SERVANT LEADERSHIP

Servant leadership



Servant-Leadership

Introduction

Leadership characteristics are the set of qualities that are necessary to perform all the duties that come under the role of a leader. There are different schools of thoughts with regard to characteristics of leadership, and each school of thought describes different set of characteristics. One such school of thought is of servant-leadership. Leadership and management are two notions that are often used interchangeably. However, these words recount two distinct concepts.

Leadership is a facet of administration, is just one of the numerous assets a thriving supervisor must own and care should be taken in differentiating between the two concepts. In the article “Intervention Theory and Method: a Behavioral Science”, it was established that servant leadership evolves over time and as skills develop.  The major aim of a manager is to maximize the output of the association through administrative implementation. To achieve this, manager must undertake the following purposes: Organization, Planning, Staffing, administering, and Controlling (Hubbard, 2008).

Servant-leadership advocates a group oriented approach to analysis and decision making as a means of strengthening institutions and improving society. Some people have likened the approach to turning the hierarchical pyramid upside down. Servant-leadership holds that profit is not the primary purpose of a business; instead, it is to create a positive impact on its employees and community.

Discussion

Servant-Leadership

Servant leadership is a way of focusing and inspiring a group to endow them to accomplish their aims. It involves being accountable and blame the group as a whole. This concept develops from the article “Framework of problem-based research: A guide for novice researchers on the development of a research-worthy problem” that further establishes that A leader should provide continuity and momentum, be flexible in allowing changes of direction. Ideally, a servant leader should be a few steps ahead of their team, but not too far for the team to be able to understand and follow them. Leaders must have a wide range of skills, techniques and strategies, which includes planning, communication skills, organization, and awareness of the wider environment in which the team operates. Greenleaf coined the term servant leadership in 1970 when he presented the concept that leaders are those who serve followers and that great leaders are first of all servants (Radtke, 2007).

According to Greenleaf and to those further developing his model, servant leadership is rooted in providing service to others and this service stems from a natural feeling, or inclination to serve. Servant leadership is the concept of leadership which is based on services provision to the people by leaders. The idea is inspired by the ancient times of kings when they treat themselves as the servants of their people. It is a way of life that exhibits, encourages and support people to serve others first. It means to serve people and treat them with honor and respect; this includes external and internal customers both.

Servant leadership can be measured by following criteria:

Servant leader seeks and accepts sincere feedback

Servant leader always involves himself in developing people up to their highest potential

Servant leader tries to find out other people's need and tries to meet that needs

Servant leader ...