004 Servant Leadership - essay
At the WSTS where I study I have had an fascinating lectures of Leadership with one of the top coaches on Leadership in Poland. To pass I chosen to write an essay and go deep into Servant Leadership.
The Servant Leadership is fascinating, expending every single day as a primary management solution.
I received 5 the highest possible grade. This essay has been written by me in polish language and translated by AI.
Collage of Theology and Social Sciences in Warsaw Subject: Leadership
Will Servant Leadership Become the Leadership of the Future?
Describe your position, considering the pros and cons of applying the philosophy of servant leadership in managing a contemporary organization.
Introduction
Servant leadership (ang. servant leadership) is a leadership style in which the leader is actively engaged in the development of people in their organization, full of enthusiasm and having a positive impact on the group they serve. This does not mean that the leader does not aim to fulfill the mission and vision of the organization and achieve the intended goals—they certainly do. However, they do not place these goals above people but achieve them together with them. This style aims to support an inclusive environment that enables everyone in the organization to grow, whereas traditional organizations focus on the company's success, their profits, or the general development of the organization.
The theory of servant leadership was initiated by Robert K. Greenleaf, who is regarded as the father of this term, which appeared in his essay from the 1970s titled "The Servant as Leader." “After reading the book "Journey to the East," Greenleaf was inspired by the main character, Leo—a servant who unexpectedly disappears from his work. After his disappearance, the productivity and efficiency of the remaining employees fall apart, revealing that Leo had been the leader all along” [1].
I believe it is worth highlighting the thought that will accompany us and will be the main theme of my work: A good leader serves the people in their organization. They are like a shepherd to the sheep.
"Servant leadership is, above all, about serving others. Everything starts with a natural desire to serve others. Only later do leadership aspirations appear, which are always a conscious choice" [2].
For us Christians, a wonderful example was our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Leaders who shape the culture in their organization through the model of servant leadership instill a sense of purpose, trust, respect, and significance in their group. Such leaders are ready to make sacrifices for their group and organization, prioritizing the well-being and development of others above their own goals, not focusing on their own benefits because they see the benefit and privilege in the opportunity to serve others [3].
A servant leader has clearly defined motives for their actions and is characterized by extremely important traits:
1. **Communicative and social** - They excel in communication, understanding, and social management skills within the group.
2. **Facilitative** - They facilitate people's development, train, support, and organize work in the group, fostering collaboration, encouragement, and effective achievement of goals.
3. **Assertive** - Assertively and decisively, they focus the group on the right things, being a voice of reason and authority when needed.
4. **Situationally aware** - Aware of the reality around them. A servant leader is well-informed about everything happening in the group, communicates clearly, and resolves conflicts.
5. **Enthusiastic** - A servant leader is full of enthusiasm, energy, and focus, which they transfer to the entire group.
6. **Continually improving** - Continuously learning, focused on personal development, serving as an example to others. They live by the Kaizen philosophy, reflecting it in their personal and professional life.
7. **Conflict resolution** - Resolves conflicts. When they arise, a servant leader facilitates discussions, resolves conflicts, and controls their emotions.
8. **Attitude of empowerment** - Exhibits an empowering attitude. As a leader, they are also a coach who motivates and inspires the organization.
9. **Attitude of transparency** - Demonstrates a transparent attitude, ensuring clarity and avoiding misunderstandings in the group.
10. **Coach mentality** - Possesses a coach mentality, training others, encouraging, teaching, and being an example themselves [4].
I have allowed myself to cite these important traits that a servant leader possesses and develops because they were written by an author who was, for me, the greatest example of what servant leadership is, even before I knew the term. It is worth adding that in 1992, the already mentioned author of the term servant leadership, Robert Greenleaf, published ten characteristics of a servant leader in his book, which he promoted for deeper understanding. According to him, it looks like this:
1. Listening
2. Empathy
3. Healing
4. Awareness
5. Persuasion
6. Conceptualization
7. Foresight
8. Stewardship
9. Commitment to the growth of people
10. Building community
It is important that the author himself wrote that this list of servant leadership traits is by no means exhaustive. It is worth noting that in different organizations, servant leaders will focus on different things, and various values and traits will be more visible in their work. Robert Greenleaf presented a general outline, while Peter, as a master and trainer of Scrum and Agile, focused on traits essential in the IT industry [5].
