Relational Approach To Servant Leadership

Simply, servant leaders hold a view as a servant first and leader second (Owens & Hekman, 2012). Moreover, servant leaders emphasize personal responsibility for the organization and all internal and external stakeholders (Peterson, Galvin, & Lange, 2012). As stated, expressing a genuine concern and care for people are a basis of servant leadership. In addition, servant leadership also focuses on the growth of

Over the course of my career, I have tried to model various leadership behaviors based upon successful leaders that I have worked with or for. This has led me to incorporate different styles into my own. Considering my current leadership strengths and how I view successful leaders I will use a servant leadership theory to analyze my own competencies. Servant leaders have 9 different aspects comprised of: emotional healing, creating value for the community, conceptual skills, empowering, helping subordinates grow and succeed, putting subordinates first, behaving ethically, relationships, and servanthood (Boone & Makhani, 2005, pg. 86). The aspects of a servant leader are those that I personally value and identify with. In addition to this, it is my belief that servant leaders, because they are people oriented, are more effective in a variety of environments and situations.

The two theories that I chose to do my self-assessment by are the authentic leadership theory and the servant leadership theory. The authentic leadership theory was chosen due to my desire to stay true to who I am and what I stand for. However, the servant leadership theory was chosen because of my desire to meet the needs of others while doing what I can to help others succeed as well as meet their set goals. Being a servant while being authentic are the traits I want in my style of leadership and are assessed throughout this paper along with my strengths and weaknesses in the area of leadership.

Servant leadership, as it applies to the modern world, is a concept that Robert Greenleaf defined in his influential 1970 essay, The Servant as Leader. Greenleaf’s essay explains that servant leadership is an amalgam of concrete leadership styles and “fragments of data” that came to him through “intuitive insight” (1970). Having worked at AT&T from 1926-1964, he accumulated a number of leadership qualities throughout his professional career. After retirement he began teaching at Harvard Business School, but became distressed by younger generations and their rebellious attitudes. After careful consideration, he decided institutions were doing a poor job of serving, so they were doing a poor job of leading. His

In order for an organization or movement to have success, it is extremely important that their leaders are effective. Every leader does not possess the same qualities and skills as the next leader, but that doesn't make them less effective. Each leader may also have a different leadership style than the next person. This paper will define a leader as well as servant leadership and transformational leadership styles. Finally, Eleanor Roosevelt's leadership style will be determined to be either servant leadership, transformational leadership, or both.

In the approach on general leadership characteristics, the fundamental difference is authentic leaderships strive to be “real”, whereas servant leaders strive to be “right.” Servant leadership is a style that lays down a set of characteristics that all leaders are supposed to emulate to attain success, and tries to shape the character and personality of the leader. On the other hand, authentic leaders tend to rely on their own unique set of experiences and style that has been learned and developed throughout their career. The main difference between servant and authentic styles, when applying into practice, is the serving of others. One of the primary applications is to give priority to the interest of others. Servant leaders exercise their duty

Robert Greenleaf’s idea of servant leadership is a new concept to this era and for many people, it is a difficult theory to grasp. Although Greenleaf faces criticism and disagreement from people about his perception of servant leadership, his philosophies are unwavering because he holds true to what he believes. Throughout his writings, Greenleaf believes that in order to be a good leader, one must be a servant first. He supports his servant-first idea by using examples of extraordinary leaders of our time.

Robert Greenleaf and James Hunter are both experts when it comes to leadership. Greenleaf coined the term “servant leadership” and published his first essay regarding this topic in 1970. Hunter is a world renowned author and speaker because of his leadership forte, and has worked with thousands of business executives on developing leadership skills that create successful businesses (Hunter 1998). Both of these men are distinguished professionals because of their philosophies and approaches to efficacious leadership, but they each have a different approach of how they present and represent these ideas.

In this paper, we will review four leadership models: charismatic, servant, situational, and transformational. A separate discussion describing

From the group Biblical Integration Paper, it was understood that servant-leadership is not only a gift of purpose that God places in the hearts of His people, but it is also a calling in one’s life to truly touch the lives of others in need. Living a successful life, as a servant-leader is not one that focuses on self-fulfillment, rather it is in seeking a fulfillment that comes from Christ when one pours him/herself out for the sake of others. It is through servant-leadership that one is able to bring hope into hopeless situations (Group Integration Paper,

Servant leadership is desire of someone to serve one another through certain principles. Greenleaf, Senge, Covey, and Spears (2002) identifies servant leaders as those work are doing the utmost best for their community. A civil rights activist and leader, Martin Luther King Jr. embodied the aspects of servant leadership. Martin Luther King Jr. is committed to the growth of the community, a dedicated servant leader who inspires followership and has many qualities to emulate. Principles of Servant Leadership

Dr. Kent M. Keith was a presenter on behalf of the Greenleaf Seminar on Servant Leadership at the 53rd annual conference for the Arizona School Boards Association in December, 2010. He correctly pointed out that servant leadership is about serving others, about becoming distinguished through the altruistic desire to serve, and about the "…universal recognition of the importance of serving others" (Keith, 2010).

Similarly, Martin Luther King Jr. echoes the teachings of Jesus throughout his life by promoting the adoption of servant leadership. In one of his sermons in 1968, he tells his followers that all of them can be leaders because they can all serve others (Get Involved, 2018). Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus simplify and summarize the whole concept of servant leadership by merely stating that one can only be a leader if one serves others. Similar sentiments are shared in Archie B. Carroll’s article, “Servant Leadership: An ideal for nonprofit organizations,” which profoundly expounds on servant leadership. Below is a discussion of the critical concepts of servant leadership as explained by the article and their relevance to my life and work.

Van Dierendonck, D., Stam, D., Boersma, P., De Windt, N., & Alkema, J. (2014). "Same difference? Exploring the differential mechanisms linking servant leadership and transformational leadership to follower outcomes." The Leadership Quarterly, 25(3), 544-562. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.014 https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://www.sciencedirect.com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S1048984313001409

Effective leadership, commonly regarded as both a learned skill and innate ability, is an essential characteristic of successful organizations (Northouse, 2016). Great leaders are said to define purpose, create a vision for the future, set high ethical standards, and guide their organizations through many circumstances and into new directions (Morrill, 2007; Parris & Peachey, 2012). Leadership is also described as complex – it can mean different things to different people. Given there is no standard approach to leadership, scholars focus on the process of leadership as opposed to the definition (Northouse, 2016). As a process, leadership is not simply possessing formal authority or characteristic traits and personal attributes. Quite the reverse, leadership is mostly a relationship – engagement and interactive exchange – between leaders and followers (Morrill, 2007; Northouse, 2016). According to Parris and Peachey (2012), the impact of effective leadership on economic, political, and organization success makes leadership one of the most comprehensively researched processes of human behavior. Therefore, understanding the behaviors of leaders is critical to understanding individual and organizational success.