Servant leadership is much like parenthood in many ways. I always joke with my nieces and nephews that “I’m not a garbage can” when their mom or dad isn’t around, and they hand me their trash rather than throwing it away themselves. The point that I am making is that servant leadership isn’t something you think about, you just do it, much like being a parent. While these are thoughts that came up while learning about servant leadership, parents see their children much like leaders see followers, and the purpose of each role is to make sure that both the child and follower is successful at whatever they have set out to do. While core principles rest on the chest of both roles of parent and servant leader, I want to discuss how “Parenthood” is not only similar to servant leadership but how servant leadership parents-organizations.
You ever hear the term “we’re like a family” Where does it come from? Why do individuals say this? Is it possible that because family is so important that individuals seek to find establishments where the same principles apply? In fact, “Servant leadership” coined by Robert K Greenleaf (Northouse, 2016, p. 227) where the characteristics of servant leadership is clarified by Spears (2002), and it includes Listening, Empathy, Healing, Awareness, Persuasion, Conceptualization, Foresight, Stewardship, Commitment to the growth of people and Building Community (Northouse, 2016, Ch.10). Parenthood or parenting we could find a 100 different principles or characteristics to live by, but for now, I’ll use seven that can be viewed here; http://sixseeds.patheos.com/davewillis/7-guiding-principles-of-parenthood/ while analyzing all characteristics of both Servant Leadership and Parenthood would be more complete, for time’s sake we’ll view a few favorites of mine.
Let’s start with one of Willis’s principles “Kids need presence, not presents”, the same saying could be said about followers, Willis suggests that “Time, Engagement and Knowing” that a person is there for you is most valuable. Greenleaf and Spears share that Listening, empathy, and commitment to the growth of people convey “I’m here for you” or “I’m here to serve you”. “Commitment can take many forms” (Northhouse, 2016, p.228) and take a personal interest in their ideas, and involve them in decision making (Spears, 2002) Northouse, 2016, p.229 shares a viewpoint of service and influence to individuals as they begin to gain perspective of where you stand in their lives. Is this not the role of a parent to unconditionally give them, making a decision well before the child is born? This style of leadership taps into ethics and “servant leaders put followers first, empower them and help them develop their full personal capacities” (Northouse, 2016, p.224). I’m not sure about you, but this sounds a lot my parent and the parents of my friends!
Conceptualization “focuses on the big picture” (Northouse, 2016, p. 228) and “Stewardship is about taking responsibility for the leadership role entrusted to the leader (Northhouse, 2016, p.228), the combination of the two refer to commitment to the personal growth of the person and partial definition of what parents do all day long. This leads me to Willis’s principle that “My kids will follow my example more than my words.” How many times have we heard this quote in similar or form? This may have been you or me at some point in time, but for followers and both children, this applies. Leaders just like parents set the tone and lead the way, period. Not only is this about leading but about being ethical. While parents are attempting to nurture children who are successful and can contribute to society positively, “Servant leadership is to create healthy organizations that nurture individual growth, strengthen organizational performance, and in the end produce a positive impact on society (Northhouse, 2016, p. 236) in many ways parents want the same.
The comparisons made here are to highlight similarities and to see leadership from a more personal angle as we learned that, Servant leadership pursues “Listening, empathy and commitment to the growth of people” much like most parents unconditional pledge to their children. Also, that servant leadership taps into ethics and “servant leaders put followers first, empower them and help them develop their full personal capacities” like a parent guiding its high school senior student through college application processes. While Conceptualization “focuses on the big picture” and “Stewardship is about taking responsibility for the leadership role entrusted to the leader, so a parent does the same. Some might argue that all parents may not feel the same, which is true success is at the top of most lists of parents and leaders “servant or not.” Originally I started this blog referring to the saying of “we’re like family” and why individuals say this about their organizations, and it may be because, when you have a family, you have individuals around you that don’t see you as an employee, number or staff member. They see you as a person, and they treat you this way. We spend possibly a third of our time in a week at work, it should be enjoyed or at a minimum feel like you belong to the organization and not like you don’t. Family is universal much like servant leadership and is a theory that can also be applied not only to the family but life.
References:
7 Guiding Principles of Parenthood
http://sixseeds.patheos.com/davewillis/7-guiding-principles-of-parenthood/
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th