Week 5 Learning Activities – Spears
While teams have a purpose and are meant to be a cohesive group, there are times when the leader of that group has to take action. However, it is up to the leader to assess what action, if any, is needed and then intervene with the specific leadership function to meet the demands of that situation (Northouse, 2019). These actions are broken up into three sections which Northouse (2019) provides: internal task leadership actions, internal relational leadership actions, and external environmental leadership actions. Even though these actions are straightforward, the characteristics of a servant leader need to be understood: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community (Spears, 2010).
An example of an internal task leadership action is being able to facilitate decision making. If the leader determines that members are not adequately sharing information with each other, he or she might ask questions to seek out the information that is not being shared (Northouse, 2019). Empathy and persuasion are necessary in this case. Empathy is needed in regards to understanding why people are bringing specific ideas to the table, or why they are rejecting other ideas, and persuasion through the asking of questions to seek out the information that is not being shared (Northouse, 2019).
An internal relational leadership action would be collaborating. If the leader observes that some team members are not taking others’ opinions into account, then the leader might intervene to encourage compromise. Building community and listening would be key servant leadership characteristics for this action. The leader must exercise building community in reasoning with both parties and coming to a decision – not tearing the team apart. The leader must also apply listening in this process so he or she can understand what is being said by both parties (Spears, 2010).
The final example is that of an external environmental leadership action: sharing relevant environmental information with the team. If the team leader reviews the environment and finds that the organization’s business is going in a new direction, he or she can share this information with the team to keep them in line with these new directions (Northouse, 2019). Foresight and awareness are necessary servant leadership characteristics for this action. Foresight is needed because the leader needs to be able to see how these environmental changes will affect the organization and awareness is needed to understand what needs to be brought forward to the team (Spears, 2010).
I am wondering if there are any other servant leader characteristics that would fit with these action. Do all of them fit?
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication
Spears, Larry C. (2010) Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective,Caring Leaders. The Journal of Virtues & Leadership, Vol. 1 Iss. 1, 2010, 25-30.