In the last article, when Jahnvi came across the term ‘servant leader,’ it appeared at odds with each other to her. It was then she decided to learn the ropes and implement it in her life as a first-time manager. Since she got promoted, she is leaving no stone unturned in her journey to understand the thumbprints of an efficacious leader. She wants to go above and beyond the responsibility of being an overseer for her team and seeks to develop and align her team’s sense of purpose with the organization’s goals.
On her journey so far, she has unearthed the following concepts: the requisites of becoming a first-time manager, her values, locus of control, setting goals and achieving them, her learnings from The Strangest Secret, how to handle missed goals, an overview of feedback, the gateway to discovering the blindspot, frameworks of feedback, the concepts of feedforward, the overview of the interpersonal skills, the techniques to enhance interpersonal skills, better team management using people reading guide, the techniques to effectively manage a team, an overview of time management, the time management matrix, and the techniques to manage time effectively, the art of delegation, ways to consider capabilities of her team, the process to delegate effectively, unconscious bias, how to be an unbiased leader, strategies to eliminate biases at work, and the art of inspiring others.
A good leadership goal is to help those who are doing poorly do better and to help those who are doing well do even better.
– Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur.
Jahnvi’s ultimate goal is to make sure she is there for her team. She wants to see the situations from others’ perspectives, make decisions that are in her team’s best interest, and her team has the knowledge and resources they need to meet their successful self. She understands that it is no easy feat to find the right leadership style. It has to come naturally to her if she intends to lead an effective team and be accepted as a leader in her organization.
When the term ‘servant leader’ piqued her interest, she dug into some leadership styles like emotional leadership, transformational leadership, laissez-faire leadership, and servant leadership. To find the most relevant and effective leadership style, she decided to rely on the facts and came to know:
Employees who work under a servant leadership umbrella are more likely to feel heard. This increases their likelihood of working to the best of their skills by 4.6 times.
The Nelson Mandela servant leadership legacy lived on throughout his life and even after his death. Mandela never mentioned that he had won the election. He did not use his speech to bolster his position of power.
He introduced himself as a servant. He, like any of us, had many strengths that he could have discussed. And he could have said anything horrible about the other people. However, he realized that a servant’s heart would best benefit the people, so he began with that. Serving others became a motivating element in his leadership, life, and legacy.
And he altered the course of history.
Mandela’s service-oriented approach was not novel. However, it was extremely rare. And it still is—in fact, it is becoming more so by the day.
“It is better to lead from behind and put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. The people will appreciate your leadership.”
– Nelson Mandela
Effective leaders recognize that their success is fueled by the success of their people. Servant leaders seek to learn what their people need to succeed and want to make a difference in their lives. In the process, this benefits the organization. Team members perform better when they believe their leader has their best interests at heart.
Jahnvi wants to be a servant leader but doesn’t know how. She is so intent on getting the organization’s needs met that she lost sight of the needs and aspirations of her people. This insight made her realize when she leads with her heart, her team members will develop a sense of well-being and bring their best to the job. She is keen to learn everything about a servant leader, how she can align the purpose of her team with organizational strategies, add energy, guide actions, and provide long-term perspective to them.
What Is Servant Leadership?
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”
– Max DePree
Servant leaders are a revolutionary group; they flip the classic power leadership style upside down. People—or employees in a business context—are at the top of this new hierarchy, with the leader at the bottom, responsible for serving the employees above them. That’s exactly how servant leaders like it.
It happens because these leaders are committed to empowering their people with their service-first approach. They serve rather than command, demonstrate humility rather than assert power, and are constantly searching for ways to improve the development of their employees in ways that unlock potential, creativity, and a sense of purpose.
What about the end result? “Performance is at an all-time high,” says Art Barter, Founder and CEO of Datron World Communications, Inc.
Robert K. Greenleaf, the founder of the modern servant leadership movement, initially described the concept of servant leadership in his 1970 essay “The Servant as Leader.” Greenleaf argued that servant leaders encourage their people to learn and grow by providing inclusive leadership. They concentrate on building an environment in which the team may perform successfully, hence favorably inducing corporate growth.
Jahnvi found this concept interesting as it is a process of unlearning and relearning to become an efficient leader. A concept that enables people to put an optimal effort into achieving the organization’s goals while feeling valued and included by leaders at the same time. Now the question she has is “How does servant leadership overturn the traditional leadership theories?
Servant Leadership Vs. Traditional Leadership
Servant leadership and traditional leadership use distinct strategies and get distinct results.
Traditional leadership is a top-down structure, with the leader making choices and commanding subordinates to carry out his or her orders. It encourages people to execute their duties by giving them advice, direction, and motivation. A traditional leader tends to build his organization’s position in the market.
Servant leadership happens when the leader’s primary objective and responsibility is to serve their people. A servant leader prioritizes the individuals directly beneath them over the corporation as a whole. He ensures that his people improve in all spheres of life, including their autonomy, knowledge, profession, and even their mental and physical health.
When leaders change their focus from the company to the employees, they are more likely to develop skilled, talented, knowledgeable, and motivated employees, which will help to improve the organization’s overall operations and management.
This leadership style has received worldwide acclaim and is used by a number of Fortune 500 businesses. Google is one of the most recognized examples of such a company model. Google cares deeply about its employees, and its employee-friendly practices have significantly enhanced productivity and income.
Every time Jahnvi thought she had received ample knowledge on being a first-time manager, she ended up finding a new track with endless learnings within. However, she is getting a hold of the concepts of servant leadership and wants to delve into the effects of servant leadership.
What Are The Effects Of Servant Leadership?
Leaders who practice servant leadership increase the beneficial influence their leadership can have on the team. Employee performance, devotion to their work, and trust in leadership all reflect the impact of servant leadership in a business. Servant leaders show concern for their people, keep them engaged, and make them feel psychologically protected, which results in these great effects.
Leaders influence and are influenced by culture as they establish, shape, and influence an organization’s culture over time. In reality, leaders have the most influence on culture, which means they have the greatest influence on their staff’s experience.
As leaders play such an important role in how an organization’s workplace culture develops, is reinforced, and affects their team members, a leader’s ability to convey cultural norms and facilitate cultural alignment among team members is critical for any organization’s long-term success.
Here are the effects of servant leadership:
Mindset
Servant leadership fosters the concept that your presence is a tool for serving others. This influences the thinking of everyone who comes into contact with a servant leader. Such a mindset is contagious, and it might start a chain reaction of employees who desire to embody the same principles. Servant leadership changes employees’ mindsets, making them less preoccupied with their own wants and more eager to help others.
Relationships
A shift in the typical manager-employee dynamic happens when a servant leadership style is used. Controlling activities and issuing direct directives define the connectionless. As trust and encouragement become more central to the dynamic, a synergistic relationship between leadership and employees develops. “Trust is one of the means to achieving servant leadership, as well as an end result of servant leadership,” says Stephen M.R. Covey, former CEO of the Covey Leadership Center. This enables for the formation of more authentic relationships in the workplace while also narrowing the gap between leaders and employees.
Culture
Leaders have the most influence on culture than anyone else in an organization. Leaders communicate the character of business culture to employees through their behaviors and values. A servant leader conveys service and cooperative ideals and helps to foster a healthy culture of knowledge sharing and concern for others.
Performance
Servant leadership takes into account the viewpoints of all employees, which promotes idea exchange and increases innovation. Employees can also grow faster and learn new abilities, which allows them to improve professionally. The Servant Leadership Institute’s founder and CEO, Art Barter, guarantees that “performance goes through the roof” under a servant leadership approach. A supportive environment promotes growth and development, which naturally improves performance.
Jahnvi found many obvious reasons to learn and pass the torch to encourage servant leadership in her organization. She feels that servant leadership has the power to make a shift in the entire organizational dynamics. She had to consciously step into the shoes of a servant to suffice the power of such leadership. With the thought of creating a caring environment that focuses on her people and results, she wants to continue the quest to understand servant leadership better.
https://studycorgi.com/nelson-mandelas-servant-leadership-principles/
https://billmunncoaching.com/nelson-mandela-servant-leader/
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Written By: Jimmy Jain
Edited By: Afreen Fatima
Society of Design Thinking Professionals
