While the leader will always have some sort of authority in comparison to followers, with servant leadership you can almost be equal to your employees. At iD Tech we emphasize the fact that Directors are not above everybody else, in fact, as an Assistant Director I share a room with a Lead Instructor. Out of the ten characteristics a servant leader can have first and foremost we try to build a community at iD Tech. During our down time we try to bond through dinners, gaming nights, or even Target runs. We try to all share in the work, we create group chats to communicate with one another, and we even get nicknames in order to show your individuality but also make us feel connected (Northouse, 2016). We have a commitment to growth not only with the staff but the students. While we want students to learn and grow within our courses, we also encourage repeat students to eventually become “legends” or students who became staff members. Many lead instructors also will eventually become assistant directors, directors, or even regional directors for iD Tech. In other words, we promote growth in learning as well as advancement within the company (Northouse, 2016). Among our management team stewardship is vital, we own up for our mistakes, we don’t make excuses we make improvements (Northouse, 2016). While I am a new leader, older leaders like my boss and director Lyric have foresight by being able to predict the structure of events, the issues or complaints parents may have, or by preventing potential issues we may have experienced. For example, Lyric had a plan set up in case it rained the day of Family Showcase, and he predicted that some kids would just not like the food selection rather than having an allergen to the food so we had to accommodate that. Unlike Lyric I show conceptualization as I try to look beyond the daily operations and look at what we could do to improve the camp like creating a Lost and Found, having theme days, coming up with knew challenges for the campers, etc. We also promote healing and the need for mental health days (Northouse, 2016). For example, we have a staff raffle weekly with prizes like having a late morning or a night off because we know that with the long ours the typical Saturday break may not be enough. We also listen to our staff when they make suggestions or have a problem they want to discuss, and use empathy when helping them deal with situations like when the Little Bits course did not have a large enough curriculum for the week (Northouse, 2016). All of these attributes allow us to connect and stay level with our staff. We all talk about problems together, work to make an event happen together, since I am knew I may ask an old lead instructor their opinion on something since they have more experience then I do. I think this helps to address problems in the workplace overall because if there is a situation instructors feel comfortable enough that they do not always need a director to handle it. One struggle is that by leveling with the staff when you need to reprimand them you may feel guilt or they may not take it seriously if you have grown a little to close to them. That is why I feel there should still be some boundaries, that that in times when staff need to be reprimanded it is effective and they take it seriously.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.