Servant leadership is an approach to leadership in which the leader “has a need/desire to serve others so that they can develop themselves and therefore perform to meet organizational needs” (PSU WC L11 p.2). With servant leadership, the leader serves their followers in a way the promotes their own success and development. The idea of servant leadership presents that leaders want to “serve first” (Northouse, 2016, p. 226). Servant leaders place the needs of their followers before their own interests, and focus wholly on the development of their followers. Northouse identifies ten fundamental characteristics of servant leadership that include:
Listening
Empathy
Healing
Awareness
Persuasion
Conceptualization
Foresight
Stewardship
Commitment to the growth of people
Building Community (Northouse, 2016 p. 228)
Judging from the characteristics described above, it is easy to see the empasis servant leadership puts on the leader’s overall concern for their followers. There is an overarching theme of follower well-being and the role the leader plays in their relationship with their followers. Servant leaders do not “dominate, direct, or control; but rather, leaders should share control and influence” (Northouse, 2016 p. 240). The question I draw from this servant approach lies in discipline and accountability; where does this fit in with servant leadership.
For many people, servant leadership is weak. In fact, servant leadership actually conflicts with “other principles of leadership such as directing, concern for production, goal-setting, and creating a vision” (Northouse, 2016 p. 241). Within any results-based organization these are fundamental concepts that ensure success of individual contributor success. Afterall, results drive success. If servant leaders are not directing, and inspecting results then how can any business be successful with this approach?
The fact is, servant leaders can still exercise discipline, they may just have a different approach. Fostering a culture that values “follower performance and growth, organizational performance and societal impact” will in itself serve as serve to promote personal accountability. This personal accountability will serve to correct any unacceptable behavior demonstrated by followers. However, as any leader knows, there will be times that behaviors need to be addressed and corrected at any organization, no matter how much you implement servant leadership. With servant leadership, we would aim to have the follower self-aware of their behavioral shortcomings or mistakes and use these mis-steps as opportunities to learn. The objective of performance discipline would be to teach followers what is right and wrong, not just to punish. Simply relying on corrective action as a means to correct behavior or lacking performance does not follow the model of servant leadership. After you give every opportunity to learn and grow from mistakes, then the leader does have an obligation to exercise performance correction, but the discussion would be quite easy based on the prior opportunity given to learn and correct the behavior thru the lessons learned up to that point. In fact, from Servant Leadership in Action, servant leaders will “redirect when behavior dictates, and provide training, development, coaching, and opportunities for growth” (Blanchard, Broadwell, & Maxwell, 2018, ch.8). This approach aims to develop your followers to make the right choices. So, this does not mean servant leaders don’t hold low performers accountable, they understand the learning process and give individuals the opportunity to learn and grow before taking disciplinary actions. Servant leadership does not mean disregard for accountability, “But their default position when a teammate fails is curiosity rather than condemnation” (Blanchard, Broadwell, & Maxwell, 2018 ch.7). This is how discipline looks in servant leadership.
References
Canvas learning management system. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1985970/modules
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Blanchard, K. H., Broadwell, R., & Maxwell, J. C. (2018). Servant leadership in action: How you can achieve great relationships and results. Oakland (CA): Berrett-Koehler.
Terry,
I can relate to your post in a very personal way because servant leadership is the style that I most often would describe myself as possessing. I connect with the altruistic nature of it as it reflects my own desire to treat my followers fairly and be open with them. In this way, I appreciated the way that you interpret how discipline plays can still play a part in servant leadership. I think that an important aspect of helping followers grow and succeed in terms of servant leadership, comes from the level of understanding that leaders must possess. In order to improve behavior, leaders must learn where the behavior comes from and address it in a healthy way. This can be seen in the example provided by Northouse (2016) about the high school orchestra teacher. Northouse states that “he gives feedback without being judgmental” (2016, pg. 233). Understanding, respect, and honesty are what is used by servant leaders to invoke behavior correct instead of formal discipline.
That being said, one thing to note about servant leadership in regard to correcting follower behavior, is the receptiveness of followers. According to Meuser, Liden, Wayne, and Henderson (2011), servant leadership can affect performance and behavior in a positive way if followers are receptive to it. However, not all followers show a desire for servant leadership and those who do not, will not be affected by it. Furthermore, Northouse states “for successful servant leadership to occur, it is important that followers are open and receptive to servant leaders who want to empower them and help them grow” (2016, pg. 238). For this reason, it is important to consider alternate forms of leadership as well. This is why I personally have started to stray away from servant leadership a little. While there are still cases in my position where servant leadership is effective, I have accepted the fact that not all of my followers are receptive to that style and in order to be successful, I have adopted alternative methods of leadership.
References:
Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., & Henderson, D. J. (2011, August). Is servant leadership always a good thing? The moderating influence of servant leadership prototype. Paper presented at the meeting of the Academy of Management, San Antonio, TX.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications