Servant Leadership
Serving Those Who Serve Others
What is Servant Leadership
• Originated in the 1970’s
• Used by many large organizations as
their leadership foundation
• A method of leading others through
serving others
Why This Model?
• Influences people/teams to accomplish
common goals
• Everyone buys into the success of the
team and its goals
• Results in powerful outcomes for people
and organizations
Famous Servant Leaders
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Jesus
Buddha
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mother Teresa
Mahatma Gandhi
Nelson Mandela
They had no power but operated from
positions of authority and influence to
accomplish great things that changed the
world.
Two Kinds of Leaders
• Those that are Leaders first
• Those that are Servants first
Those That Are Leaders First
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Top-down
Often control others
Make all decisions
Give orders
Possessive about their position
Think they own the leadership position
Those That Are Servants First
• Assume leadership only if they see it as the best
way to serve
• Called to lead, not driven to lead
• Naturally helpful and want to develop people
• Not possessive about their leadership position
• Surrender the position to further develop others
Servant Leaders
• Truly have servant hearts
• Their focus is to serve those who serve
others
• Servant leaders may be a leader,
follower, or teammate
The Servant Leader Purpose
• To help people become:
• More autonomous
• More capable
• More effective
Servant Leaders
• Ask themselves every day:
“Who did I grow today?”
“Who am I going to grow tomorrow?”
The 10 Characteristics of a
Servant Leader
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Listening
Empathy
Healing
Awareness
Persuasion
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Conceptualization
Foresight
Stewardship
Commitment to the
growth of people
• Building community
Take the 10 characteristics of
Servant Leader
• List one way you will demonstrate each
servant leadership characteristic
starting today!
Listening as a Servant Leader
• Servant Leaders listen intently to others
• What is being said
• What is being left unsaid
• Thoughts, ideas, opinions, feelings,
concerns
• Develop trusting relationships
How do you know when
someone is listening to you??
Empathy in the Servant Leader
• Strives to understand people
• Recognizes and accept people
• May reject behaviors but never rejects
people
• Understands diversity – leverages
people’s strengths
How do you know when
someone has empathy with you
and your situation?
Healing by the Servant Leader
• Healing relationships is a powerful force
to transform people and situations
• Helps the team get along with each
other
• To better serve the client
How do you know when
someone is helping to heal
relationships??
Awareness in the Servant Leader
• Self-awareness and general awareness
• Is aware of situations and people
• Is willing to “meet people where they
are”
• Assists in making things right between
people
How self aware are you???
Persuasion of the Servant Leader
• Persuade instead of using positional authority
when making decisions
• Seeks to convince rather than coerce others
• Effective at building consensus within groups
• Especially helpful during times of change
How do you persuade people?
Conceptualization of the Servant
Leader
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Dream great dreams
Think beyond the day-to-day realities
Looks at long term goals
Balance conceptual thinking and day-today operational thinking
Give me an example of conceptual
thinking.
Foresight as a Servant Leader
• Enables the Servant Leader to:
• Understand lessons from the past
• The realities of the present
• Likely consequences of decisions on the
future
• Rooted in the Intuitive Mind
• “Gut feelings”
Give me an example of your use
of foresight.
Stewardship in the Servant
Leader
• Committed to serving others
• Creates the environment that meets the
needs of others
• Believes in doing things for the greater
good of the society
• When the needs of the society are met the
needs of the individual are met
How do you demonstrate
Stewardship???
Commitment to the Growth of
People
• Believe in and seek the intrinsic value people
have beyond their tangible contributions as
employees
• Deeply committed to the growth people
• Recognize their responsibility to nurture
professional and personal growth in their
employees
How do you show your
commitment to the growth of
people?
Building Community
• Large organizations are the primary
shaper of people’s lives
• Seek to build community within the
organization…
• … that meets the needs of all stakeholders
How do you help to build
community?
Finally…
Effective Servant Leadership
• Begins on the inside of a person with a
servant heart and then it moves outward
to serve others
• Requires the heart to transform others
• Creates autonomous, more capable,
more effective employees
• People and organizations achieve goals