SERVANT LEADERSHIP
Why is a Leader’s Style of
Leadership Important?
“An institution is the
lengthened shadow of one
person.”
Voltaire, 18th Century French philosopher and
essayist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Leadership Style Affects
the Organization
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"Leaders who are arrogant, dictatorial in their approach, emotionally
volatile and who adopt a bullying style under stress often leave a trail of
bruised people. By resisting input from others, ordering people around
and making staff fell stupid and unintelligent, leaders set themselves
and their organizations up for failure."
Karen M. Dyer
"Relational Leadership"
School Administrator, Nov. 2001
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Williams proposed that poor leaders can cause a school’s culture to
become toxic and unproductive.
Williams, B. T. (2001). Ethical leadership in schools servicing African American children and youth.
Teacher Education and Special Education, 24, 38-47.
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A leadership style provides a leader with
a focus that directs all actions and
words.
A lack of leadership style leads to
uncertainty or inconsistency of behavior
which is confusing to followers
History of Leadership Styles for Educational
Leaders
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Autocratic
Bureaucratic
Scientific
Democratic
Laissez-faire
Situational
Relational
Collaborative
Human Resources
Transactional
Transformational
Constructivist
Moral/Spiritual
Yamasaki asserted that rigid hierarchical structures could no longer
provide adequate leadership in an era of information technology
and continuously changing organizations.
Yamasaki, E. (1999). Understanding managerial leadership as more than an oxymoron. New Directions
for Community Colleges, 105, 67-73.
Sewell declared that the traditional top down managerial style is no
longer effective in the 21st century education system.
Sewell, S. C. (2003). Leadership: Do you manage or lead? The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 69, 54-55.
Although it is recognized that schools and school
leaders’ leadership styles have undergone drastic
change, it is difficult to predict which leadership style
would best serve public school leaders. Taylor
surmised that after decades of research to find the
best or most effective leadership style that no style
had emerged as the best in all situations.
Taylor, T. A. (2002). Examination of leadership practices of principals identified as servant leaders.
Dissertation Abstracts International, 63 (05), 1661A. (UMI No. 3052221)
Jennings reviewed the literature on educational leadership, and she
found that servant leadership could fill a new role in schools:
In many cases, shared leadership among leadership teams in the school
help all stakeholders to be involved in the leadership of the school. Still,
the principal is the designated leader of the school. His or her leadership
philosophy, beliefs, and values are evident in the school climate, the
students and staff who populate the school, and the perceived success of
the school. The servant leadership model supports this shift in leadership
ideology by focusing on the enrichment of the community and the growing
of leaders from within the community.
Jennings, D. B. (2002). Those who would lead must first serve: The praxis of servant leadership by public
school principals. Dissertation Abstracts International, 63 (04), 1207A. (UMI No. 3049171)
Servant Leadership is……
Servant leadership is considered some to
be more of a life-style than a
leadership style
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Laub took servant leadership beyond a simple
definition of leadership style when he stated,
“Servant leadership is more than a style of
leadership. It is a different way of thinking about the
purpose of leadership, the true role of a leader, and
the potential of those being led.” Laub also stated,
“Servant leadership is an understanding and practice
of leadership that places the good of those led over
the self-interest of the leader.”
Laub, J. A. (1999). Assessing the servant organization: Development of the servant
organizational leadership assessment (sola) instrument. Dissertation Abstracts International,
60 (02), 308A. (UMI No. 9921922)
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Burkhardt and Spears stated that “While the
term ‘servant-leadership’ was first coined in
1970, it is clearly a belief whose roots stretch
back through thousands of years of both
religious and humanistic teachings.” Servant
leadership has existed since Jesus of
Nazareth said, “the Son of Man did not come
to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28a).
Burkhardt, J. C., & Spears, L. C. (2000). Servant leadership and philanthropic
institutions. Voices of Servant Leadership Series, Booklet 4. Indianapolis: The
Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
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Covey clarified the role of a servant leader by stating
that servant leaders ensure the growth of other
servant leaders by stating, “You don’t just serve. You
do it in a way that makes them independent of you,
and capable and desirous of serving other people.”
Covey, S. R. (2002). Servant-leadership and community leadership in the twenty-first century. In L.
C. Spears & M. Lawrence (Eds.), Focus on leadership: Servant leadership for the 21st century (pp.
27-33). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
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Wheatley found servant leadership to be a promising leadership style.
