Surprising Servant Leadership
Servant Leadership is very surprising in the similarities to other leadership styles. Servant Leadership is a style of leadership that focuses on the behavior of leader and their interactions with their subordinates. Servant Leadership calls for the leader to put followers first, empathize with them, and nurture them (Northouse, 2013). Servant Leadership in this light is similar to Situational Leadership and Team Leadership among others, that the leader helps followers to achieve goals.
Servant Leadership calls for a leader to understand each of their individual subordinates and for the leader to be responsive to their needs (Northouse, 2013). Situational Leadership calls for the leader to understand what developmental level each of their individual subordinates are at and then adjust their supervision response to better accommodate the subordinates development level (Northouse, 2013). In these similarities both leadership styles are serving followers to help them become full developed and functioning workers. Both leadership styles focus on helping the leader to understand the necessity of highly developed subordinates to achieve success for both the leader and the follower.
Team Leadership also is strikingly similar to Servant Leadership. Team leaders serve their subordinates by getting the individual group members what they need to be successful (Northouse, 2013). Service might include removing administrative obstacles such as smoothing the way for successful cooperation with another department or knowing how to resolve conflict between team members so that the team does not falter. In this light team leaders serve their subordinates to achieve success.
Servant Leadership appears to look like a oxymoron at first glance. Like Northouse, I think the name of Servant Leadership is one of its biggest weaknesses (Northouse, 2013). However Servant Leadership is a part of most leadership styles to varying degrees. Any time a leader is concerned for the development and well being of their subordinates Servant Leadership is in use. I find that Servant Leadership is a critical part of most of the leadership styles and successes of leaders. For these reason I think more research and training on Servant Leadership is warranted. Servant Leadership might not be a leader’s primary leadership style, however it has the ability to complement almost any style and thus make any leader stronger.
References:
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Inc.