LDRS5O1/ POST 2.1 by CLEN-NP

Edenguessi/ October 9, 2018/ Business & Non-Profit, ldrs501, Post 2.1/ 5 comments

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How Does Transformational Servant Leadership (TSL) affect the development of Strategic Leadership (SL) direction in Non-Profit?

Before answering the question, it appears necessary to understand some terms (TSL, SL, Non- Profit).

According to Imbenzi, Page, and Williaume (2018), TSL combines two leadership styles: Transformational leadership which focuses on follower’s development for the benefit of the organization, and servant leadership which emphasizes the growth of followers for their own interest. Therefore, to bring followers to maturation and to allow an organization to manage a “VUCA world” (Hughes, Beatty, & Dinwoodie, 2014, p. 21) leaders need to be strategic.

Strategic leadership demonstrates the aptitude to usher ” direction, alignment, and commitment needed to achieve the enduring performance potential of the organization” (Hugues & al, 2014, p.11) regardless of the status its status (for-profit or non-profit). Non-Profit organizations (NPO) aim to provide products and services for the benefit and development of the community (Not-for-Profit Guide | Canada Business Ontario, 2018).

With all the above information in mind, it can be argued TSL will support the promotion of individual, organizational, community involvement and growth advocate by SL in the NPO context. To achieve the growth needed, SL’s direction will depend heavily on the organizational leadership culture. (Hughes & al, 2014). Therefore, if TSL ought to be the ” Leadership strategy” (Hughes & al, 2014, p. 32) culture of an organization it would suggest that the mission, vision, and values of the organization would align with the core competencies of transformational servant leadership. For the non-profit sector it means Strategic Transformational “Servant leaders” (Parolini, 2018, p. 9) demonstrates the ” ability to bring integrity, humility, and servanthood into caring for, empowering, and developing of others in carrying out the tasks and processes of visioning, goal setting, leading, modeling, team building, and shared decision-making” (p. 9). In summary, transformational servant leadership put followers and the organization at the center of its approach. The TSL models support the strategic leadership concept which advocates for the implication of all the stakeholders into the elaboration of  strategies (M.Ungerer, G Ungerer, & Herholdt, 2016; Hugues & al, 2014; Lepsinger, 2010). Finally, It resonates with the idea of non for- profit for which service to others through an organization is the primary focus.

What are the benefits of keeping servant leadership as a central focus in the use of the strategic leadership non-profit or Christian ministry organization?

  The first benefit is the focus on people development: The retention and attraction of talented employees account for one of the important challenges’ organizations face (Ungerer & al, 2016). Therefore, companies that focus on developing their personnel will have a higher employees retention rate (Lepsinger, 2010).

Another benefit is the high moral standard of the organization. Servant leadership provides values-based leadership (Castellon, Peregrym, & Woll, 2018) such as integrity, humility, justice which constitute long last lasting success’ indicators.

A third benefit includes a high order of thinking and analysis (Strong, Williaume & Tsu, 2018) TSL can offer to SL. Leaving in a world in constant change, organizations constantly shift the way they think about themselves. Concepts such as New economy thinking, Possibility thinking, Paradox thinking (Ungerer & al, 2015) call for creativity, optimism, comfortability with complex situations and circumstances. These concepts agree with the idea known as Appreciative Inquiry which focuses on the positive aspect of people and organization to bring about the change required (How to Do An Appreciative Inquiry Interview, 2018).

 What critical thinking principles outlined in the “Critical Thinking” Learning Activity from Week 1, are important for tying the principles of critical thinking with transformational servant leadership principles in the development of organizational strategies in a non-profit?

If critical thinking describes a process which unveils assumptions, framework and favors informed decisions (Brookfield, 2018), then the principle of servant leadership ty to critical thinking should favor worldviews and context. Giving the principles outlined in the learning activities 1, the following significantly contribute into TSL and SL

• Assessment: it allows to understand the context in which strategy take place,
• Mission, Vision, and Values: It permits the understanding of the worldview in play in the development of a strategic culture
• Key drivers: it demonstrated the understanding of the assessment and worldview of an organization and informs the strategic priorities.

In an NPO context where the focus is community development, these principles play important roles. For examples, the strong presence of the Red Cross organization in downtown Paris at this moment would reveal a lack of assessment, a misunderstanding of the mission, vision, values; and a poor deployment of drivers. In contrast, the Red Cross presence in a zone of conflict will communicate the opposite.

References

Brookfieldkfield, S. (2018). Stephen Brookfield on Creative & Critical Thinking. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8umk4w8kB8

Castellon, A., Peregrym, D., & Wollf, R. (2018). Values-Based Leadership | TWU MA Leadership Monograph. Retrieved from https://books.twu.ca/monograph/chapter/values-based-leadership/

How to Do An Appreciative Inquiry Interview. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P2xVpH0uTI

Hughes, R., Beatty, K., & Dinwoodie, D. (2014). Becoming a strategic leader (2nd ed.). San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.

Imbenzi, G., Page, D., & William, D. (2018). Transformational Servant Leadership | TWU MA Leadership Monograph. Retrieved from https://books.twu.ca/monograph/chapter/transformational-servant-leadership/

Lepsinger, R. (2010). Closing the execution gap: How great leaders and their companies get results. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Not-for-Profit Guide | Canada Business Ontario. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.cbo-eco.ca/en/index.cfm/starting/getting-started/not-for-profit-guide/

Parolini, J. (2018). Effective servant leadership: A model incorporating servant leadership and the competing values framework. Retrieved from https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/sl_proceedings/2004/parolini_effective_servant.pdf

Strong, H., William, D., & Wu, T. (2018). Leadership Competency Framework | TWU MA Leadership Monograph. Retrieved from https://books.twu.ca/monograph/chapter/leadership-competency-framework/

Ungerer, M., Ungerer, G., & Herholdt, J. (2016). Navigating Strategic Possibility [Ebook]. Randburg: KR Publishing. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.student.twu.ca:2956/eds/ebookviewer/ebook/ZTAwMHhuYV9fMTQyNzAyOF9fQU41?sid=8d045b0c-49b2-41fa-a882-63393a4b6a3b@sessionmgr4009&vid=1&format=EB&rid=1