Servant Leadership Theory Analysis

Dr. Kent M. Keith is the Chief Executive officer for the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. Over the past thirty years, Keith has become an advocate of servant leadership. According to his website, Keith focuses on aiding to others and has a mission to help people find personal meaning in the world. In one of his most recent publications, The Case for Servant Leadership, Keith highlights the servant leadership model while explaining how and why it can be used in order to establish a better world.

Michelle’s life embodies the idea of a person who has the x-factor, she shows that leadership is something that is developed over time and learned through experiences. The x-factor is when individuals in a society spark creativity, it is a multi-discipline that borrows and synthesis existing intellectual resources to generate new ones and approach causation. (Burns, 2003). Michelle is a prime example of the ideals of the x-factor that crates a leader.

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.

The foundation of my personal leadership philosophy can be found in the principles of servant leadership as spelled out by Greenleaf (1970, 1977). Leadership is granted to individuals who are by nature servants. An individual emerges as a leader by first becoming a servant. Servant leaders attend to the needs of those they serve and help them become more informed, free, self-sufficient, and like servants themselves. Leaders and those they serve improve, enhance, and develop each other through their connection. A leader must also be conscious of inequalities and social injustices in the organizations they serve and work actively to resolve those issues. Servant leaders rely less on the use of official power and control, but focus on empowering those they

James A. Autry is the author of the bestselling book The Servant Leader. He has put together the fundamental skills every leader should hold in order for them to successfully run their businesses. Within thirteen chapters, the book has been divided into four categories: a foundation of character and vision, servant leader as manager: the everyday nuts and bolts, the harsh realities of organizational life, and finding the balance. The importance of developing yourself into the character of ‘servant leadership’ is identified to show how to harness productivity, creativity, courage, a nurturing nature, and handle both short and long term management situations. Although a particular purpose or mission leads every organization, all organizations are in a sense the same. The dependency on people is a dominant factor (Autry 2001, xviii).

Here I will describe my ethical framework, its makeup and how I use it solve difficult and challenges problems. In our literature, there are examples of EF such as Servant Leadership where the tenets of the management system include 10 principles that shape the think of the manager. A few of these tenets are to serve those who they lead to build their capacity (Greenleaf, xxxx). Also, serve their greater community as well by doing little or no harm. This view allows a leader to base their decision on for the benefit of their followers and for their community. One of the most important traits of a servant leader is to listen. As servant leader listens to their followers needs, they listen to themselves to gain a better understand themselves to grow, so they can better assist their followers. The servant leader is not necessarily concerned with the organization?s goals; those will be met as people grow their capacity.

After viewing the videos on Geoff Canada, I was greatly astonished not only by the amount of passion Canada showed towards fulfilling his goal of providing underprivileged children with a quality education, but the level of discipline he took towards achieving it. This is so as Canada displays a strong level of servant leadership by treating each of his students with an equal sense of dignity regardless of their past and views them as an opportunity for greater success. In addition, Canada keeps his ultimate goal of ensuring that every student graduates and succeeds in college at the forefront of his endeavors, which demonstrates his persistence towards achieving it. One instance of this is the fact that Canada would willing to fire teachers

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,

Throughout this past week I have had several misconceptions resolve regarding servant leadership that have resolved. The main misconception or preconception that I had was that servant leaders were pushovers and that they would have difficulty in leading others to reach a common goal. Through the readings that were assigned, specificially in chapter 6, I now understand that a servant leader values relationships with their follwers and by doing so that they can use the gained trust to influence them to reach a common goal (DelHousaye & Brewer, 2004). I had never really thought about how much influence played a part in the success of a leader until this class and yet I completely agree. I think back to the mangers that I have had

Servant leadership is my credo. Robert K. Greenleaf defines a servant leader as a “servant first”-to focus first on the needs of others, especially the team before one considers one’s own needs. I acknowledge others perspectives; give support they need to meet their work and their personal goals by involving them in the decision-making, and building a sense of community. I believe my leadership philosophy leads to higher engagement, and stronger relationships with team members and other people. As a leader, my first duty is to serve those under my command. My task is to make their jobs easier. To support my people, I have to understand their problems and challenges in order to address them.

Today economy is mercurially changing; some of the organizations aim at staying on the market and to grow tremendously by taking shortcuts. The organization’s leadership sometimes focuses majorly on process and profit, which needs to shift to people and long-term development goals. Some of the leaders are practicing wrong policies, poor planning and inability to work with people. Jack Welch (2001) concluded that 75% of leadership is about people and remaining 25% is about everything else. Servant Leadership is the ray of hope in the leadership crisis. Servant Leadership works on positive employee attitude which opens the doors for empathetic, helping, caring, restoring, and supportive environment in an organization. This article will focus on the significance of servant leadership, the role of the servant leader, and a quantitative case study of one of United States’ premier healthcare institution- Cleveland Clinic. Integration of Servant Leadership into Clinic’s culture showed drastic improvements in both employee engagement, as measured by the Gallup Q12 survey, and patient satisfaction, as measured by the federal “HCAHPS” survey.

*The name of the individual has been changed to protect his privacy When I think of leadership, especially servant leadership, one name stands above the rest from my personal experiences. My dean of students at the university where I received my undergraduate was an exemplary model of a servant-leader. The best leaders put the organization and those working within that organization above their own personal goals and well being. Luke was a walking definition of servant-leadership.

As written in the lines above, employee engagement has a significant impact on an employee and their engagement. Although there has been many articles and research written about leadership and servant leadership, in this study, it will provide and overview, key traits and influences that servant leaders use in collaboration to address significant problems with strategy and other individuals. Therefore, how do managers and leaders facilitate the engagement of their employees? Leaders do this through their leadership style. In 1970, Robert K. Greenleaf identified servant-leadership, which was different from the traditional views of leadership. According to Greenleaf, “The servant-leader is a servant first. Servant

Identify and analyze at least one leadership theory or style that you believe best aligns with your own thoughts of what leadership means. Use that theory or style to analyze your strengths and weaknesses.