Servant leadership can be described as “leaders have a need/desire to serve others so that they can develop themselves and therefore perform to meet organizational needs” (Greenleaf, 1970). The followers then “develop into servants themselves to help others in the organization which again helps the organization perform.” When analyzing and thinking about servant leadership, one example comes to mind, the military. As the lesson describes servant leadership aims at aiding followers to develop into leaders in their own right (Lesson 11). In the military this is an important factor for the younger and less experienced soldiers will attempt to become highly experienced and effective leaders.
I asked my family friend who was a marine in Afghanistan how servant leadership was depicted. Firstly, he discussed how significant the 10 characteristics of servant leadership were. In his opinion, the most important were stewardship, building community, and empathy. He became a sergeant throughout his time serving and stated that these three characteristics were very important for him. The main characteristic was building a community because all the individuals that were on base with him, he states were his brothers. They protected, defended, and fought for each other and whether you were lower or higher ranked you wanted a sense of community in order to leader or follow. Northouse (2019) defines building a community as “individuals who have shared interests and pursuits and feel a sense of unity and relatedness.” This was clearly shown throughout my interview with my friend how connected, united, and bonded he felt with other soldiers. This correlates back to the theory of servant leadership because it follows the sense that the younger inexperienced soldiers attempted to learn from the hierarchy and wanted to be their own soldier in the community.
While I interviewed personally somebody who experienced these concepts, I also did further research on how servant leadership is present in the Army or in this case Marines. There were lots of articles out there that specify how servant leadership is ingrained in this culture (Mattison). It is important to specify that in servant leadership, the leader must be actively engaging and serving for the purpose of the organization. In the case of the military, the sergeants and lieutenants are constantly working at the bettering of their soldiers. This concept also relates back to the behavior described in Northouse (2019) of helping followers grow and succeed. This behavior is when leaders know followers personal and professional goals and help them accomplish those aspirations.
In conclusion, servant leadership is rather very significant and seems to be an underrated theory in the leadership theories. It brings a lot of insight to how leaders are there to serve followers and how beneficial this is to an organization. In the case of the military as described above, a military organization needs servant leadership to run. While the followers listen to their leaders strictly, the leaders are still there to ensure the followers needs are being satisfied and ensuring they are helping them.
Lesson Commentary 11, Servant Leadership
Mattison, J. (n.d.). Sergeant means Servant: How the NCOs typify the servant leader. NCOJournal.
Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