Let us now consider why servant leadership and its philosophy are a desired model for the future in contemporary organizations.
At the very beginning, it is worth mentioning that in today's organizations, there is a phenomenon called the leadership crisis. Research conducted among WorkForce 2020 employees clearly showed that employees do not recognize leaders and true leaders among their managers [6]. Many organizations are looking for ways to improve this situation by seeking new solutions such as servant leadership, Agile, and Scrum, because "leaders help shape the world and have a strong influence on our entire lives, especially if we work with them" [7].
Under the influence of outstanding leaders focused on the organization, the group has greater morality and achieves significantly better performance because people have greater motivation for efficiency and achieving results. This stems from the fact that leadership is not what we do to people, but what we do with people.
The effectiveness of organizations, whether charitable, church-related where this model is very popular, is very significant, and for this reason, servant leadership is gaining increasing adoption in the business environment.
This phenomenon is extremely interesting in itself, often painful for people who, raised in a system of a hard, rough hand, continued such behaviors and do not want to change. The interest in servant leadership and its growing adoption in organizations is the best proof of how effective and better this model is, despite the fact that it is radically different from the traditional model.
The traditional management model has failed. It has failed organizations and the people working in them. But someone might ask, if servant leadership is such a good, better model of management for leaders in an organization, why is it not present in my workplace?
So let's consider now whether we will soon cooperate with servant leaders in every company or observe their actions in other organizations.
#### Too Good to Be True?
To answer this question, we need to distinguish between two elements: the leader who aspires to develop servant leadership qualities and the people, organization, and culture. I have already extensively focused on the characteristics of a servant leader in this work. How many people do we know who can boast such a range of soft skills, but especially having a sincere servant's heart ready to live for others? The road to becoming a servant leader is long, difficult, and outside the comfort zone, but as I mentioned earlier, it is extremely rewarding, worth experiencing despite the inconveniences.
It is very important to be aware that servant leadership is a difficult process experienced only by brave leaders. "There are no shortcuts to becoming an outstanding leader" [8].
The second element is us, the people in the organization, our culture, existing work and management models. I now want to focus on the cultural element, which, in my opinion, constitutes the greatest challenge in the development of servant leadership, recalling the first point on how important and at the same time how difficult it is to find and develop potential servant leaders.
The first time I encountered Americans was when I was a teenager. I always admired their positive attitude, radiant personality, and smile. In my family, emotions were not shown much, and interestingly, my experience is not isolated. Observing people from the States, we might have had the impression that they were from a completely different world—it seemed that way to me then, but to some extent, it was true. As Poles, we could see this in the 1990s. Then, shortly after the fall of communism, with great optimism, Amway company leaders began coming to Poland hoping to build large distribution and sales networks. In most cases, people, without much understanding of the basics of MLM companies, clung to the dream of a better life fueled by leaders from the States talking about financial freedom. It was enough to sign up, so people did, and according to unofficial sources, in three years of operation, over 100,000 success-hungry people joined Amway.
Young Amway adepts organized meetings to which neighbors, friends, or family were invited, where enthusiastic leaders would come on stage, shouting about a better life without spending much time on the practical elements of this activity, which quickly resulted in a negative opinion. An absurd situation occurred when a film was made about the activities and practices of one of the largest Amway groups operating in our country at that time. The film was mocking, highlighting behaviors unusual for our culture at that time, such as creating goal maps, visualization, or affirmation, elements normal in the teachings of personal development proponents.
Why did I write about all this, and how does it relate to the success or failure of the development of servant leadership in our country? The truth is that working with Amway gave people the opportunity to build a sales network from which one could generate profit, as many demonstrated. The reason for the film's creation was not that the prices of these products were out of touch with Polish realities but that as a society, we were not ready for change. Today, hundreds of companies operating in the MLM model in Poland are successfully
building their networks, generating profits and success for their distributors. Was it Amway's fault that they failed to build a successful network and faced negative opinions? I don't think so.
