Good leadership is a fluid principle dependent on the type of situation the leader is in, the people they are leading, and the leader’s natural qualities. For many leaders, the longer they lead, the more adaptive they become, and their willingness to try different leadership styles increases.
Servant leadership is one such type of leadership style. It focuses on serving others, prioritising their needs, empowering them, and developing their skills rather than wielding power or authority over them. Servant leadership was first proposed by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970 as a theoretical framework that advocates a leader’s primary motivation and role as service to others, noting it “focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities in which they belong”. Nowadays, servant leadership is often seen on lists outlining the top leadership styles.
Key principles of servant leadership
Servant leadership in the workplace aims to shift management and personal interactions between manager and employee away from “controlling” activities and towards a more synergistic relationship. As well as aiming to empower employees, meet their needs, and focus on their well-being, servant leadership also aims to develop leadership qualities in others. Several key principles and characteristics can be used and practised to help achieve this.
Learning to listen
Listening is a key component of forming good servant leadership. Knowing your employees on a deeper level, understanding their needs, concerns, and where they need support, is fundamental to the idea of servant leadership and can only be achieved by learning to really listen to what they have to say and actively taking it on board.
Being empathetic
Employees need to be seen and heard, but they also need to feel understood. Demonstrating empathy – by understanding the feelings of others – can help foster stronger relationships and create an inclusive environment where employees are comfortable sharing their ideas and broadening their skill set.
Persuasion over power
Servant leaders will utilise persuasion over power to influence their team and ensure everyone is aligned. Convincing others without forcing their views on them or using authority to force compliance allows for better team collaboration and growth and helps build a stronger relationship between employee and leader.
Committing to people-growth
Servant leadership fosters environments where people can grow and develop. A leader should ensure their employees are equipped with the tools and resources they need to do this through listening to them and through their expertise. This may include proper onboarding training, having career conversations, enabling upskilling opportunities, and ensuring they set and achieve their own work goals and OKRs.
Creating a community
Creating a sense of community in the workplace can help people feel united, leading to an increased likelihood of them working together to meet a common goal. A servant leader would help foster this by building relationships with others and encouraging people to build relationships with their co-workers, managers, and other company functions.
Practicing foresight
Foresight is the ability to predict what may happen in the future by reviewing historical data or current performance. With servant leaders, there is an added layer that involves not only predicting future outcomes but also estimating what resources employees will need to help them succeed or achieve this future state.
Being self-aware
Self-awareness is important when practising servant leadership. You need to have an understanding of how you are being perceived by your team, or when you might not be acting appropriately, such as speaking over others in meetings or enforcing authority. You also need to be able to alter your actions accordingly.
The benefits of servant leadership
By focusing on the best interests of their employees, servant leaders often earn significant respect from their employees. When employees feel valued, there is also greater trust built between themselves and their leaders, which can result in improved effort and motivation, increased likelihood of working towards a shared vision, and employees who will develop skills and advance professionally, offering long-term benefits to both the individual and the company. Long-term investment in employees is important as it leads to more skilled and engaged individuals, a more motivated workforce, increased productivity, higher employee retention, and lower recruitment costs.
Servant leadership is particularly effective in workplaces that require strong team collaboration, employee empowerment, or developmental growth. This can include fields that focus on services or supporting others, such as education, healthcare, and not-for-profit.
Adopting a servant leadership mindset
Any business professional or those studying courses like a Master of Business Administration online could tell you that adopting any type of leadership mindset can take time. For servant leaders, it can be particularly challenging as instead of a more traditional approach where a team ‘props up’ and serves the leader, the leader is the one who props up and serves the team. To adopt a servant leadership style successfully, there are four key cohorts you need to be able to serve.
- Leaders: Foster a good relationship with those in positions of authority above you, and work towards doing what you can to improve their work life and ease their workload. You should understand their motives, look out for them, and help them be effective in their roles. Remember, servant leadership flows up and down.
- Customers: Making customers’ lives easier and better, and not focusing on transactions and sales, is vital to the servant mindset. Building a relationship with them and offering personalised services can foster loyalty and turn customers into advocates.
- Team: Serving your team by fostering an environment that empowers them, fulfils their needs, and promotes development will create a culture built on trust, leading to collective success.
Yourself: The concept of a servant mindset focuses on the importance of serving others, however, it also remains important to serve yourself. This is about recognising that to effectively lead others, you need to be in the right mindset and take care of your physical and mental health.