Every other weekend I take the role of being a temporary supervisor at a treatment center for children. I was offered the position to be a temporary supervisor due to the fact the main supervisor is off every other weekend and my performance is up to the standards needed to be one. I have been told I am enjoyable to work with and really help my team learn something new about their job at the end of the day.
I believe I am practicing Servant Leadership which happens to be when “the leader is there to serve the followers needs so that work can get done” (Pennsylvania State University Lesson 11 2014). I am truly there not only for the kids but also for the staff to succeed in their job. When working with juveniles every day is different. In my line of work we as staff are there to teach the kids life skills but also to manage their behaviors, lets face it they are going to be kids! However the staff I work with are very new to the field which makes my job challenging but rewarding.
Servant Leadership may seem like a very odd title to describe a type of leadership. However seeing passed the name I personally believe the underlying goal of servant leadership is to provide some type of guidance or assistance to followers. As defined by Pennsylvania State University Psych 485 (2014) “the underlying idea is that the leader has a need/desire to serve others so that they can develop themselves and therefore perform to meet organizational needs”. I have a personal desire to serve the youth I work with, that is why I got involved in human services was to help children from broken homes. But I also have a need to help others, such as my staff. I first know how hard it is to deal with children for the first time but we function in a team environment and if one part of the team is broken (i.e. a staff not well trained), the team may not fall apart, but exerting more effort to accomplish tasks.
Therefore, when I work with these staff I ensure they are learning something new about their job and helping them complete their job to the full potential. Coincidentally I have a youth with a very bad attitude. She is someone who is not afraid to curse up a storm (unfortunately) personally to staff. For myself I am very direct with her and after a view encounters her behavior would change in front of me. She knows to now curse at me because I will be direct with her and she will get consequences. However I have another staff that does not curse, so when she hears the cursing she is beyond surprised. She would ask this youth to please stop in a meek kind tone, and time after time it wasn’t working. After witnessing this interaction between the two I pulled the staff aside to ask her what is going on. She said that the youth is completely disrespectful and disregards everything she says. I told her that her approach is great for the youth, however in the nature of the environment we are working in she has to be a little more assertive. I told her she can keep her manners, but by being meek and surprised only shows the youth that she has control over the staff.
Shortly after that conversation the staff member encountered another blow off from the youth. Using the tips I gave her she addressed the youth and it actually worked. I used my servant leadership skills at “helping followers develop into leaders in their own right rather than as parts of the work process” (Pennsylvania State University Lesson 11 2014). Although I only describe one follower, I believe I helped this individual enhance her performance with the youth but still kept her to be true to her. This will be the beginning of completing what a servant leader begins “that as people grow, they become more servant like, which allows to help others achieve their goals” (Pennsylvania State University 2014). Ultimately, we are there for the kids and are looked at as authority leaders. Little do some know is that we too have followers that are not staff, but kids. These kids have goals and we can help them accomplish their goals, are impact today effects their tomorrow.
https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych485/001/content/11_lesson/01_page.html