She conjectured that a leader acts courageously when he or she
demonstrates faith in people; and without this faith, a leader cannot be
a servant. A servant leader gives people resources, a sense of
direction, and a sense of power; and has tremendous faith that people
will be successful. Wheatley stated high hopes for servant leadership:
Servant leadership is not just an interesting idea, but something
fundamental and vital for the world, and now this is the world that truly
needs it….It moves from being a body of work to being a
movement…how we are going to move this into the world. I think that
will require more acts of courage, more clarity, more saying this has to
change now. I am hoping that it will change now.
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Wheatley, M. (2002). The servant leader- from hero to host. Voices of Servant Leadership
Series, Booklet 7. Indianapolis: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
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Page realized that the construct of servant leadership
needed to be operationalized. He stated the
importance of understanding practices of servant
leaders, “Servant leadership begins with an attitude
of serving others and then adds practices and
structures to make this happen.” He also stated that
“Getting people to serve others and the group’s wellbeing rather than selfish ambition is crucial in a
servant-led organization.”
Page, D. (2004). Experiential learning for servant leadership. Servant Leadership Research
Roundtable. Regent University School of Leadership Studies, Virginia Beach, VA.
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"Have you ever noticed that no one comes into your
office to bring you things? They come seeking
something. They want your time, your energy, your
permission, your wisdom or your resources. They
come to you out of the need to dip their bucket in
your well and to drink from your spring and that is
how it should be. That is the role of leader - to serve
others.”
Paul D. Houston
"Refilling the Well: School Superintendents as Leaders"
School Administrator, Sept. 2000
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"When asked by the minister how he liked his job as superintendent,
Smith responded that he enjoyed his role in spite of the many demands
and pressures. The minister then told him: 'Never forget that you are a
spiritual servant in your role as superintendent. You can have as much
or more positive impact on the spiritual lives of others as those of us in
the clergy'.”
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Without a spiritual side, a leader lacks depth in understanding human
motives and can destroy organizations and innocent lives.”
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"Leadership without spirit promotes schools with low teacher morale,
disturbing numbers of school dropouts, unethical student accountability
reporting, school violence and alarming failure rates.”
John R. Hoyle
"The Highest Form of Leadership: How We Can Help Tomorrow's Leaders Catch the Spirit"
School Administrator, Sept. 2002
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"Service brings us joy…In service, we discover
profound happiness."
Margaret J. Wheatley
"Spirituality in Turbulent Times: Leadership Dilemmas Can Only Be Answered Through Spiritual and
Philosophical Traditions"
School Administrator, Sept. 2002
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"What are your values? To be a leader you must
know who you are and what you stand for. Great
school leaders have a moral compass based on
honesty, fairness and respect for others that gives
them the moral authority to succeed. If you believe in
the value of every child and your actions support that
belief, you will have the courage to deal with
opportunities you'd just as soon not come your way."
Benjamin O. Canada
"What Kind of Leader Are You?"
School Administrator, Sept. 2000
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"If the leader always asks, 'What is best for the students?' - he
or she is leading by serving the students before considering
personal needs and desires.“
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"Servant leaders are primarily motivated by a desire to serve
and to 'see life as a mission, not as a career.' The have a
passion for their work, seeing it as a kind of calling. They
understand and accept that they have a responsibility to others,
and they see their gifts and endeavors as contributing to a larger
whole, much greater than themselves.“
Ramona M. Wis
"The Conductor as Servant-Leader"
Music Educators Journal, Nov. 2002
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"Leading is giving. It is serving. Leadership is an
ethic - a gift to oneself to a common cause, a higher
calling…it is offering one's spirit. When their gifts are
genuine and the spirit is right, their giving transforms
a school or school district from a mere place of work
to a shared way of life."
Frederick J. Stokley
"What it Means To Be a Spiritual Leader"
School Administrator, Sept. 2002
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"Great leaders are those who can respond from the
higher levels of spirit. They understand that their
followers yearn for freedom, love and spiritual worth.
Therefore they respond with creativity, vision and a
sense of unity…Great leaders are in touch with every
level of human experience."
Deepak Chopra
"The Soul of Leadership"
School Administrator, September 2002
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"Many pathways point to effective leadership. But some
qualities are consistent across effective
leaders…focus…passion…wisdom…courage…integrity.“
"The most important responsibility of school leaders is not
to answer every question fully or make every decision
correctly. They, of course, need to track budgets, comply
with mandates and keep the buses running. But as leaders
they serve a deeper, more powerful and more durable role
when they are models and catalysts for such values as
excellence, caring, justice and faith."
