The Role Of Servant Leadership And The Christian Religion

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 theory’s emphasis on service to others and recognition that the role of organizations is to create people who can build a better tomorrow resonates with scholars and practitioners who are responding to the growing perceptions that corporate leaders have become selfish and who are seeking a viable leadership theory to help resolve the challenges of the twenty-first century (Parris & Peachey, 2013, p 378).

Many have developed elements that they believe are the foundation of servant leadership. In summary, included in the fundamentals are healing, creating value for community, empowering, empathy, listening, awareness, behaving ethically, and helping others grow and succeed. Healing refers to leaders trying to help solve problems and relationships. Creating value for community refers to leaders serving as an example and encouraging others to also serve the community. Empowering refers to leaders providing followers with autonomy. Empathy refers to leaders understanding others. Listening is a trait all leaders should possess. In order to understand, one should first listen. Awareness refers to leaders attentive to the things happening around them. Behaving ethically refers to the demonstrating of integrity to gain the trust of followers. Helping others grow and succeed refers to leaders providing support to followers to help them develop and accomplish professional and personal goals.

Servant leadership from a Christian perspective is a replica of what Jesus Christ symbolizes. Jesus was a servant because he showed truth, vision, humility, commitment, teacher to his followers, and brought about change; he was a suffering servant, yet was merciful, he was a teacher, yet willing to be taught by the Holy Spirit. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Northouse stated that this edition of his book was written with an objective to bridge the gap between simplistic approaches to leadership to more abstract approaches. Chapter 9 of this book is entitled Transformational Leadership. It defines this model as the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower. Hidden away in Chapter 14, Leadership Ethics, we find servant leadership. These models emphasize that leaders be more attentive to the concerns of their followers and empathize with them. In addition, they should take care of them. In addition, they should take care of them and nurture them.

Servant leadership can be defined as the skill of empowering others towards a common goal through service to them (Hunter, 2014). The theory of servant leadership was initially written about by Greanleaf in the 1970s even though it has existed for hundreds of years (Parris and Peachey, 2012). Greanleaf believed that servant leadership was brought about by individuals reflecting on personal growth rather than providing a step by step manual on how to be a servant leader (Parris and Peachey, 2012). More recent researchers include in the definition of leadership various attributes such as altruistic calling, service, empowerment,

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 best know for placing the needs and wants of others above those of the leader; this helps to create a trusting and empowered team of followers to help organizations reach their goals (Mahembe & Engelbrecht, 2014). The servant leadership model is able to help nonprofit organizations gain a competitive advantage in ways that are not necessarily profit driven, such as improving employee satisfaction and commitment to the organization (Center for Servant Leadership, n.d.). The improvement of employee satisfaction has been linked to improved customer satisfaction, which helps to build support for the organization (Center for Servant Leadership, n.d.).

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

This is an introduction to the Servant Leadership Questionnnaire or SLQ, introduced in Chapter 10 of the textbook “Leadership: Theory and Practice” by Peter Northouse (Northouse, 2016). The questionnaires were designed, to evaluate leadership styles (Northouse, 2016). The following is a brief summary of the resulting scores of the questionnaire which are tallied in categories representing emotional healing, creating value for the community, conceptual skills, empowering, helping followers succeed, putting followers first, and behaving ethically. Next, a paragraph with a short assessment of the results. Finally, a brief analysis of the impact the ten characteristics of the Servant Leadership style might have on one’s personal leadership style.

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

What is a serving society and does that concept embrace spirituality? Does the fact of incorporating spirituality into an organization or a workplace provide healthier and more effective employees? How does the concept of a serving society and an organization that incorporates spirituality into its mission relate to Robert Greenleaf's servant leadership model? These questions and issues are reviewed and critiqued in this paper.

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.