Servant leadership

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Servant leadership is an approach to leadership development, coined and defined by Robert Greenleaf and advanced by several authors such as Stephen Covey, Peter Block, Peter Senge, Max DePree, Margaret Wheatley, Ken Blanchard, and others. Servant-leadership emphasizes the leader's role as steward of the resources (human, financial and otherwise) provided by the organization. It encourages leaders to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organization's values and integrity.

Concept of Servant Leadership

The modern concept of Servant Leadership was articulated by Robert Greenleaf in his 1970 essay "The Servant as Leader"; it has been developed further as a philosophy of leadership and management by Greenleaf and Larry Spears, and others.

The general concept is ancient. Chanakya wrote, in the 4th century B.C., in his book Arthashastra:

"the king [leader] shall consider as good, not what pleases himself but what pleases his subjects [followers]"
"the king [leader] is a paid servant and enjoys the resources of the state together with the people".

In approximately 600 B.C., the Chinese sage Lao Tzu wrote The Tao Te Ching, a strategic treatise on servant leadership:

The greatest leader forgets himself
And attends to the development of others.
Good leaders support excellent workers.
Great leaders support the bottom ten percent.
Great leaders know that
The diamond in the rough
Is always found “in the rough.”

(Quote from The Way of Leading People: Unlocking Your Integral Leadership with the Tao Te Ching.)

Servant Leadership has parallels with Christian teaching and has been widely adopted in religious contexts. Timothy H. Warneka has applied the Servant Leadership perspective to the Roman Catholic tradition in his book, Black Belt Leader, Peaceful Leader: An Introduction to Catholic Servant Leadership.

Greenleaf (1977) described servant leadership in this manner:

"It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead…The difference manifest itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: do those served grow as persons, do they grow while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?"

Through extensive work with Greenleaf, Larry Spears identified ten characteristics, which describe the essence of a servant leader. The characteristics are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of others, and building community. Educational theorists, such as Bolman, Deal, Covey, Fullan, Sergiovanni, and Heifetz also reference these characteristics as essential components to effective leadership.

Unlike leadership approaches with a top-down hierarchical style, Servant Leadership instead emphasizes collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power. At heart, the individual is a servant first, making the conscious decision to lead in order to better serve others, not to increase their own power. The objective is to enhance the growth of individuals in the organization and increase teamwork and personal involvement.

Further reading

• Trevor M. Hall, ed. Becoming Authentic: The Search for Wholeness and Calling as a Servant Leader (2007) ISBN 978-1-929569-36-6
• Robert Greenleaf. Servant Leadership ISBN 0-8091-0554-3
• Peter Block. Stewardship ISBN 1-881052-86-9
• Michael Parsons & David J. Cohen, eds. On Eagles' Wings. An Exploration of Strength in the Midst of Weakness (2008) ISBN 978-0-7188-9195-4
• James Autry. The Servant Leader ISBN 1-400054-73-7
• Larry Spears, ed. Reflections on Leadership ISBN 0-471-03686-2
• Larry Spears, ed. Insights on Leadership ISBN 0-471-17634-6
• Larry Spears, ed. Focus on Leadership ISBN 0-471-41162-0
• Larry Spears & Michele Lawrence, ed. Practicing Servant-Leadership ISBN 0-7879-7455-2
• James Hunter. the Servant ISBN 0-761513-69-8
• James Hunter. The World's Most Powerful Leadership Principle ISBN 1-578569-75-3
• Bruce E. Winston, Be a Leader for God's Sake ISBN 0-9725819-0-1
• Ken Blanchard, ed., Lead Like Jesus
• John J. Sullivan, Servant First! Leadership for the New Millennium ISBN 1-594672-27-X
• Kent Halstead, Servant Leadership for Congregations
• Timothy H. Warneka, Black Belt Leader, Peaceful Leader: An Introduction to Catholic Servant Leadership ISBN 978-0-9768627-9-6
• Max DePree, "Leadership is an Art"
• Tom Marshall. "Understanding Leadership: Fresh Perspectives on the Essentials of New Testament Leadership" ISBN 1-85240-053-6
• Dr.Kent M. Keith. "The Case For Servant Leadership" ISBN

External links

Greenleaf and related sites

• The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership
• "Practicing Servant-Leadership" by Larry Spears
• Article at The Academy for Chief Executives

Servant Leadership and Christianity

• Leadercast: Equipping others to Live, Love and Lead Like Jesus
• Servant Leadership Resources from the Master of Arts in Leadership program at Trinity Western University
• San Diego Leadership Initiative
• ServantLeader Ministries
• Servant Leadership for Congregations
• Article at Leadership Now