Lee G. Bolman and Terrance E. Deal
"Leading with Soul and Spirit"
School Administrator, Feb. 2002
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"Concepts of servant leadership is not likely to be
valued in male-dominated institutions or
professions…In our culture 'serving others' is for
loser, it is low-level stuff. Yet serving others is a basic
principle around which women's lives are organized;
it is far from such for men." (Hampel quoting Miller)
"Servant leadership is practiced by serving others,
but its ultimate purpose is to place oneself, and
others for whom one has responsibility, in the service
of ideals.“
Thomas J. Sergiovanni
Moral Leadership
Jossey-Bass, San Francisco (1992)
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"I am equally inspired by people I know who work in
the church at great personal sacrifice - missionaries
who face health problems, humble educators who
labor for years without accolade or tangible reward,
teachers who patiently do what needs to be done for
as long as it takes without their efforts even being
noticed by most. Their servanthood leads the way.
Their example motivates and encourages others."
Carolyn Sims
"Sergiovanni, Synodical Schools, and Servant Leadership"
Lutheran Education, Winter 2002
History of Servant Leadership Theory
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Robert K. Greenleaf (The Father of Modern Servant Leadership)
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Greenleaf is widely recognized as the one who coined the term, servant leadership.
Greenleaf spent 40 years at AT&T as a manager of research, development and
education. Upon retirement, Greenleaf spent the next 25 years in a pursuit of
creating a better, more caring society. Greenleaf remarked that he had great concern
for leadership in America, “the outlook for better leadership in our leadership-poor
society is not encouraging.” Greenleaf founded the Center for Applied Ethics in 1964
which was renamed the Robert K. Greenleaf Center in 1985 (www.greenleaf.org)
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Greenleaf stated in his 1970 ground-breaking essay for servant leadership entitled,
The Servant as 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.” Blanchard (1999) agreed with Greenleaf that servant leaders
are first servants before they become leaders when he stated, “Strong natural
servants…will assume leadership only if they see it as a way in which they can
serve.”
Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. New York: Paulist Press.
Blanchard, K. (1999). The heart of a leader. Colorado Springs, CO: Honor Books.
History of Servant Leadership Theory
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Larry C. Spears
Spears became CEO of the Greenleaf Center shortly
before Greenleaf’s death on September 29, 1990.
Spears defined servant leadership as a leadership
style based upon teamwork, sense of community,
participative decision-making, strong ethical and caring
behavior, and concern for growth of people.
Spears, L. C. (1996). Reflections on Robert K. Greenleaf and servant leadership. Leadership &
Organization Development Journal, 17, 33-35.
Ten Characteristics of Servant Leadership
Spears (1996)
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Listening – Servant leaders’ communication skills are enhanced through a
deep commitment to listening intently to the followers. Servant leaders seek
to identify and clarify the will of the group. Receptive listening and reflection
are essential to the growth of a servant leader.
Empathy – Servant leaders strive to understand and empathize with others.
They accept and recognize followers for their unique spirits; and they assume
others have good intentions, even if they disagree with behavior or
performance.
Healing – Servant leaders are adept at healing others as well as themselves.
They help make others whole by facilitating the healing of broken spirits.
Servant leaders share with followers the search for wholeness.
Awareness – Servant leaders exhibit a general awareness of what is
happening in the organization. They possess a keen sense of self-awareness
and an understanding of issues involving ethics and values. Servant leaders
are often described as disturbers and awakeners.
Persuasion – Servant leaders employ persuasion rather than position
authority when making decisions within the organization. They prefer to
convince rather than coerce followers. Servant leaders are very effective with
building consensus within the group.
6.
7.
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10.
Conceptualization – Servant leaders do not deal only with short-term goals
and thinking. They are able to stretch their thinking to encompass broaderbased conceptual thinking. Servant leaders can nurture the abilities of others
to “dream great dreams” and to think beyond day-to-day realities.
Foresight – Servant leaders are capable of understanding lessons from the
past, seeing the realities of the present, and predicting likely consequences
of decisions. They are adept at intuitive thinking.
Stewardship – Servant leaders are dedicated to holding their institutions in
trust for the greater good of society. They are committed to serving the needs
of others.
