When we as a society think of the word servant the connotations do not particularly lend themselves to thoughts of leadership. In essence the thought could be considered backwards as someone who is lead to serve. What is interesting here is servant leadership fuses the ideals of leadership and servant into one theory. This is found to be quite an effective style of leadership in the sense that those who embody servant leadership style “understand that behaviors either build trust or destroy it, and without trust one cannot generally achieve consistent high employee engagement and high performance.” (Hess, 2013) As can be determined servant leadership can be identified as a more grounded style of leadership. The leader is at a level of understanding with followers that guidance and considerate leadership can produce a mutually productive work atmosphere. “Servant leadership can be attributed to the basic idea that the leader creates a culture so that the process of leadership is always actively engaged and serving the purpose of the organization.” (Penn State, 2015) An article posted to Forbes.com examines this leadership style and refers to some interesting information compiled on the subject. The article states that, “a group of organizational psychologists, led by Adam Grant, are attempting to measure the impact of servant leadership on leaders, not just those being led. Grant describes research in his recent book, Give and Take, and suggests that servant leaders are not only more highly regarded than others by their employees and not only feel better about themselves at the end of the day, but are more productive as well.” (Heskett, 2013)
It is not that far-fetched to identify that to lead from a servant level can produce better relationships. Especially when some characteristics of the leadership style include; healing, empathy, listening, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. (Penn State, 2015) Servant leadership leads in such a way that sets up followers for success. The ultimate goal is to create leaders from followers and enhance the business or group construct as a whole. (Penn State, 2015) Providing others with the information, guidance and tools for them to be able to lead themselves has proven to be a successful model for many companies. Research done by Edward Hess who authored an article for the Washington Post witnessed this style of servant leadership in many large companies including; Best Buy, UPS, Ritz Carlton, Room & Board, Whole Foods, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Levy Restaurants, the San Antonio Spurs and TSYS. (Hess, 2013)
Servant leadership places the power at a balanced awareness. The leader identifies with a servant state but is also the person with the knowledge and ability to guide and promote followers . When followers recognize and work together with the leader a cohesive relationship ensues. This is a different stance than the typical empowered leader, even one who is considerate of followers and leads with empathetic awareness. Servant leadership empowers both the leader and follower to produce the best results through a relationship of mutual respect for the achievement of group goals.
Works Cited
Heskett, James. (2013) Why Isn’t Servant Leadership More Prevalent?. Forbes.com. Retrieved from, http://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2013/05/01/why-isnt-servant-leadership-more-prevalent/
Hess, Edward. (2013). Servant Leadership: A path to high performance. The Washington Post. Retrieved from, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/servant-leadership-a-path-to-high-performance/2013/04/26/435e58b2-a7b8-11e2-8302-3c7e0ea97057_story.html
Penn State University Course Creator.(2015). Lesson 11: Servant Leadership. Retrieved from, https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa15/psych485/001/content/11_lesson/01_page.html
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E3btARur60A/VN45XPTs_OI/AAAAAAAAUMc/czotQgqOyoM/s1600/servant-leadership.png (2015) Retrieved from, http://gpacsports.blogspot.com/2015/02/being-servant-leader-what-does-that.html