First off, a servant leader places the good of followers over their own self-interests and emphasize follower development, they demonstrate strong moral behaviors towards followers (Northouse 2103). These leaders demonstrate characteristics that help them serve as the leaders they are. The leaders I am going to discuss are the ones who are helping us get through this pandemic. The first thing that comes to mind are the Healthcare professionals who are putting their lives before ours. These individuals demonstrate many of the 10 characteristics mentioned in the Northouse chapters.
The first servant leader characteristic these individuals demonstrate is Awareness. Awareness is a quality within servant leaders that ,makes them acutely attuned and receptive to their physical, social, and political environments (Northouse 2013). These healthcare professionals are working through a disastrous environment with a a life threading virus, but are putting others before them. These leaders are able to recognize the impact that oneself has on another. This is a great quality to have especially in a time or crisis that we are facing, if these individuals couldn’t step up then who would… Not a lot of people able to be leaders, and help others but it takes a certain type of individual.
The next servant leader characteristic I’d like to discuss Stewardship, it is all about taking responsibility for the leadership role entrusted to the leader (Northouse 2103). These leaders have to step up and take responsibility and manage their followers and their organization. In this scenario of the COVID-19 Pandemic there are many Healthcare organizations that have a servant leader that is on top of the whole chain, they are given the responsibility to manage the same organization and employee but under a crisis situation. Policies are changing and they have to implement and make sure that they are all followed. One of the policies that they are implementing having PPE, hand-washing, providing resources and advocating to practice safe living to battle this virus.
The final servant leadership characteristic I am going to mention is Building Community. Servant leadership fosters the development of community, building community to provide a place where people can feel safe and connected to others (Northouse 2103). I am relating these healthcare to servant leaders because they are trying to provide us with a safe environment, when coming into their organizations and as a whole trying to make the community safer from this virus. Practicing social distancing is a way that the community is able to do their part. These leaders are expressing that unless you’re expecting certain symptoms stay home, for others sake and yourself. These leaders can also only do so much to help make the community safer.
The conclusion of the Northouse chapter is to understand that the behaviors of the leader, and that it is important as well to understand the potential outcomes of servant leadership. With such a pandemic there are so many environmental effects and life sustaining changes that we are adjusting too and we are relying on one another. The central goal of servant leadership is to create healthy organizations that nurture individual growth, strengthen organizational performance and in the end produce a positive impact on society (Northouse 2013). I related this to the COVID-19 Pandemic, because I think that there many servant leaders that are shinning to help their organizations and employees through the crisis. Within theses organizations they are passing along helpful information so that we can stay healthy at home, and visiting certain websites that have crucial information like the CDC.Healthcare workers are a prime example of a servant leader, they are all leading towards to same goal of healing the sick, and helping making all the organizations and the community healthier and the goal to calm down the pandemic.
Reference:
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. 7th Edition. Sage publications.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
aed5492 says
I agree that the health care workers fighting this pandemic are exemplary models of servant leadership. In addition, the three servant leadership characteristics that you have described, I would like to discuss some other characteristics of servant leadership that healthcare workers exhibit. I believe that health care workers possess the listening characteristic (Northouse, 2016). Right now, this is a critical characteristic, as it is important that hospitals listen to the needs of healthcare workers who are running low on supplies and that healthcare professionals listen as new information becomes available regarding the virus. Persuasion is another element of the servant leadership model that health care workers are exhibiting (Northouse, 2016). Every day, new videos are uploaded of health care workers sharing the struggles that hospitals are facing and begging people to stay home to stop the spread of corona virus. Their ability to persuade others right now is critical to their success in slowing down the spread of this disease.
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. 7th Edition. Sage publications.
jdb6209 says
I love how you related Servant leadership in what is happening in our current situation today. I think we all know the nurses, medical field workers, and any other healthcare professionals are truly incredible people even before Covid-19. I have always said that there are two fields of work I could never do. They are the healthcare field and education/teaching field. To me, these are very hard jobs and I don’t think I could handle the stress that comes with them. They both give up their lives for others and are helping others in the biggest ways possible. Healthcare workers truly do possess each of the 10 characteristics of servant leadership which are: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community (Northouse, 2016). I know we are all different and possession different characteristics but I truly feel like all healthcare workers have all 10 of these traits in some way or another.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. 7th Edition. Sage publications.