Commitment to the Growth of People – Servant leaders believe in the
intrinsic value of people beyond their tangible contributions as workers. They
feel responsible for nurturing the personal, professional and spiritual growth
of employees.
Building Community – Servant leaders are dedicated to rebuilding the
sense of community that has been lost with the shift to large institutions.
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Other researchers have followed Greenleaf and Spears in
supporting servant leadership as a viable style of leadership.
Burkhardt and Spears stated: Public interest in the philosophy
and practice of servant leadership is now higher than ever
before. Many books and articles on servant-leadership have
appeared in the 1990s, and dozens of organizations have begun
to incorporate servant-leadership internally. Servant leadership
has slowly-but-surely gained thousands of practitioners over the
past thirty years.
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Burkhardt, J. C., & Spears, L. C. (2000). Servant leadership and philanthropic
institutions. Voices of Servant Leadership Series, Booklet 4. Indianapolis: The
Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
Seven Virtuous Constructs of Servant Leadership
Patterson (2003)
Patterson, K. A. (2003). Servant leadership: A theoretical model. Servant Leadership Roundtable. Regent University School
of Leadership Studies, Virginia Beach, VA.
1.
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7.
Agapao Love – Love is the cornerstone of the servant leader-follower relationship. Servant leaders see
followers as whole persons with different gifts and talents. They are able to focus on followers first, then
on their talents and how those talents benefit the organization.
Humility – Servant leaders are able to keep their accomplishments and talents in perspective. They
focus on others rather than themselves. Servant leaders have an authentic desire to help others, and
they search for ways to serve others through staying in touch with their followers.
Altruism – Servant leaders help others just for the sake of helping. They have an unselfish concern for
others which often involves personal sacrifice. Servant leaders’ behaviors are directed toward the
benefit of others even when those behaviors are against their own personal interests.
Vision – Servant leaders have a vision for their individual followers. They help others to see the big
picture by enabling them to develop a clear sense of purpose and direction. Servant leaders develop
within others the mission to serve and encourage followers to become more than they thought possible.
Trust – Servant leaders develop trust through demonstrating integrity and concern for others. They
create open environments where everyone has a voice and they work collaboratively.
Empowerment – Servant leaders empower others with the best interest of those being served in mind.
They teach and develop people as leaders through shared decision-making and shared responsibility.
Servant leaders make it a priority to grow new servant leaders.
Service – Servant leaders choose the interests of others over self-interests. They see leadership as a
calling - a life mission. Servant leaders accept the responsibility for serving others; and they are
committed to an authentic, personal involvement with followers through the giving or their time, energy,
care, and compassion.
Page and Wong’s
Servant Leadership Traits
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Page and Wong created the earliest servant leadership survey, the
Self-Assessment of Servant Leadership Profile (SASLP). Through a
study of the literature, they first generated a list of 200 descriptors of
servant leadership. By eliminating redundant descriptors and combining
items, they were able to reduce the descriptors to 100 items. They then
classified the descriptors into 12 categories: Integrity, Humility,
Servanthood, Caring for Others, Empowering Others, Developing
Others, Visioning, Goal-Setting, Leading, Modeling, Team-Building, and
Shared Decision-Making.
Page, D., & Wong, T. P. (2000). A conceptual framework for measuring servant leadership. In S. Adjibolosoo (Ed.), The human
factor in shaping the course of history and development (pp. 1-28). Oxford: University Press of America.
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Page and Wong performed a factor analysis on their original SASLP
and created the SLPR. The SLPR consists of 62 items employing a
Likert scale of (1) strongly disagree to (7) strongly agree. These 62
items are grouped into 7 factors.
Page, D., & Wong, T.P. (2003). Servant leadership: An opponent-process model and the revised servant leadership
profile. Servant Leadership Roundtable. Regent University School of Leadership Studies, Virginia Beach, VA.
Page and Wong’s
7 Servant Leadership Traits
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Empowering and Developing Others
Vulnerability/Humility
Serving Others
Open, Participatory Leadership
Visionary Leadership
Courageous Leadership
(Integrity/Authenticity)
Inspiring Leadership
Spears’ 10 Characteristics
of Servant Leaders (1996)
Patterson’s 7 Virtuous
Constructs of Servant
Leadership (2003)
•Empowering and
Developing Others
•Commitment to Growth of
People
•Empathy
•Healing
•Stewardship
•Humility
•Vulnerability/Humility
•Agapao Love
•Service
•Serving Others
•Open, Participatory
Leadership
•Listening
•Building Community
•Conceptualization
•Foresight
•Awareness
•Persuasion
Page & Wong’s 7 Factors of
Servant Leadership (2003)
•Vision
•Visionary Leadership
•Altruism
•Courageous Leadership
(Integrity/Authenticity)
•Trust
•Inspiring Leadership
Why Servant Leadership?
