Servant Leadership
Greenleaf Seminars
©
Servant Leadership in the
Boardroom
October 10, 2012
The Nonprofit Partnership
Erie, Pa.
Facilitator: Bob Phipps
Content providers: You !
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© Copyright The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership 2008
Introductions
 This seminar will attempt to cover the basics of servant leadership
while applying it to your role in board leadership !
 Normal length is 3.5 hours/ we are limited today to 1 hour and 15
minutes ….so it will be an introduction !
 Materials come from similar seminars done for many
companies/agencies/organizations under the auspices of The
Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
 The Case for Servant Leadership is a great source for the basic
concepts of servant leadership, and Servant Leadership in the
Boardroom is the latest resource Kent has developed with specific
focus on boards.
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Some expectations (of each other)
for our time together
 Listen care-fully
 Option to pass
 Speak for yourself
 Expect unfinished business
 Recognize the variety of opinion
dimension in the room !
 Take responsibility for your own
learning !
 Note what is of meaning to
you….power point can be e-mailed
if you so desire.
Objectives
-To
share with participants the background and
history of the servant leader approach.
-To help participants understand the connection
between the basic responsibilities of non-profit
boards and the establishment of a servant culture
in which to perform their duties.
-To assist participants in examining their own
motivations for board involvement and apply
servant leader principles to their roles as leaders.
-To introduce the seven key practices of a servant
leader and help individuals incorporate these
practices into their leadership style.
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Rationale:
 There have been too many tragedies –too many cases in
which corporations/and non-profits have harmed individuals
and communities because their boards did not lead, or their
leadership did not fulfill, the public trust. Servant leadership
in the boardroom can reduce those tragedies, while better
aligning corporations and non-profits with the needs of those
they serve. It will never be easy, but dedicated servantleaders in the boardroom can surely make the world a better
place.
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The desire to serve
 Servant leadership begins with the desire to
serve.
 Universal recognition of the importance of
serving others can be found in many religions.
 The test: Do those served grow as persons?
 Serving others is not just something we do– it
ought to be the way in which we do our work !
Power Based
Service Based
ME
US
Leader
Serving
First
First
Purdue University is an Equal Opportunity/Equal
Access instiution.
DIFFERENCES
Power Base Leadership
Service Base Leadership
 Making people do things
 Help people do things
 Hierarchy
 Anybody can serve
 Grabbing
 Giving
 Power is a goal
 Power is a tool
 Focus on personal credit
 Focus on the goal
 Create dependency
 Empower
 Patriarchy
 Partnership
Purdue University is an Equal Opportunity/Equal
Access institution.
The Servant-Leader
 The servant-leader is servant first.
 It begins with the natural feeling that one
wants to serve, to serve first.
 Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to
lead.
 That person is sharply different from one who
is leader first.
 The leader-first and the servant-first are two
extreme types.
ROBERT K. GREENLEAF, THE SERVANT AS LEADER © 1991, 2008
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The Board
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Legal responsibility of the Board
Legislatures have given all legal power to
boards to fulfill the public good.
Greenleaf said that trustees (board
members) are the holders of the charter
of public trust for the institution.
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Trustees accountable to society
 Greenleaf : “Trustees [board members] are accountable to all
parties at interest for the best possible performance of the
institution in the service of the needs of all constituencies—
including society at large.”
 Trustees should care about everyone that the institution
touches– employees, customers, business partners,
shareholders, communities.
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Greenleaf on the role of boards
• Boards should lead or initiate, not just react.
– Boards should not be nominal, honorary, or just a rubber stamp
for the administration.
• Board members should be thought leaders.
• Boards should ask fundamental questions.
• Boards should be in touch with social, economic,
environmental, political trends.
• Boards should understand the needs of those being served .
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Greenleaf on the
major functions of boards
Hold the charter of public trust for an
organization.
Exercise the legal authority to manage.
Set goals, define obligations, approve plans
(Carver: determine the ends).
Appoint top administrative officers.
Assess the performance of the institution.
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Ten Basic Responsibilities of
Nonprofit Boards (Richard T. Ingram)
 Determine mission and purpose.
