Brought to you by Jeff Thoren, DVM, ACC  

Each of us must choose the mindset that will guide our efforts to lead. Servant Leadership is one such mindset, paradigm, or way of leading. It is a way of engaging in an intentional change process through which leaders and followers, joined by a shared purpose, initiate action to pursue a common vision.  It stands in contrast to an autocratic or paternalistic way of leading.

There are six key constructs that describe servant leadership in action. Servant leaders value people, develop people, build community, display authenticity, provide leadership, and share leadership.

Here’s this month’s feature ...

Defining Servant Leadership by Jim Laub

Regent University Servant Leadership Roundtable Proceedings, August 2004

Highlights from the article:

• A leader is a person who sees a vision, takes action toward the vision, and mobilizes others to become partners in pursuing change. It’s important to distinguish between the term “leader” and the position or role of leader. We all know of positional leaders who do not lead.
    

• Leadership is an intentional change process through which leaders and followers, joined by a shared purpose, initiate action to pursue a common vision. Leadership refers to the process through which leaders and followers engage to produce change.
    

• A follower voluntarily and actively engages in the leadership process by responding to the leader’s initiative to identify shared purpose, vision, and action toward change. The process of leadership allows for a refinement, even a redirecting of an original vision based on the common wisdom of a group. Leadership begins with the individual but it is fulfilled within community.
    

• Leadership is about action toward change while management is about making things run well and stabilizing them to work more efficiently. These are both essential processes in any organization and one is not more valuable than the other.
    

• Understanding the concept of leadership calls on us to answer the simple question: Will I lead? Will I begin to envision a preferred future? Will I take action toward that vision? And, will I mobilize others to join with me in pursuing change?
    

• The servant leadership concept asks a different question: How will I lead? What mindset will I have in relation to my role as a leader? Leadership has always been exercised within a paradigm, or a mindset of the leader.
    

• Servant Leadership is an understanding and practice of leadership that places the good of those led over the self-interest of the leader. Servant leadership promotes the valuing and development of people, the building of community, the practice of authenticity, the providing of leadership for the good of those led and the sharing of power and status for the common good of each individual, the total organization, and those served by the organization.
    

• Servant Leadership requires a mind shift or a paradigm change and a different focus. Servant leaders believe that by taking the risk of focusing on the led the other critical issues of productivity, teamwork, and customer service will increase by maximizing the full potential of each employee. There is growing evidence that this is a practical and workable strategy.

  
For the full text article, go to ...
http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/sl_proceedings/
2004/laub_defining_servant.pdf

   
The Signs of Outstanding Leadership

Use the following list of questions developed by John E. Barbuto and Daniel W. Wheeler* to assess when and how often you exhibit eleven characteristics of Servant Leaders established by Robert Greenleaf.

The eleven characteristics are: Having a Calling; Listening; Empathy; Healing; Awareness; Persuasion: Conceptualization; Foresight; Stewardship; Growth; and Building Community.

1. Do people believe that you are willing to sacrifice your own self interest for the group?

2. Do people believe that you want to hear their ideas and will value them?

3. Do people believe that you will understand what is happening in their lives and how it affects them?

4. Do others feel comfortable communicating their hopes and dreams when you are around?

5. Do people feel comfortable coming to you when they are having difficulties in their lives?

6. Do people believe you are committed to helping them develop and grow?

Where do the signs of outstanding leadership show up in your life and what would it take to bring out more of these behaviors as you relate to others?

*Published in Nebguide from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, October 2007.

 
Next Month

More and more people are asking themselves where they’re going, what they’re going to do with the rest of their lives, and what really matters to them. Each of us is born with a reason for being and life is a quest to discover our unique purpose. Are you living and deciding on purpose?

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