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Teachers are servant leaders themselves,
and they prefer to follow other servant
leaders.
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According to Greenleaf, servant leaders want to be led by
servant leaders. He stated, “Those who choose to follow this
principle (servant leadership) will not casually accept the
authority of existing institutions. Rather, they will freely respond
only to individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are
proven and trusted as servants”
How thoroughly has
servant leadership
been studied?
Studies of Servant Leadership in Business,
Government, Religion and Higher Education
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Qualities of Servant Leaders
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P. Walker (1997)
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Crowder Community College: flattened
organizational structure, whole person approach
toward students, ethical leadership, trust and servant
leadership by example.
Foster (2000)
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Barriers to Servant Leadership in Business (180
barriers / 28 categories): self-serving personal
agendas, limited communication, lack of
empowerment, etc.
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Contee-Borders (2002)
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Freedom Motors’ 12 Themes: Frequent
communication, building trusting relationships, being
connected to people, etc.
Bryant (2003)
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Managers in Government: 80% of government
officials interviewed believed they possess the
servant leadership qualities of vision, trust,
empowerment, and service.
Studies of Servant Leadership in Business,
Government, Religion and Higher Education
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Job Satisfaction and Servant Leadership
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Laub (1999)
828 people from 41 organizations: The more strongly
respondents perceive that servant leadership exists in their
organization, the higher is their job satisfaction level.
Thompson (2002)
170 church-related college personnel: significant positive
correlation between employees’ perceptions of
organizational servant leadership characteristics and their
level of job satisfaction.
Drury (2004)
225 employees mid-west non-traditional college: strong
positive correlation between servant leadership and
satisfaction.
Studies of Servant Leadership
in Pk-12 Public Education
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Qualities
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Taylor-Gillham (1998)
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Wheaton (1999)
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Interviewed twelve well-known Servant Leaders in education
and described educational servant leadership qualities using
Spears’ 10 s.l. characteristics
Interviewed staff members from each of six school districts in
Washington State: compared perceptions of effective qualities
with servant leadership qualities - Found little correlation with
effectiveness and servant leadership
Lubin (2001)
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phone interviews with eighteen selected visionary school
leaders: found behaviors described were congruent with 9 of 10
servant leader characteristics
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Jennings (2002)
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Narrative stories of the five practicing school principals
and compared results to Greenleaf’s taxonomy of servant
leadership – wrote very little on specific actions principals
take to operationalize their servant leader beliefs
L. Walker (2003)
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Interviewed Illinois public school superintendents
recognized as Superintendent of the Year between 1991
and 2003: identified 15 characteristics similar to s.l.:
calling, love, listening, empathy, etc.
Studies of Servant Leadership
in Pk-12 Public Education
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Academic Success
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Herbst (2003)
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Relationship between the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and
the degree of servant leadership exhibited at 24 high schools in Florida. He
found that schools with greater practices of servant leadership achieve at a
higher rate than schools with lower degrees of servant leadership practice.
Strong positive correlations were found between levels of servant leadership in
school and the areas of 9th grade math achievement, 10th grade math
achievement, annual gains in reading, annual gains in math, gains in lowest
quartile, and achievement scores for African American students.
Lambert (2004)
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FCAT scores and servant leadership surveys from seven middle schools and
one high school in Florida to measure relationships between the constructs of
servant leadership and student achievement. Lambert found a significant
relationship between servant leadership and student achievement on the 2004
FCAT Sum Score. She also found a strong relationship between servant
leadership and positive school climate.
Studies of Servant Leadership
in Pk-12 Public Education
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Job Satisfaction
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Girard (2000)
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Found a positive correlation between a superintendent’s
self-perception of servant leadership and job satisfaction
and a strong positive correlation between the principals’
perceptions of the superintendents’ servant leadership
and their own job satisfaction.
Miears (2004)
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Collected data from teachers of 15 different Texas high
schools in the Region X Educational Service Center area
which demonstrated a strong relationship between
servant leadership and job satisfaction.
