive aspects, its downside is that if the leader does not behave ethically, practising servant leadership for the benefit of the organisation is meaningless and far-fetched. These traits indicate that one is a servant leader because, in general, he or she makes those he or she serves healthier and wiser, guiding others towards self-improvement.
Then he came across the work of management expert and servant leader advocate Ken Blanchard.
