Servant Leadership Philosophy

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.

Over the past six years of my career as a project manager in an IT company, I have been working as a supervisor to manage a team of programmers and designers. Reflecting on this period of time which I have applied my leadership philosophy, I believe the leadership type, servant leadership, aptly describes my leadership style. I agree with what a servant leader stands for, and I aspire to become a better servant leader in the days ahead of me.

Although the notion of servant leadership has been recognized in leadership literature since Burns' (1978) and Greenleaf's (1977) publications, the movement has gained momentum only recently. Bowman (1997) argues that to date there is only anecdotal evidence to support a commitment to an understanding of servant leadership.

The department, when servant leadership is implemented, has great possibility and visionary accomplished goals. Servant leadership in this department may decrease the voluntary turnover rate tremendously. The organization workload is demanding comparing to others organization with equal pay. As turnover is costing organization 150% more when placed in these situation, the cost of replacing an employee is damaging. A study on servant leadership on turnover intention indicated that servant leader led to the decrease in turnover that involves ethical level, person-organization fit, and organization commitment (Jaramillo, Grisaffe, Chonko, & Roberts, 2009). When servant leader demonstrate genuine compassion to the people they lead, the

When facing crucial conversations such as conflicts or negotiations, people tend to look to autocratic or commanding leaders; organizations seldom see servant leaders as the person for the job. Although servant leadership is finding its way into contemporary discussions of effective leadership styles, people still view it as the characterization of a “weak or meek” leader (Collins, 2001, Kindle location 531). The Gospels, however, reveal that Jesus, the epitome of servant leadership, competently addressed critical conversations throughout his ministry (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 11:15-17, John 6:25-60, Matthew 16:21-23). While some may credit Jesus’s success to his divinity, this argument does not hold for those who followed his example of servant leadership. In contrast, Wilkes suggests the effectiveness of Jesus’s ministry was because of his servant leadership, rather than despite it.

Leadership is more than a position within an organization, true leaders are influencers who inspire and empower as they guide organizations and people through times of uncertainty. As a leader, I seek to create a culture of inclusion and empowerment that encourages creativity and unbound thinking. As a servant leader, I have a desire to serve, to serve others and develop them through a conscious effort to create synergy.

Empowering and developing people - Empowerments aim is at fostering a proactive, self-confident attitude among followers and gives them a sense of personal power. It shows the one values people and encourages their personal development (Laub, 1999)

The field in which I intend to develop a career is college access programs. I believe universal access to quality higher education will help individuals build a sense of purpose in the world by contributing to the collective well-being, ultimately creating a just world. The interest began in 2014, the year I began questioning the concept of college after being encouraged to enroll, attend, and graduate from college for 12 years. The question began the instance I started noticing that the role models I grew up with lacked formal education yet they lived happy lives; I wanted to be like them.

In the process of becoming a leader, I have had the opportunity to learn a variety of leadership styles. “The Servant Leadership caught my eye as it begins with “the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first”. In chapter ten, I was able to identify the characteristics of Jesus as the first servant Leader; I quickly connected the passage to a bible verse Matthew 20:26 “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. “I make a strong connection with Greenleaf’s phrase that the “servant-leader is servant first.” Jesus is the perfect role model of servant leadership. Throughout my life, I have encountered numerous leadership styles and for that, I am thankful that I had the opportunity to learn from them.

Servant leadership has the ability to enhance individual lives, create better organizations and provide a world where everyone’s cares according to Robert Greenleaf (Greenleaf). The purpose of this paper is to introduce servant leader operational philosophy to the organization to maximize the capacity of the company’s performance with the ability to strengthen personnel growth from the lower to the upper level employees. By implementing this philosophy, the outcome is extremely positive and may create a win-win environment, as the focus is to grow the people to grow the organization. Servant leadership does not necessary require a title, in addition, most servant leadership in the organization does not have a title assigned to them. Servant leadership may be very contagious, a trend may be created when one service another, in-turn, the one that was served may become a servant leader. This development generates are great working atmosphere, where retention level increase, but most importantly, the knowledge of the people to grow the organization.

Last time I indicated I would look at servant leadership. I came across a very powerful little set of points that are certainly worth reflecting on as you evaluate your own leadership style, from Trinity Western University.

Servers are thought to be submissive followers and leaders are thought to be powerful decision makers and as contrast as serving and leading can seam to be at first thought they can have much more overlapping roles. Helping others so they will in turn help you is by no means a new concept; it is one that has in fact been around for at least the last two thousand years. However, it was Robert K Greenleaf that took that general idea and reshaped the roles of serving and leading molding then into one philosophy of Servant Leadership (Keith, 2015). Greenleaf’s concept was that “the servant-leader is servant first” meaning not that a leader should be slavish or submissive but that they should have a desire to know the needs of others and ensure those needs are meet (Keith, 2015).

Place emphasis on the development of followers rather than their own gratification (Jit, Sharma, & Kawatra, 2016; Liden et al., 2014; Parris & Peachey, 2013; Rubio-Sanchez, Bosco, & Melchar, 2013; Wong & Page, 2003).

Leadership is a skill that is developed with time, experience, and wisdom. Leadership is not developed over night, and it does not come easily for most people either. Good leaders can empower their people, these types of leaders are typically more successful because by empowering their people they build capability and can at times create a movement. Much like Esther did in the story of Esther. The book of Esther illustrates what a person can achieve when being a servant leader.

Servant leadership is crucial in any form of leadership. Some would even argue that servant leadership is the best form of leadership. When the topic of servant leadership arises, there is one name that stands out amongst the greats: Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was known for his quiet, servantly form of leadership that had an immense impact on the world. It is said that Gandhi was the greatest servant leader in history, second only to Christ. In order to see the leadership of this man, the story of his life must be outlined.