Servant Leadership
Servant leadership occurs when the leader believes and reflects that belief onto their followers to help make them successful. The leader is fully engaged and has a desire to give their full attention to the follower. When I think of servant leaders in my lifetime, I think of my high school track and field coach. I do not have a lot of role models in my life and I can always think of bad managers, but there was one leader in my life that made a difference in who I am.
In the Servant Leadership Model, there is “three antecedent, or existing, conditions have an impact on servant leadership: context and culture, leader attributes, and follower receptivity” (Northouse, 2016, p. 231). With context and culture, it helps show how the nature of the leader is carried out. In high school, I had a track and field coach that helped guide me not only through my throwing events, but through high school as well. As a high school coach, he was not there for the money, or the competition. He applied to work at a high school because he genuinely cared about his students.
With leader attributes, “Individuals bring their own traits and ideas about leading to leadership situations” (Northouse, 2016, p. 232). I was in track and field for almost all of high school. By senior year, my coach and I became very close. I discussed college, and future plans with him. I remember the advice he gave me was, “pick a career that makes you feel complete.” My coach had a desire for helping students. He was very confident, self-motivated, and had a lot of emotional intelligence. He cared if I was having a bad day. If my performance was lacking in track and field, I remember he would always give me a pep talk, and listen to whatever was going on.
“Follower receptivity concerns the question “Do all followers show a desire for servant leadership?”” (Northouse, 2016, p. 233). As some would say no because they do not want to know their leader on that level, I surely connected more with my leader, and it affected my performance. I felt that his leadership was something that I connected with, and a lot of others did too. Out of all the coaches, all the students wanted to work with him because he was not all for just the competition, he wanted to make you a better performer, and athlete.
Servant Leader Behaviors are the main focus of the model. Leaders need to develop these behaviors “in order to provide service to followers and help them grow” (PSU, Lesson 11: Servant Leadership, 2020, p. 1). The servant behaviors are: conceptualizing, emotional healing, putting followers first, helping followers succeed, behaving ethically, and creating value for the community. My coach really emphasized emotional healing, and creating value for the community. “Emotional healing involves being sensitive to the personal concerns and well-being of others. It includes recognizing problems and being willing to take the time to address them” (Northouse, 2016, p. 234). My coach was able to notice if I was lacking in my performance. He would take the time and talk to me about what was going on at home, or in school. He created value in the community by being a coach that pushed his students to be the best they could be. On top of being the coach, he was also our English teacher. He was able to give us advice, give us our education, and give us a reason to try our best.
Outcomes are the end result of servant leadership. It involves follower performance and growth, organizational performance, and societal impact. “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, 2016, p. 237). I can say my track and field coach had a positive impact on me. I learned I had determination and the confidence to complete my goals. He taught me to never give up when things get hard. I relate this now to my college education. I may not see him everyday now, and be able to talk to him like I used too, but I am able to use the things he taught me to get through this chapter of my life.
REFERENCES
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Pennsylvania State World Campus. Lesson 11: Servant Leadership. 2020.
Derrick Diksa says
It truly seems that you had a great high school coach and English teacher that was the essence of a Servant Leader. According to Northouse, Servant Leadership is focused on the behaviors of the leader (p. 225). Through your examples, I can clearly see some of those key behaviors at play such as being conscious of your concerns, whether you verbalized them or not, making sure to empathize with you in times of need, and of course, nurture you throughout your relationship (Northouse, 2016, p. 225). Because he put you and the other students first, he allowed you to actualize your full potential (Northouse, 2016, p. 225). A fundamental attribute of a servant leader is creating followers that also act as servant leaders themselves (Northouse, 2016, p. 226). I do believe your coach created a little circle of servant leaders that are still operating in the workforce today because of the shear impact that a servant leader offers his/her constituents. “Servant Leadership is viewed as a behavior” and I would like to discuss some of those behaviors that you mentioned as well in further detail (Northouse, 2016, p. 226).
As you mentioned, your coach was not there for the money yet instead was there to develop young folks into determined and confident leaders themselves. Commitment to the growth of people is one of the ten characteristics of a servant leader and because your coach was a servant leader, he empowered everyone he worked with to do the best they can while giving them that determination and confidence to achieve great things themselves (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). It is also clear and as you mentioned, a community was built around your coach. You in particular felt safe and connected with your coach to bring him things you normally would not bring others (Northouse, 2016, p. 229). This is a true testament to your coach – he would have not gotten to that point without demonstrated listening and empathy in prior situations. I can easily assume that your coach listened first before speaking to you, especially about tough situations. There are few adults that when interacting with teenagers will “acknowledge the viewpoint of [their] followers and validate [their] perspectives” simply due to the fact that teenagers are a mixed bag of emotions and what may seem like the end of the world today is actually not a big deal the next day (Northouse, 2016, p. 227). To be able to do this, your coach also must have shown empathy or “truly understanding what followers are thinking and feeling” (Northouse, 2016, p. 227). I am assuming this was not your coach’s first 4 years on the job when you were there and that he built up this empathetic sentiment over time and through numerous students. It is clear to me that your coach demonstrates servant leadership as a behavioral process or in other words and as we previous discussed, “serving and developing others” (Northouse, 2016, p. 231).
References
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.