Servant Leadership : Definition and Examples

What is servant leadership? When leadership is concerned, different management styles can be adopted in the workplace. By establishing a Servant leadership style, you can develop strong teams & ensure greater member satisfaction.

What is servant leadership?

This management style requires you to lead the team by considering their needs first. As the team member feels professionally & personally satisfied, they can be more productive & efficient. It encompasses greater employee collaboration & satisfaction. This leadership style can be applied in any business type, especially among non-profit organizations.

Why this leadership style is crucial in the modern workplace?

When implemented correctly, it helps develop a better work environment. It allows employees in all positions to feel valued, appreciated & respected. Such organizations can be noticed to have impressive work cultures, combined with high employee engagement & morale.

Characteristic features

Leaders in this category are known to display unique characteristics.

1. Excellent communicator:

The servant-leader is one who exhibits greater empathy, active listening & is transparent. This way, your team will be able to share their opinions & views clearly and feel important. As you share crucial information with them, they will also reciprocate the trust in you.

2. Team motivator:

What is servant leadership devoid of motivational skills? You need to create an environment where you need to keep your employees constantly motivated to put in their best efforts.

3. Committed to assisting the team to develop professionally:

You need to provide assistance whenever required to your team. This way, you need to nurture & groom them to become leaders. You need to set by example and lead the team to derive opportunities & develop.

4. Show care on a personal level to the team:

Servant leaders should consider their employees much more than mere employees. Being fulfilled & happy in their personal lives will allow them to contribute to personal & professional success. You need to prioritize your team members & show personal care for them. Assist them with their personal issues whenever possible.

5. Promote engagement & collaboration:

As a servant leader, you need to value every individual team member’s opinions & ideas. Allow them to contribute their opinions towards the success of projects.

What is servant leadership – Examples

1. Personal care for the team:

The medical office of the organization should care about their patients. At the same time, they also need to value the employee’s overall well-being & health. This can be achieved by implementing an employee wellness program. This way, teams can be encouraged to adopt good & healthy habits. Employees can be provided with gift cards for meeting specific personal health goals. It can be like stopping smoking or losing weight.

2. Leading by example:

The sales team supervisor displays servant leader abilities by doing the work themselves before asking the team to follow. If the team is not able to meet their set sales goals, then the supervisor comes forward to reduce the deficit.

3. Promoting collaboration:

In a call center, the leader may boost the customer service personnel to give out their opinions. It can be about how to improve the company & sales. This can be achieved by holding sessions involving a small group regularly. During the session, the employees should be encouraged to come up with their ideas & opinions. Several ideas can be shared during such sessions like how to enhance customer experience, simplify the associate’s job, etc. It can also include topics like what things can be adopted by the management team to enhance their leadership skills.

Getting to know more about servant leadership can help you to implement the same at your workplace.