Servant leadership approach is a focus on the behaviors leaders should exhibit to their followers and supporters. It focuses on how leaders treat others and the outcomes that are likely to emerge. (Northouse, 2016, pp 239) Servant leaders demonstrate behaviors such as committing to put followers first, being honest with them, treating them fairly, and developing strong relationships with them; but what about the characteristics that a person must have to be a servant leader?
Surely not everyone has the characteristics to be a Servant leader. We all care to some extent that the people around us succeed but what characteristics does a natural servant leader have? According to Larry C. Spears there are 10 characteristics that one will have to be considered a Servant Leader such as listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. (Spears, 2010) One will also be accepting, trusting, and have “caring principles”. (Northouse, 2016, pp 5)
As reported by Spears (2010):
“The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test is: do those served grow as persons: do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived? “ (Greenleaf, 1977/2002, p. 27)
Servant leadership characteristics are transformed into the behaviors that are presented when we are actively being a servant leader. The characteristics given to us by Larry C. Spears will transform into behaviors such as conceptualizing, emotional healing, putting followers first, helping followers grow and succeed, behaving ethically, empowering and creating value for the community. (Northouse, 2010, pp.232)
By being aware of the characteristics that are exhibited by a servant leader we can understand more of the person who exhibits these characteristics when we think they are simply working. What we may see as one simply doing their job may very well be someone being a servant leader and guiding others in a non-traditional way.
References:
Northouse, Peter G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. 7th ed. Sage Publications
Spears, L. (2010). Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders. The Journal of Virtures and Leadership, 1(1), 25-30.
Adam Robert Graham says
I really enjoyed your post, and like you, I too was a little thrown off by the concept of servant leadership when I first began reading the material. I think this might have a little to do with what we see in the depictions of “leaders” in television and movies. For example, it’s about 8:00 pm right now and I’m waiting for a new episode of The Walking Dead to air. The shows “leader”, Rick, is portrayed as very assertive, confident, fearless, and even ruthless at times. On that show in particular, anything less than assertive and ruthlessness is really considered a character deficiency. I don’t think this depiction of a leader is all that rare in what we see on television, and it has an effect on what we expect from a leader. I definitely agree with you that servant leadership should be more widely used. After all, some of the main characteristics of a servant leader are things like listening and empathy. If the goal of most leadership approaches is to achieve a desired result, shouldn’t this be an approach we should promote as a society?