Transformational servant leadership and strategic leadership on non-profit

 According to Atha, et. al.  (2018) some characteristics of transformational servant leadership are:

• Good leadership which motivates and mobilizes others to accomplish a task or think with creativity, vision, integrity and skill for the benefit of all concerned.
• Servant-leadership serves others by investing in their development and well-being for the benefit of the common good.
• Servant-leaders aspire to be great only in their service to others. They are committed to serving others with integrity; humility; sincere concern; a generous, forgiving and giving heart; and self-discipline. They relate to others by investing, empowering, caring for, and consulting others. (p. 8).

Transformational servant leadership should produce results.  Results should be seen in the lives of people and by the action of the people in conjunction with the vision, mission, values and ethics of the organization. Therefore, strategic leadership requires leaders to transform the people they lead and inspire people to achieve the results of the organization. Most non-profit organizations focus on transforming the lives of people. To be effective game changers and life changers there must be effective leaders within the organization.  According to Bachelder (2017) “People will produce their best when they are at their best”.  It therefore takes greats leaders to develop great people and achieve results within the organization.

Besides producing results, servant leaders must be genuinely committed to serve others. Currently, there are thousands of non-profit organizations around the world promising a better future, but how many are really genuine and effective? Funds management is a highly controversial topic in the non-profit area. Today more than ever, this area needs people with high ethical and moral standards willing to put followers first. As Jesus followers we should be setting an example of the highest quality standards.

Parolini (2004) according to Atha, et. al (2018) suggests:

Within the non-profit sector servant leaders are defined by their ability to bring integrity, humility, and servanthood to care for, empower, and develop others to carry out the tasks and processes of visioning, goal setting, leading, modelling, team building, and shared decision-making”. (p. 23).

Servant leadership as a central focus in the use of the strategic leadership

Servant leadership produces many benefits to the lives of individuals and organizations, especially when it comes to strategic leadership. Some of the benefits of transformational servant leadership according to Bachelder (2017) are positive change in culture within the organization, improve productivity, increased growth and profitability and transformation of employees, regarding their personal growth and development.  Teams will achieve superior performance over time.  When deep care is taken of people, lasting relationships are developed within teams and beyond through investments in building genuine relationships.

Servant leadership also produce the adequate environment to develop strategic thinking such as reframing, systems thinking, looking for patterns and collective process (Hughes, Beatty, & Dinwoodie, 2014). Reframing includes seeing things differently, which is closely related to critical thinking in servant leadership. Looking for pattern includes thinking for long-term, which is related to foresight. Strategic servant leaders need to systematically learn from previous experiences to improve future interventions and decisions.  Thinking of strategic leadership as a collective process enables organizations to achieve higher results. In a complex environment, no individual is expected to have all the knowledge and wisdom for decision making. As Proverbs 11:14 says “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.”

Servant leadership is also beneficial for the structure of the organization regarding strategy. Most have a distribution power across the hierarchy on a vertical and horizontal dimension (Galbraith, 2014). Previously, most organizations had a vertical structure with a detailed process and centralized power. Currently organizations work under a different structure, one which is interdependent and flatter.  Servant leadership empowers people and invest in their development which can be extremely useful for modern environments. People are now expected to work collaboratively; servant leadership values can moderate the appropriate behaviours for followers. Research has shown that TSL has multiplying effects, thus followers are more likely to replicate specific behaviours (Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Chenweiliao, & Meuser, J. D. (2014).

Critical Thinking, Transformational Servant Leadership and Organizational Strategies

At least 3 critical thinking principles are important for development of organizational strategies through TSL: accuracy, larger view and intellectual humility.

Obtaining accurate information for decision making is an important skill for critical thinking. Decision making should cover a broad range of information and perspectives, involving others is a strategic bridge for execution in organizations (Lespinger, 2010). Through critical thinking information is carefully processed, explored, questioned and analyzed. In the non-profit area accuracy on decision making is vital since it affects people’s wellbeing, for instance deciding where to invest funds in poor communities can be determinant to improve health issues for a target population. Evidence based decisions are also more likely to produce sustainable results in strategy implementation. Accuracy is related with servant leadership principles as it provides thoughtful interventions and ensure actions are done with the best interests. A special focus on followers and stakeholder’s wellbeing is characteristic of a servant leader.

In order to have a clear vision, leaders need to understand the big picture as part of the strategic process. It allows the organization to understand 3 strategic pieces: what to do, where to play and how to win (Galbraith, 2014). Having a vision is just the first step, knowing where and how to implement it will determine success. Awareness on environmental trends increases the ability of leaders and organizations to understand internal and external markets. Non-profit sectors involve a wide variety of stakeholders from very different backgrounds, understanding different perspectives and needs provides the bigger picture. It also relates to an important TSL principle: awareness. Servant leaders have a strong awareness of their surroundings as well as their inner voice. Critical thinking and strategy execution are an ongoing learning process.

Finally, Worthington, E. L., Jr., & Allison, S. T. (2018) defined intellectual humility as the ability to treat one’s ideas as subject to modification and to negotiate ideas fairly, representing another person’s ideas respectfully and honestly rather than framing his or her ideas manipulatively. This is a powerful component in servant leadership, specifically as a character trait. When there is a broad expertise and knowledge in an area, is easy to share ideas from a higher intellectual position. As servant leaders, ideas should be share fairly and in a humble way, respecting other opinions and inviting them to the conversation.

References

Atha, D. L. (Ed.), Castellon, A., George, I., Laird, P., Mitchell, K., Page, D., Peregrym, D., Strong, H., Willaume, D., Wollf, R., Wu, T. (2018) MA leadership and MA in educational leadership monograph 2018. Unpublished manuscript. Trinity Western University: Langley BC.

Berrett Koehler Publishers (2017). Why the Dare-to-serve framework is so powerful by Cheryl Bachelder. Retrieved from https://daretoserveonlinetraining.com/video-1

Berrett Koehler Publishers (2017). Why the Dare-to-serve framework is so powerful by Cheryl Bachelder. Retrieved from https://servantleader.lpages.co/video-play-page-3/

Galbraith, J. R. (2014). Designing organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Hughes R., Colarelli-Beatty K. & Dinwoodie D. (2014) Becoming a strategic leader. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.ca/Becoming-Strategic-Leader-Organizations-Enduring/dp/1118567234

Lespinger, R. (2010). Closing the execution Gap. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

LIDEN, R. C., WAYNE, S. J., CHENWEI LIAO, & MEUSER, J. D. (2014). Servant Leadership and Serving Culture: Influence on Individual and Unit Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 57(5), 1434–1452. https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca:2420/10.5465/amj.2013.0034

Worthington, E. L., Jr., & Allison, S. T. (2018). Types of humility. In Heroic humility: What the science of humility can say to people raised on self-focus. (pp. 31–55). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca:2420/10.1037/0000079-003