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A good team through servant leadership

Servant Leadership

Servant Leader serve by leading and lead by serving - Jean Tabaka

Estimated reading time 8 min
What is servant leadership?

Organisations are increasingly demanding leadership that is geared towards their members and their needs.

A leadership style that fulfils these requirements and breaks away from the traditional command and control approach is servant leadership.

Robert Greenleaf coined the term servant leadership in his work ‘The Servant as Leader’, which was first published in 1970.

The concept reverses traditional hierarchies and does not focus on the authority of the manager, but on empowering employees to realise their full potential.

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Overview of ‘classic’ management approaches

Let's start from the beginning: what is leadership?

In general, leadership means that people want to and can influence the behaviour of others in order to achieve their own or shared goals. Three very well-known leadership styles, which are often applied both consciously and unconsciously, are based on the theories of the US psychologist and professor Bernhard M. Bass.

Bernhard M. Bass (1985) had a lasting influence on leadership research with the development of the so-called Full Range of Leadership. Here he differentiates between transactional, transformational and laissez-faire leadership.

In transactional leadership, a clearly regulated exchange relationship or a classic command-control approach is established between manager and employee (performance in exchange for salary).

Transformational leaders, on the other hand, manage to positively influence their employees through persuasion, motivation and inspiration. In this way, they put their own individual goals behind the long-term overarching goals of the organisation.

However, leadership can also be completely passive and is referred to as laissez-faire leadership due to the avoidance of decisions and the absence of an exchange relationship in the full range of leadership.

Classification of servant leadership

Characteristics of servant leadership

Characteristics of servant leadership

What is servant leadership and how does it differ from traditional leadership styles such as transactional or transformational leadership?

Servant leadership reverses the classic leadership pyramid. It puts the growth and well-being of the organisation's members and the community they form first. This type of leadership is often understood as a general attitude to life rather than a management technique.

Managers see themselves as primus inter pares, i.e. first among equals, who ensure the realisation of a shared vision through the further development and empowerment of their employees.

Qualities of a Servant Leader

Qualities of a Servant Leader

In order to help employees realise their full potential, the servant leader promotes their self-confidence, serves as a role model, inspires their confidence and provides information, feedback and resources.

While influence is seen as a key element of leadership in transactional leadership, for example, this focus shifts with servant leaders. The servant leader emphasises the ideal of service in the relationship between manager and employee.

However, this does not mean that the leadership role is downgraded. The influence of power is used by the manager in a targeted manner to promote the autonomy and personal responsibility of employees.

What makes a servant leader?

  • Icon - Active listening

    Active listening

    A servant leader understands the importance of active and attentive listening in order to reflect on what is said and recognise what is not said.

    The servant leader pays full attention to messages sent unconsciously through body language, avoids interruptions and shows conscious interest in the other person.

  • Icon - Visionary thinking

    Visionary thinking

    Servant leaders are always curious and see the innovative power of the organisation as a key driver of goals.

    They are not afraid of change and lead the way as a driving force to inspire and motivate their employees with their visions.

  • Icon - Empathy

    Empathy

    Servant leaders have the ability to empathise with the personal concerns of other people and to understand the emotional intelligence, perspectives and views of others.

    They are willing to put their own opinions second and are open to the views of others.

  • Icon - Sense of community

    Sense of community

    Creating and strengthening a sense of community is a central focus of a servant leader.

    The participation of employees in decision-making is seen by the manager as a strength and an opportunity for success. They show an increased commitment to supporting further development and achieving goals together.

  • Icon - Authenticity

    Authenticity

    Servant leaders gain the trust of their employees through reflective behaviour, honesty, integrity and sincerity.

    On the other hand, they place their own trust in their employees' ability and growth.

  • Icon - Persuasiveness

    Persuasiveness

    Servant leaders have strong communication skills, which are also expressed through their persuasiveness.

    Instead of using their authority and formal position of power, they use their powers of persuasion to encourage their employees to take action.

Recap
Servant leadership as a way of thinking and working

Servant leadership is becoming increasingly important, especially in the so-called VUCA world. It is important to realise that this is a way of thinking and working and not a one-off method.

Servant leadership reflects an agile management style that masters the challenges of an increasingly volatile corporate world characterised by digitalisation through its focus on people. The servant leader has the responsibility not to act authoritatively as a leader, but to help their employees to self-organise as a community.

In doing so, the team and each individual employee takes centre stage so that they can meet the manager at eye level and are given opportunities and space for collaboration.

True servant leaders convince their employees with their values, ideas and visions and do not lead by managing a team alone. Accordingly, employees follow these leaders with intrinsic motivation and not just because management sets the direction.

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Sonja Neubauer - LEITWERK Consulting
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Quellenangaben:

  • Bass, B. M. (1985a): Leadership and performance beyond expectations, New York: Free Press.
  • Bass, B. M. (1999): Two Decades of Research and Development in Transformational Leadership, in: European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8. Jg. (1), S. 9–32.
  • Bass, B. M. (1990): From transactional to transformational leadership: Learning to share the vision, in: Organizational Dynamics, 18. Jg., S. 19–31.
  • Bass, B. M./Riggio, R. E. (2006): Transformational Leadership, 2. Auflage, Mahwah.
  • van Dierendonck, D. (2011): Servant Leadership: A Review and Synthesis, in: Journal of Management, 37. Jg. (4), S. 1228–1261.
  • McCann, J. T./Graves, D./Cox, L. (2014): Servant Leadership, Employee Satisfaction, and Organizational Performance in Rural Community Hospitals, in: International Journal of Business and Management, 9. Jg. (10), S. 28–38.
  • Greenleaf, R. K. (1970): The Servant as Leader, online abgerufen unter: http://www.ediguys.net/Robert_K_Greenleaf_The_Servant_as_Leader.pdf, letzter Zugriff: 01.12.2021.
  • Polleys, M. S. (2002): One University's Response to the Anti-Leadership Vaccine: Developing Servant Leaders, in: Journal of Leadership Studies, 8. Jg. (3), S. 117–33.
  • Smith, B. N./Montagno, R. V./Kuzmenko, T. N. (2004): Transformational and Servant Leadership: Content and Contextual Comparisons, in: Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 10. Jg. (4), S. 80–91.
  • Liden, R. C./Wayne, S. J./Zhao, H./Henderson, D. (2008): Servant leadership: Development of a multidimensional measure and multi-level assessment, in: The Leadership Quarterly, 19. Jg. (2), S. 161–177.
  • Barbuto, J. E./Wheeler, D. W. (2006): Scale Development and Construct Clarification of Servant Leadership, in: Group & Organization Management, 31 Jg. (3), S. 300–326.
  • Sendjaya, S./Sarros, J. C. (2002): Servant Leadership: Its Origin, Development, and Application in Organizations, in: Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 9. Jg. (2), S. 57–64.

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