 Select the chief executive.
 Support and evaluate the chief executive.
 Ensure effective planning.
 Monitor and strengthen programs and services.
 Ensure adequate financial resources.
 Protect assets and provide proper financial oversight.
 Build a competent board.
 Ensure legal and ethical integrity.
 Enhance the organization’s public standing.
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Seven Key Practices
(consider how these apply to us as
individuals- and collectively as a board)
Self-Awareness
Listening
Dealing with the pyramid
Developing your colleagues
Coaching, not controlling
Unleashing the energy and intelligence of
others
7. Foresight
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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Self-Awareness
 One’s own strengths and weaknesses.
 Emotional intelligence.
 The impact of one’s words and deeds.
 It’s not just what you do (i.e. carry out the mission of the
organization),
it’s how you do it !
 Reflection.
 Humbleness.
 Being comfortable with myself which invites…trust, open
feedback, willingness to give up control.
 (board members) What is your key motivation for serving on a
board…what do you hope to gain from serving ?
 (CEO’s/Staff) What do you look for from the board collectively
and individually ?
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Listening
 Key to understanding how to identify
the needs of others.
 Servant leaders don’t begin with the
answer- but with questions.
 Indian talking stick used by Covey
when facilitating the World Leadership
Forum among Christians, Jews, and
Muslims.
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Thinking about servant
leadership…
(focus person)
 characterize someone you could
identify as an effective leader of a
board or committee… what did they
do/ what did they not do ?
-What causes a person that desires to be
a servant leader to migrate to the power
model of leadership ? How do you
safeguard against this ? How could this
impact the work of a non-profit board ?
-Describe (in your words) an effective
board member !
Developing Your Colleagues
 Greenleaf’s business ethic: the work exists
for the person as much as the person
exists for the work.
 Kendal Corporation starts before
employment -hiring the right staff !
 Four levels of learning.
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Four Levels of Learning
 Unconscious
Competence
 Conscious
Competence
 Conscious
Incompetence
 Unconscious
Incompetence
Council of equals
The board should be a leadership team that
is a “council of equals”.
Greenleaf said: “No man or woman is
complete; no one of them is to be entrusted
with all. Completeness is to be found only
in the complemental talents of several who
relate as equals.”
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Foresight
 Greenleaf said foresight is the central ethic of leadership, the
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“lead” that the leader has.
Not predicting specific events, but the underlying trends, issues,
patterns that help identify a future direction.
A good “chess player” looks five moves ahead…. foresight.
A good hockey player skates to where the puck is going to be….
foresight.
It takes a leader with vision to see the future leader within the
person (John Maxwell).
Arie de Geus: example of forecasting when the rivers will swell
and flood the valleys.
A& P vs Kroger.
Dashboard
 What are the key ‘gauges’
we want to measure…..to
determine the progress of
the organization ?
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Typical problems
 Boards members do not want to lead, they want to rubber-
stamp the recommendations of the administration.
 Board meetings are filled with trivia; the most important
issues are ignored.
 Board members feel they cannot contribute, become
disinterested, and drift away.
 Board members bring personal agendas.
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Utilizing foresight….
 What “topics” could a board
address that would move them
from ‘rubber stamping’ to
exercising foresight for the
organization ?
 How does the concept of
‘dashboard’ help the board avoid
micro-management ?
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Three stories of servant leadership:
 Dale and “the boat” !
 Frank Vernile on
developing leadership
skills !
 A President who was
served by serving !
Robert K. Greenleaf
 The servant-leader is servant first … then conscious
choice brings one to aspire to lead.
 The best test (of servant leadership) is:
Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served,
become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely
themselves to become servants?
 And what is the effect on the least privileged in society?
Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?
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Key Reminders for Servant
Leaders in the Boardroom (page 67)
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Summary
 Servant leadership is ethical, practical, and
meaningful.
 Serving others is not just something you do. It’s
what life is about.
 Be a servant leader and make your organization a
success….whether you serve as a staff member or
a board member.
 Be a servant leader and look back on a life filled
with meaning.
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Thank you!
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