Over the years I have had a great deal of experience with leaders at my company, team leaders, managers, directors and vice presidents. Today I will focus on the team leaders I have had direct contact with. Over my 28 year career with Verizon, I have had no less than 15 team leaders, almost all different in the approach they took to lead the various teams I have served on. Most of the teams that I have been a part of have been relatively successful; some have been led by folks, who took the skills approach to leadership that is they demonstrated that they knew your job and probably knew it better than those doing the work. Northouse states “that the skills approach suggests that knowledge and abilities are needed for effective leadership” (Northouse 2016, Pg. 42). I have found over the years that the team leaders that demonstrated skills have been the most respected and have had the most success.
I have also worked for team leaders who have demonstrated servant behaviors. Northouse states; “Servant leadership emphasizes that leaders be attentive to the concerns of their followers, empathize with them, and nurture them. Servant leaders put followers first, empower them, and help them develop their full personal capacities” (Northouse 2016, Pg. 225). The team leaders who exhibited these behaviors seemed to do well at the beginning, but always seemed to drop off in production and popularity shortly after arriving to the department. I believe this drop off has two components. The first is that the associated in my department are union members and as we know union members demand equal treatment across the board, no matter who your team leader and what style of leadership the team leader adopts. A team leader who comes in with servant tendencies, putting the follower first usually sparks a litany of grievances because they are treating the followers on their teams different than say a team leader who will just demand results from their teams. When the servant leader is then forced to treat their team equally to other teams in the department, their followers resent it and production goes down. The second reason for drop off is that people I work with usually will only do what is expected and no more, when a servant leader extends help as they will often do, the follower lowers the bar of what is expected and when leader tries to raise the bar, resentment settles in and production drops off again. My observations of servant leaders are one of initial success but ultimate failure for the reasons described above. What are your experiences with servant leaders?
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications
Patricia Ann Hoover says
Hi Sabastian,
In response to your thoughts on servant leadership, I believe that there is only a need for servant leadership in certain leadership positions. As a member of the military, I have recently been made a platoon sergeant. Prior to this position, I was a squad leader. The change has been a very tough adjustment. As a squad leader, my role was like those of your team leaders. It’s necessary to be more directive with your followers, but now my responsibility is to tend to the needs of the squad leaders below me to help them develop into good leaders. It’s more of a coaching role than a directive role. Therefore, I can see why the team leaders at your company, who use a servant leadership approach might fail, but to answer your question, I believe that servant leaders can be effective leaders.
Sebastian Liggeri says
Hi Ericka,
I think the problem with servant leaders in my office is this. I believe that when people get help from a team leader, they will expect that help always. The problem is when one works in a union environment as you know, everyone expects equal treatment. So when you have one group getting a great deal of support from a leader who exhibits servant tendencies, another group who reports to a team leader who does not have the same style of leadership will complain and file grievances because they want that type of support too and the grievance will usually result in the servant leader being told to walk back the help they have been providing to their team which in turn causes animosity within that team.
Hi Christopher,
I am not necessarily against servant leadership, I think that it is a good way to lead a team, but for the reasons I explained above, I do not think that it works (at least in my office).
Thank you both for your responses.
Sebastian
Ericka Diaz says
Hi Sebastian,
Interesting post! I am curious to know how the team leaders exhibited servant leadership, because you said it has failed in your office every time?
I worked in a telecom environment as part of a union for 7 years. It was my first job out of high school. I was a customer service rep for the local phone company in my state while telecom was regulated. I was there through deregulation and our company was bought out by SBC who later acquired AT&T. It was a fun ride, but I do recall just how brutal we were on management. So much so I never aspired to be promoted out of the safety of my union.Upon leaving I found that corporate America is a different animal altogether. The stuff we got away with as part of a union would have lasted a week.
According you our course commentary, “servant leadership is a leader-centered theory putting the burden of the organizational outcomes on the leader” (PSU WC, L11, 2017, p 2). Servant leaders are known for their listening, empathizing, persuasive, forward thinking, and community building and growth orientation (PSU WC, L11, 2017). I am surprised that this style of leader is eaten alive at your office. I had a great servant leader during my early days at SNET/SBC/AT&T. I was a train wreck, but my manager was patient and empathetic. She took personal interest in our lives and even set up incentive campaigns that were geared toward things that mattered to us. She listened to our problems and helped us find ways to get out of our own ways so we could succeed. We were a cutthroat group of reps who even went on strike during the time I worked there, and my manager made us lunch and breakfast while we were on the picket line.
Is it possible that the servant leaders who come into your office are not genuine in their desire to serve? Northouse (2016) warns about disingenuous servant leadership being ineffective, so it may be that your team realized it and saw through it.
Thanks for sharing your post!
Ericka
Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and Practice, 6th Edition. SAGE Publications, Inc, 02/2016. VitalBook file.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2017). Lesson 11: Servant Leadership. Retrieved April 10, 2017, from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/canvas/sp17/21711–17327/content/11_lesson/printlesson.html
Christopher Ryan Ivery says
Hello Sebastian. I have not had any experiences of servant leadership in the work place. I do not have as much work experience as you so I have not come across this approach yet. You seem to generally be against it in the work place. You mentioned that some people that you have worked with have low expectations of themselves. Have you had anybody with higher expectations that servant leadership has worked for? Servant leadership should see leaders empower their followers to be independent and self-sufficient (Northouse, 2016). It looks like the leaders that you mentioned did the work for some of your coworkers instead of teaching them how to seek answers on their own and be autonomous. Would you say that this is true?
Thanks for the thoughtful post,
Christopher Ivery