The Importance Of Transformational And Servant Leadership

I have recently completed a service project at the animal shelter in Bulloch County, Georgia. For four days I rode with my group to the animal shelter to play with the animals. Playing with the animals shows them compassion. We played with many dogs over the course of four days. Doing this service have made myself and my group servant leaders. What is a servant leader you ask, well a servant leader wants to help others better themselves. They want to help even if they do not look like, think like, or talk like us.

This article examines the similarities and differences between transformational and servant leadership. The authors suggest the primary difference is the focus of the leader. The transformational leader’s focus is more on the organization and the servant leader’s focus is more on the follower. The authors state that both offer the conceptual framework for

Since the beginning of recorded history, leadership has been one of, if not the most important elements in the success or failure of an endeavor. This is whether it involved a prehistoric hunting party or ruling the Roman Empire. Today, leadership is recognized as a vital factor in an organization’s quest to be productive and profitable. For an organization to be competitive and achieve optimum success in the 21st century, it is vital that they employ effective leaders that will be able to communicate their vision and goals, motivate their employees and develop trusting and loyal relationships with its stakeholders. There is no one or best way to accomplish this mission. There have been numerous leadership theories and styles which have been developed over time which can enable leaders to choose which method would be most effective for them in establishing collaborative working relationships and a respectful team environment in a group setting (Landis, Eric A; Hill, Deborah; Harvey, Maurice R, 2014).

Servant leadership is a theory based on Robert K Greenleaf’s belief that all men have a primary motivation to serve others and through this service they aspire to lead (Parris & Peachey, 2012). Although this leadership model has very little in common with charismatic and situational does however compare to transformational leadership in several areas. The main area of commonality between the two can be found as transformational leaders serve as stewards to change enable the followers to accept the change and move forward with the organization (Tichy & Devanna, 1990, p. 75). In essence, servant leadership becomes the long-term transformational approach to life and work.

Servant leadership is a leadership style that puts others first and begins with a natural desire to serve first. According to Robert K. Greenleaf (1970), servant leadership is a “philosophy and a set of practices” that improves the lives of people. The “servant-leader is servant first” (Greenleaf, Senge, Covey, Spears, 2002 & Center for Servant Leadership, n.d.) and selflessly serves others, while empowering them to lead with a purpose. Although, the term servant-leader was first proposed and coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970, the concept of servant leadership can be traced all the way back to the life of Jesus. Servant leadership, according to Greenleaf, is a theoretical framework that considers a leader’s key role as being that of service

Authors such as Dugan (2017), consider Transformational Leadership and Servant Leadership similar, as both theories denote similar behavioral traits. However, Gregory Stone, Russel, and Patterson (2004) found that there are key differences between these two types of leadership styles. The distinction lies within the leader’s focus. Transformational leaders focus on the organizational goals and the greater good of the mission. While Servant Leaders concentrate on the people or the followers and their needs. Servant Leaders want to take care of their people and they find that if they take care of their follower’s needs, the mission gets accomplished because followers want to do a good job for their leader (Gregory Stone, et al., 2004).

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.

I undoubtedly appreciate your desire to work to incorporate your role in leadership towards the standard of professional performance. Having the ability to lead is an important factor in being successful. I have found that during my time in leadership, I have developed many different styles of leadership. The two I relate to the most are that of a transformational leader, and servant leadership. The transformational leader is one who has the ability to inspire and motivate their followers. Transformational leadership entails a leader to be adaptive and flexible with their leadership style (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, & Konopoaske, 2012). As for the servant leader, according to Tropello & DeFazio (2014), the servant leadership style is

Chief Architect for enhancing consumer debt collections application and back-end operations for data management and manipulation for our Global Operations in Scotland.

Servant leadership is the kind of leadership where the leader himself is willing to work as a servant. The leader wants to serve first in the group. Servant leader’s emphasis on individual development and the transformational leader’s focus on structural growth. According to Larry Spears, Servant leaders are very good listeners, it’s their number one characteristic. (Spears, n.d.) Servant leaders go extra mile for their commitment to listening to others.

Servant leadership is distinctive within the body of leadership theories by having evolved from a philosophical framework, which challenges generally held conceptions of power and production (Dugan, 2017). Servant leadership and transformational leadership place a similar emphasis on envisioning the future and transforming followers into leaders, however, the uniqueness of servant leadership still surfaces. For instance, servant leadership calls for more sacrifice on the part of the leader, and followers are more likely to have greater freedom under a servant leader than under a transformational leader. Furthermore, servant leadership depends on the leader’s trust in his followers rather than on the directive abilities of the leader. The principal difference between transformational and servant leadership is the leader’s focus. The servant leader’s ultimate focus is the follower, while the transformational leader’s greatest concern is to encourage followers to serve the organization diligently. The essence of transformational leadership lies on developing

I absolutely agree with your point that “Between the topics of servant-leadership and transformational leadership, it appears that the commonality between the two is found in leading by example.” Too often, leaders fail to actually lead and instead keep themselves elevated above and distant from their employees. By doing this, leaders create a barrier between themselves and their employees. When I first read your post, I thought it was commendable that your leadership took cuts in pay just like everyone else. However, when I read on and discovered that they were the only ones whose pay was restored, I was very disappointed to see that they showed their true colors: definitely not 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

Transformational leadership is defined as having four conceptually distinct elements: charismatic leadership/idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Bass, 1996). Servant leadership has

This review acknowledges that additional empirical research is needed on servant leadership especially its current and potential future role in organisations. The authors state that Greenleaf warned that servant leadership would be extremely difficult to apply in an operational setting such as a company.