The Committed, Community-Oriented Servant Leader

This article on the servant leader is part VI of our 12-part series on the different leadership styles. You can check out October’s Monthly Huddle to get a general overview and follow along each week as we explore them in-depth. 

Servant leadership is the antithesis of traditional leadership. Instead of focusing on company goals as a whole, servant leaders dedicate their time and energy to cultivating the lives of those working directly under their supervision. Through this unique brand of TLC, teams often feel empowered to make big changes.  

What Defines a Servant Leader?

Unsurprisingly, servant leaders want to be in service to those “below” them. Unlike more conventional leadership styles, this flips the hierarchy of power. Employees are encouraged to seek innovative, engaging work with the servant leader supporting with resources and encouragement along the way. 

This type of leader is endlessly selfless, often resulting in seemingly impossible employee retention rates and revenue growth. One often-cited example of this is Datron World Communications, a company based out of California providing tactical communications equipment. Under a servant leadership model, the business saw an increase in revenue from $10 million to $200 million in just six years.

Personality

Larry C. Spears, who served as president for the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, wrote in an article for “The Journal of Virtue and Leadership” that the 10 most essential traits of a servant leader include:

1. Listening with intent, paying attention to body language and context while providing valuable feedback.
2. Empathy with an emphasis on perspective taking and open-mindedness.
3. Healing, or supporting the mental and physical wholeness of employees.
4. Awareness of self and others, focusing on how you make others feel, personal strengths and weaknesses, and being open to feedback.
5. Persuasion to encourage employees to innovate and execute as a team, rather than demanding they do so with authority.
6. Conceptualization and having big goals for your people, having a specific mission in mind.
7. Foresight to stop problems before they become problems and understanding the consequences of today’s decisions on tomorrow’s reality. 
8. Stewardship and responsibility for your team, ensuring they have a safe environment to express themselves, receive support, and have access to the resources they need to flourish. 
9. Commitment to the growth of people, rather than the growth of the business. Business growth comes naturally when your team feels empowered and supported. 
10. Building community and stimulating individuals to work for the common good, rather than in pursuit of their personal gain alone. 

Decision-Making

When it comes to decision-making, servant leaders are eager to share the power. They are far more likely to empower their team in their choices, instead of making choices themselves. This leadership style is also well-known for its charisma and persuasion, so if they have a feeling that one option is better than another, they will rely on those traits to create consensus amongst the team. 

Situations Where Servant Leaders Thrive

• Modern office settings, where innovation and creativity are encouraged as part of the overarching culture, are ideal for servant leaders who are seeking camaraderie and community amongst their teams. 
• Small and medium business owners can serve their staff on a more intimate level than most executive-level leaders. When teams are smaller, leaders have more opportunities to dig into the well-being of their employees and provide support. 
• Companies striving to generate sustainable growth and are willing to accept the upside-down hierarchy would benefit greatly from a servant leader. This leadership style is well-documented for its ability to stoke up employee engagement, buy-in, and effort. 

Wrap Up: The Pros and Cons of Servant Leadership

Servant leaders are constantly pursuing ways to improve their team’s personal and professional outlook. Rather than seeing them as an employee that needs instruction, servant leaders see individuals with different life experiences and circumstances who have the potential to grow with the right supports in place. 

Not all office cultures are designed for servant leadership to be successful, though.

Pros

• Everyone within the team becomes a leader in their own right, often finding a niche and modeling good leadership skills within their own areas of strength.
• There is a huge uptick in engagement and loyalty, as the employees know that their leader cares about their growth. Teams begin to realize their potential, which allows the servant leader to step in with the resources to kindle that fire. 

Cons

• If it’s coming from the “wrong” person, servant leadership can sometimes feel inauthentic to teams. When teams detect inauthenticity, they are far less likely to function as a collaborative group under their leader’s guidance. 
• Employees who are not used to this type of leadership may find it difficult to respond appropriately, instead deciding that their leaders are weak and ineffective. 
• Departmental servant leadership goals often don’t align with the “big picture” goals of the entire company, or at least don’t have the same timeline. Instead, teams first focus on community, then dive into strategy and product.