To me being a servant leader is a crucial aspect in being a successful leader. Servant leadership is focused on the leader and the leader’s behaviors (Northouse, 2016, p. 225). A servant leader can be defined as being concerned with their followers concerns, understanding them, putting their followers first, empowering them and helping their followers develop to their fullest potential (Northouse, 2016, p. 225). Also “servant leaders are ethical and lead in ways that serve the greater good of the organization, community, and society at large” (Northouse, 2016, p. 225-226). In our text Northouse lays out ten leadership characteristics that were “identified” by Spears as critical “to the development of servant leadership” (Northouse, 2016, p. 227). The ten characteristics are: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community (Northouse, 2016, p. 227-229). I believe I have developed these ten characteristics and I display them through my coaching.
The first of the ten characteristics is listening (Northouse, 2016, p. 227). Servant leaders listen first, they listen and understand their follower’s viewpoints (Northouse, 2016, p. 227). When I coach I always listen to what my followers have to say. I want to hear their viewpoint on what we are doing. For example, the day after a game I always start practice by asking my players what they think we did well during the game, what they think we did badly and finally what they think we need to work on. I pay attention to what they say, and carefully listen to their perspective. This leads to the next characteristic which is empathy.
“Empathetic servant leaders demonstrate that they truly understand what followers are thinking and feeling” (Northouse, 2016, p. 227). When I ask my players their thoughts, as in the example above, I am asking so I can better understand what they are thinking and how they are feeling about our game and progress. As Northouse would put it, I am trying to see the world from my players point of view (2016, p. 227). By doing this I can better help my team progress and move forward in getting better individually and as a whole.
The third characteristic is healing. “To heal is to make whole,” and this characteristic is about caring for the “personal well-being” of followers (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). One of my strongest attributes as a coach is that I care about the personal well-being of my players. The perfect example of this is I had a player who was struggling with drug abuse. He was continuously doing drugs and needed help. Instead of not allowing him to play I spent some extra time with him to help him get off the drugs. After about five to seven months and one or two relapses he had stopped using. Helping him the way I did, got him back on track academically and on the lacrosse field. He was actually better than before which made our team much better. “In helping followers become whole, servant leaders themselves are healed” (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). I believe I helped him to become whole and in turn it made me whole as well.
Awareness is the fourth characteristic described. Awareness in regards to a servant leadership is the ability to understand oneself “and the impact one has on others” (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). With awareness I need to be able to understand myself and my perspectives in the context of the situation (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). An example of this happens very often when I am coaching. Often a player comes to me with a question about something specific, defense for example. I know that I can answer the question and I want to answer the question. But I also know that my assistant coach can answer the question better than I can. So I direct my player to my assistant so he can get the best information possible. I am able to step back and be aware of my limitations as a coach in many situations.
Next is persuasion. Not to be mistaken for coercion, “persuasion creates change through the use of gentle nonjudgmental argument” (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). I use persuasion every day when I coach. Because I like to let my players play and be whole they are on the field I find it counterproductive to force them to do something. I’ve always believed if athletes don’t want to do it they will never be good at it. So whenever there is something that I know can be done better or should be done a different way I show them. One example is our stick protection drill. Players need to protect their sticks. Some of my players don’t do it the best way possible and often end up not protecting their sticks. I continuously tell them that if they want to protect it the way they are, that is fine, but they’re going to lose the ball. When they go through this I always take the ball away and tell them if they did it my way they wouldn’t lose the ball. Eventually I get my players to protect their stick the way I would like just by persuading/showing them that their way is wrong. This works very often.
The sixth characteristic is conceptualization. “Conceptualization refers to an individual’s ability to be a visionary for an organization, providing a clear sense of its goals and direction” (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). As a head coach I do this every year. One example of this I actually discussed in a previous blog post. The example is for our team to have a 75 percent success rate of clearing the ball for the entire season. Clearing the ball is the act of getting the ball from the defensive end to the offensive end. I know what this goal will do for our team throughout and at the end of the season. I also understand why it is important for us to be successful at clearing throughout the season. If we successful clear the ball at a high rate we will have more opportunities to score goals, the more opportunities we have to score goals the better chance we have of winning, and the more wins we have the more successful our team is as a whole. I conceptualize my team’s goals and direction every year and every day.
Foresight is the next characteristic of the ten. Foresight is essentially the servant leader’s ability to see the future (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). A servant leader needs to have the ability to see what will happen based on what has previously happened and what is going on in the present (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). A good example of this is as a coach I need to know what the team we will be playing is going to do. Based on what they did offensively and defensively against us previously, and what they have done recently against other teams I plan accordingly. I make plays and practice things to prepare for what I believe they will do. When I successfully do this we win and do well against our opponent.
Eighth on the list is stewardship. “Stewardship is about taking responsibility for the leadership role entrusted to the leader” (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). I, as a coach, have completely and fully accepted and taken responsibility for the leadership role I was given as a coach. Every time we lose a game the responsibility falls on me, I know that and I accept that after every loss. I make sure the people I manage understand that I know it was my responsibility to manage them better to win the game. Also every day I take responsibility for managing my team by planning and preparing.
Commitment to the growth of people is the ninth characteristic. This characteristic is about understanding and treating every follower as unique and as someone who has intrinsic value (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). A servant leader wants to see every one of their followers grow to their greatest potential, both personally and within the organization (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). One way I do this as a coach is I sit down with every player at the beginning of the season and find out what their personal goals are on the team as well as their personal goals outside of the team. After hearing their goals, I tell them what they can do to reach their goals as it pertains to the team. Then in the middle of the season I meet with everyone individually again. I check their progress on both of their goals. I give them any feedback I have and give them any help I can to help them reach either goal. At the end of the season we have a third meeting to discuss their goals and goals they may have for the following season. I do my very best to help my players reach their goals.
The last and final characteristic of the ten is building community. A servant leader builds a “community to provide a place where people can feel safe and connected with others, but are still allowed to express their own individuality” (Northouse, 2016, 229). The community being talked about here is one that has shared goals and interests, while collectively valuing something greater than themselves (Northouse, 2016, p. 228). I have always felt, as a coach that my teams are a place where a groups of kids feel safe to be themselves as well as be a part of the group. My teams have always had a collective goal, to win. We have always had different types of kids with many different personalities. But we never look down on someone within our team and we always look out for each other. I have always preached to my teams that we are a family. In every time I coach I have always built a community.
Being a servant leader is extremely important when it comes to coaching a team. When you put your followers or, in my case, players first they become better followers. They see that you care for them and then in turn they end up caring for you. This is what I have learned from being a servant leader on my teams throughout the years.
References
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles. Sage Publications.