Servant Leadership: An Examination of Public School
Principals’ Perceptions of Servant Leadership as a Successful
Leadership Style
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Research Design
This mixed-method study utilized the
sequential, explanatory design to analyze
both quantitative and qualitative data to
examine servant leadership and public school
principals by first analyzing quantitative data
and then following up with gathering
qualitative data in a second distinct phase.
Procedures
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Participants in the Study
Two groups of Texas public school principals were contacted to
participate in the study.
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The first group consisted of 113 principals who were selected as
their region service center’s nominee for 2004-05 and 2005-06
Principal of the Year by the Texas Elementary Principals and
Supervisors Association (TEPSA) and the Texas Association for
Secondary School Principals (TASSP).
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The second group consisted of 113 principals who were not
nominated for Principal of the Year. To improve validity, these
principals were matched with principals from the first group using
the following criteria: from a school in the same Texas Education
Agency (TEA) Education Service Center Region, similar campus
size and grade level configuration, and similar community size.
The quantitative portion of the study collected data
in an attempt to answer the following questions:
1.
Are public school principals who are publicly recognized as
successful school principals more likely to perceive
themselves as servant leaders than principals not publicly
recognized for their success?
2.
Do self-perceptions of servant leadership differ among public
school principals in regard to their gender, ethnicity, and
school level?
3.
What specific servant leadership actions do public school
principals employ to promote success in their schools?
4.
How do public school principals develop their own servant
leadership traits?
Results
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Quantitative Results
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Surveys
Two-hundred twenty-six surveys were sent out.
After several attempts, 12 of the nominees for
Principal of the Year (POY) could not be located,
thus dropping the number of Principal of the Year
nominees from 113 to 101. The addition of the 101
matched principals brought the number of possible
participants to 202. Of the 202 participants eligible
to participate, 142 responded generating a 70.3 %
response rate.
Quantitative Results
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Principals selected as POY are not more likely to
perceive themselves as servant leaders as those
principals not selected
Female principals are more likely to perceive
themselves as servant leaders than male principals
Elementary principals are more likely to perceive
themselves as servant leaders than secondary
principals
Female principals at the elementary level are more
likely to perceive themselves as servant leaders than
female principals at secondary levels
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African American principals are more likely to
perceive themselves as servant leaders than Anglo or
Hispanic principals
Humility and service to others were the two servant
leader traits rated lowest by all principals’ self
perceptions
The qualitative portion of this study was
a phenomenological study utilizing a
narrative inquiry to examine the
importance of servant leadership
actions to the success of public school
principals.
Qualitative Data Collection
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Qualitative data was collected through semistructured personal interviews with selected
principals. Questions for the interviews were
created using Page and Wong’s (2003)
Seven Factors of Servant Leadership.
Twenty-two probing questions for the seven
factors were developed for use during the
interviews.
Twelve public school principals were asked to
participate in the semi-structured personal interview
process. The elementary and secondary principal
with the highest self-perception of servant leadership,
as recorded by SLPR, from each of six predetermined regions in Texas were selected for
personal interviews. The six regions in Texas were
comprised of the following geographical areas: North
Texas (ESC Regions 9-11), South Texas (ESC
Regions 1-2, and 20), East Texas (ESC Regions 6-8),
West Texas (ESC Regions 14-19), Central Texas
(ESC Regions 12-13) and South East Texas (ESC
Regions 3-5).
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The personal interviews were conducted in
the twelve principals’ schools across the
State of Texas during November and
December 2006. The principal interviews
were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim
onto a data processing document. The
responses were then coded and analyzed for
servant leadership qualities and actions.
How do principals utilize
servant leadership?
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7 Servant Leadership Traits
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
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Empowering and Developing Others
Vulnerability/Humility
Serving Others
Open, Participatory Leadership
Visionary Leadership
Courageous Leadership (Integrity/Authenticity)
Inspiring Leadership
A study of the qualitative data yielded 25 general
actions and 60 specific actions that principals take
to act upon their servant leadership beliefs.
Empowering and Developing Others
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Servant leader principals get to know their people on a personal level
so they can match their abilities and interests to delegated tasks.
Servant leader principals use a team approach to delegating tasks by
assigning responsibilities to all staff members and holding them
accountable.
Servant leader principals approach shared decision-making
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through the formal establishment of teams and committees.
through utilizing participative decision-making processes and activities
which allow others to initiate ideas.
Servant leader principals build trust with their people so they will not
fear or shy away from participating in shared decision-making activities.