We were not ready for change. Similarly, if we are not ready for cultural change in an organization, the implementation of servant leadership may be perceived as absurd and incomprehensible.
#### Servant Leadership in Business
For years, servant leadership has been successfully implemented in large and small organizations in the United States and many other countries. In Europe, this model has already gained recognition and acceptance. Will this phenomenon be transferred to our country? The answer is not simple, but there are examples of companies where servant leadership has become an important element of the organisational culture, regardless of the industry.
I will mention here one of the American companies that implemented the principles of servant leadership and successfully used them to build its success.
One of the most famous examples is Southwest Airlines, whose former CEO Herb Kelleher introduced servant leadership principles to the company and was an outstanding leader of this model. Kelleher was a charismatic and influential leader whose management style had a huge impact on the company's success. He put the needs of employees and customers first, creating a friendly and supportive work environment. His philosophy was simple: "Employees come first. If they are treated well, they will treat customers well, and the company will thrive."
The company not only survived but flourished even during difficult economic times. Kelleher's commitment to employees and customers was a key factor in this success. Today, Southwest Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world, known for its exceptional customer service and friendly atmosphere [9].
Another interesting example of implementing servant leadership principles is the company Zappos, founded by Tony Hsieh. His approach to leadership focused on building a strong organizational culture and creating a positive work environment. Hsieh put the needs of employees first, believing that happy employees lead to happy customers. His philosophy of "delivering happiness" was at the heart of Zappos' culture and significantly contributed to the company's success.
In both cases, the implementation of servant leadership principles brought significant benefits to the company, employees, and customers. These examples show that servant leadership can be an effective model for contemporary organizations, bringing a positive impact on business results and employee well-being [10].
The next question arises: Will such a model work in every industry? Here is a summary of the Agile Manifesto, the next philosophy on which my work is based:
1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
4. Responding to change over following a plan
Does this model work in every industry? Definitely not. Let's imagine that we apply this philosophy to healthcare. What if every surgeon decided on the operating method? Or consider that a pilot does not follow a plan because they decided to change their way of flying. The philosophy of Agile, based on servant leadership, is unlikely to work in some industries where rules, processes, and compliance are very important. However, servant leadership, adapted to the needs and specifics of the organization, can work anywhere, provided that it is introduced in a sustainable and thoughtful way.
Before concluding, it is related to the development of the Internet. Why did I write about it?
I did it because of a story I heard about twenty years ago. Edward Cadbury, one of the most famous historical figures associated with the Cadbury chocolate company, was a devout Christian and a believer in servant leadership. At a time when there were no labor laws, at a time when the phenomenon of servant leadership was unknown, Cadbury was a pioneer in introducing practices focused on the well-being and development of employees. Despite the prevailing business culture of the era, his approach was successful, and he built a thriving business while maintaining his principles of servant leadership [11].
#### Conclusion
So is servant leadership an achievable and effective model for modern organizations? I believe it is. Cultural obstacles and resistance to change can be significant, but the benefits of adopting this leadership style are profound. It fosters a positive, inclusive work environment where people feel valued, motivated, and empowered. The examples of successful servant leaders throughout history and in various industries today demonstrate its potential.
As we look to the future, promoting and practicing servant leadership can lead to more ethical, productive, and human-centered organizations. The journey may be challenging, but the rewards for individuals and organizations alike are worth the effort.
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**Footnotes:**
1. Greenleaf, R. K. (1970). The Servant as Leader.
2. Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness.
3. Greenleaf, R. K. (1996). On Becoming a Servant Leader.
4. Greenleaf, R. K. (2003). The Power of Servant Leadership.
5. Saddington, P. (2012). The Agile Pocket Guide.
6. Deloitte (2014). WorkForce 2020.
7. Forbes (2016). The Importance of Leadership in Business.
8. Maxwell, J. (2013). The 5 Levels of Leadership.
9. Biography of Herb Kelleher.
10. Biography of Tony Hsieh.
11. Biography of Edward Cadbury.
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Przywództwo - Leadership in English.