Servant Leadership Theory

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

“Transactional leadership is a style of leadership focused on contingent rewards of followers” (McGuire & Kennerly, 2006, p.180). Goals are set, directions are given, and rewards are used to reinforce employee behaviors associated with meeting or exceeding established goals. Followers are manipulated and controlled with rewards of praise and recognition, merit raises, and promotions, which can be given or withheld according to the employee’s performance. The outcome of such behavior is enhanced role clarity, job satisfaction and improved performance (McGuire & Kennerly, 2006).

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,

A South Carolina Teacher Fellows student is an education major that is set apart by CERRA for their passion for educating students and seeing children develop a love of learning. Teacher Fellows students at Anderson University embody certain requirements and standards that may not be as typical to students in other schools. A Teacher Fellows at Anderson University, and especially the leadership within the cohort, exemplifies Christ in every aspect of their life, and demonstrates the servant leadership spoken of in the book of Matthew; “On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26b-28 HCSB). As president of the 2016 Anderson University Teacher Fellows cohort, I would strive to lead by serving, work as though working for Christ, and develop the skills necessary to becoming an effective teacher in both myself and the members of the cohort.

Servant leadership approach shares a powerful sentiment within the work environment, this approach puts the needs of others first and helps staff development by performing as highly as possible. As an aspiring leader, servant leadership approach is the most effective tool used to motivate and grow subordinates to perform at their best.

Your assertion of a servant leader and their team completely buying into the success of the organization lends credence that individual recognition becomes less important as a servant leader grows. In reviewing material for another class, it was discovered that a successful project manager would be a type of servant leader “buying into” successful nursing of a project and project team for the organization. A Christian project leader can grow to be more humble as others are placed first in the project team and the project. Humbleness in the servant leader is honored by God; Proverbs 29:23 says “A man's pride shall bring him low: but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit” (KJV). Also, the servant attitude and not the pride of leadership

Question 1. What are the characteristics of servant leadership as propagated by Greenleaf (1970)? Give examples of servant leaders that you may know.

Servant leadership can be a difficult leadership approach to utilize in every organization. Being able to conceptualize is undoubtedly an important cognitive capacity in all kinds of leadership, but why is it a defining characteristic of servant leadership? A clear explanation for its central role and servant leadership needs to be addressed and defined in further research. (Northouse p.241) The focus of servant leadership is on others and meeting the needs of others. Self-interest should not motivate servant leadership; rather, it should ascend to a higher plane of motivation. (Stone p.352) Successful servant leaders must be able to provide and share the organization’s vision while also supporting and build the trust of others.

Shannon, you give great points about why you think servant leadership should be conceptualized as a behavior rather than as a trait. You also give a great summary at the last two paragraphs about what affects servant leadership, and how this make this behavior constantly change.

Servant leadership means being a part of something significantly bigger than our everyday lives. Participating in Alabama Action has given me the privilege to connect with the community of Tuscaloosa and contribute to making it a better place. It is truly remarkable to see how much a week’s worth of time can have such a huge impact on the lives of others. For instance, as each teacher would pass they were just overjoyed with excitement and would repeatedly say thank you. In addition, every child would just light up with a huge smile as they walked into the room. Giving back and helping others establishes a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction because it strengthens communities and improves individual lives by making a difference. It is

John Barbuto and Daniel Wheeler (2006, 300)—authors of “Scale Development and Construct Clarification of Servant Leadership”—state that Greenleaf (1977) developed 11 dimensions of servant leadership that include: “calling, listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, growth, and community building.” Again, it should be noted that although Greenleaf (1977) uses the term “calling,” he does not use it in a spiritual sense, but more on a secular level (Barbuto and Wheeler 2006, 300). The results from Barbuto and Wheeler’s (2006) investigation found only five dimensions that relate to servant leadership and not all of them the same as those put forth by Greenleaf (1977). These five dimensions include

Emerging Leaders, Doctoral Learners and the like may face many obstacles on the way to completion of their course work in pursuit of obtaining a post graduate degree. Moreover, learners will strive towards achieving a modicum of success while advancing both the theory and practice of leadership principles. Doctoral students have a zeal and a zest for researching the truth about the knowledge of an unknown topic as there is also a noticeable increase in the interest of Greenleaf’s (1977) servant leadership theory. Leadership is usually developed out of uncertain realities and issues that burst forward causing the individual to be stretched in areas he or she normally would not be exposed too and evidence of the leader emerges out of the need to be productive as opposed to being destructive. Essentially, the student argues for spiritual leadership theory, servant leadership, and being-centered leadership by discovering the concepts of positive well-being (psychological, spiritual, and physical) ascribed through scientific research; ethical well- being then arises out of the values, positive attitudes, and behaviors.

Leadership is defined as the ability to direct others and inspire them to perform well. Effective leadership challenges to achieve goals and motivate each other to contribute to meeting goals. Effective leadership performance exceeds above and beyond to make things happen. “The most important achievements of humankind are associated with people who influenced others to achieve more than they thought was possible (p.311).” The famous quote “Leaders are born, not made” is used to describe effective leadership. Leadership effectiveness is almost exclusively related to leader behaviors and those learnable behaviors. Great leaders are born with assurance, charisma, and intelligence which make them natural born leaders.

Leaders inspire a shared vision inspiring others to follow them in pursuing their vision while accomplishing shared goals. Power is often defined as the potential ability to influence the behavior of others. Leaders and managers often share different approaches based on their positions within an organization. Leaders are more heart than head, and are often visionaries viewing their position with passion and purpose. Some basic terms often used to describe leaders are: innovative, creative, flexible, inspiring, courageous, imaginative, and experimental. Leaders initiate change, and reflect personal power.

The application of the principles of servant leadership will benefit my organization quite a lot. Being a private organization, this hospital does not follow servant leadership style. Still, we apply some of the principles of Greenleaf, like empathy, healing, and awareness (Casterlow, n.d.). These principles help generate good team spirit in the employees. Once the people know that the leadership is aware of their needs and the leaders would try meeting these needs of the staff, like provision of leave when needed by the staff, arrangements in duty, and so on, the staff will remain happy and satisfied. They will commit themselves more towards the organization. When the leadership shows empathy and healing attitude to the staff, they feel as if the leaders care, this feeling motivates them and they will be willing to work hard as the way the management desires. These features are already evident in my hospital. Hence, if my hospital follows the servant leadership style, the leaders would be more supportive than they are now. They would be more persuasive, show foresight and conceptualize (Casterlow, n.d.). This could help reduce the burn-out feeling of staff when there is staff shortage. The awareness that the