Servant leader principals encourage shared decision-making through
promoting collaboration among all school community members.
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Servant leader principals cultivate strong, positive relationships
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by getting to know people on a personal level.
by appreciating and acknowledging people’s efforts.
by personally modeling effective relationship-building behavior and verbalizing
expectations for others to do the same.
through becoming personally involved with people and maintaining visibility and
accessibility.
through facilitating social meetings and celebrations.
Servant leader principals contribute to the growth of people
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through promoting staff development opportunities for the campus staff.
by listening to campus-wide needs and acting as a resource.
on an individual level by getting to know staff members’ individual needs and acting as
a resource.
by promoting professional dialogue among all staff to improve student learning.
through the modeling of successful leadership qualities.
by identifying potential servant leaders and focusing on building their leadership skills.
through being aware of their emotional needs and providing opportunities for them
heal.
Vulnerability and Humility
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Servant leader principals demonstrate vulnerability
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through willingness to compromise and not relying on
autocratic power.
through admitting their own mistakes and allowing others to
make and learn from their mistakes.
Servant leader principals demonstrate humility
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through freely expressing their development of humility
through a relationship with God and/or family.
through expressing self-awareness and sense of purpose.
through praising others’ accomplishments.
through expression of team membership as opposed to
personal accomplishments.
through humble “self-talk” and through the absence of
boastful and self-promoting language.
Serving Others
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Servant leader principals support stewardship of the community
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Servant leader principals focus on the best interests of others
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through a desire and sense of responsibility to open the school to
the community.
by being active and present within the community.
through expressing the philosophy of service to the community
through serving its children.
through promoting what is best for students as a bottom line.
through the dedication of providing a valuable service to others.
Servant leader principals demonstrate selflessness and selfsacrifice
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through extra personal time spent on the job even to the point of
losing time with family.
by expressing a need for and striving to achieve a balance between
their professional life and personal life.
Open, Participatory Leadership
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Servant leader principals support good communication
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Servant leader principals promote kindness, trust, honesty, and
openness
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through employing conventional listening techniques such as eye-contact
and checking for understanding.
through consciously and deliberately slowing down to listen.
through promoting activities involving collaborative communication among
school stakeholders.
through consistently modeling those behaviors in and out of professional
settings.
through establishing high expectations and holding others accountable to
model those traits.
Servant leader principals demonstrate genuine care for others
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through a willingness to be present with others throughout the school
setting.
through exhibiting a personal interest in people.
Inspiring Leadership
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Servant leader principals promote others’ buy-in of vision and common
goals
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Servant leader principals get the best from others
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through collaborative vision, mission, and goal-setting activities.
through repeated articulation of the vision, mission, and goals to all
stakeholders.
through ensuring that focused dialogue activities occur among the school
community members.
through expressing high expectations.
through recognizing their successes.
through employing strategies to stimulate their desire to do their best.
Servant leader principals promote team spirit
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through total inclusion of all staff in activities.
through celebrations and recognitions.
through demonstrating consistency and fairness when dealing with school
community members.
through articulating the importance of team philosophy.
Visionary Leadership
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Servant leader principals demonstrate awareness of the big
picture of education through articulating and modeling their
desire for continuous learning.
Servant leader principals know what needs to be improved
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Servant leader principals articulate a clear direction and purpose
for the organization
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through listening to all school community members.
by examining data.
through sharing their personal vision and mission with others.
through constantly dialoging with stakeholders the direction and
purpose of the school.
Servant leader principals develop a personal vision and mission
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which focus on helping others.
through the inspiration from God and/or family.
Courageous Leadership:
Integrity and Authenticity
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Servant leader principals honor promises and
commitments
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through the development of a strong internal drive to do so.
through caution and an awareness of consequences
regarding promises to others that are not kept.
Servant leader principals develop moral courage
through guidance from God and/or family.
Servant leader principals depend on moral courage
to direct their sense of right and wrong, fairness, and
consistency when making tough decisions.
Questions to Ask Ourselves
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Teachers: How can I best serve my
kids?
Principals: How can I best serve the
servant leaders who serve my kids?
Support: How can I best serve the
servant leaders who serve the servant
leaders who serve my kids?
Next Study
Create surveys to gather data to answer
the following questions:
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What do public school teachers and staff think of servant
leadership?
Which servant leader traits/actions do they believe to be most
important?
How can principals utilize this information to improve their
servant leadership?