The Servant Leader is not a ‘lone ranger’. The Servant Leader works with a team, to build a caring community. This community integrates the individual values of service and the values of the organization within the organizational culture. As you lead within the corporate setting, office, factory or corner store, the goal is the same. Turner, in his book, the Learning of Love: A Journey Toward Servant Leadership reminds us, “The goal of servant leadership is to build a place where everyone is loved, a caring community.”
The attraction of a Servant led organization is the growth, trust, care and values that are integrated throughout the organization. In reviewing Greenleaf’s work, Spears illustrates the impact of Servant Leadership on today’s top management thinkers, “The key to the success of organizations lies within the individual-the servant-leader and that all are invited to become servant-leaders”. The goal is not a static bureaucracy but a community of individuals who work together, or as Spears suggests, “a living organism that must develop/learn if it is to flourish”. We are all interrelated. The decisions made at one desk have an influence on another. The ideas generated in one setting influence future decisions. Or, as Zohar suggests in his book, Servant-Leadership and Rewiring the Corporate Brain, “To qualify as servant leaders in the deepest sense, … they must be aware that all human endeavor, including business, is a part of the larger and richer fabric of the whole universe”.
Scripture reminds us, “Two are better than one, because they have good reward for their labor” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). Rehoboam looked for advice to deal with his slaves. He was advised, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants” (1 Kings 12:7). Paul advises us, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than ourselves. Each of you should look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:1-7).
Leadership is putting the needs of your team ahead of self interest.
Yours in Service,
Laurie D. Kennedy
Leadership Coach