Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world. The phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay,

Greenleaf said: “The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

According to Spears (2002), there are 10 major characteristics of servant leadership: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community.

Servant leadership works best when leaders are altruistic and have a strong motivation and deep-seated interest in helping others. In addition, for successful servant leadership to occur, it is important that followers are open and receptive to servant leaders who want to empower them and help them grow.

Criticism.

The servant leadership approach also has limitations. First, the paradoxical nature of the title “servant leadership” creates semantic noise that diminishes the potential value of the approach. Second, no consensus exists on a common theoretical framework for servant leadership. Third, servant leadership has a utopian ring that conflicts with traditional approaches to leadership. Last, it is not clear why “conceptualizing” is a defining characteristic of servant leadership. Despite the limitations, servant leadership continues to be an engaging approach to leadership that holds much promise.

Southwest Airlines president Colleen Barrett attributes the success of their airline business to their business model of giving the utmost priority to the employees followed by the passengers and then by the shareholders. They preferred and practiced treating the team equally. Colleen B. believed in motivating people. Their principle has been to treat people the way you want to be treated and everything will fall into place. But the foundation for all that, she said, has been making the satisfaction of employees and customers the highest priority. (Video)

Martin Luther King, Jr.  did not always want to be the leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the US, but he just knew that there was a need for equality. By putting other people’s needs first, he was able to leave a legacy, which proves that anyone can make a difference through a humble and serving perspective. Until today, some of King’s speeches are still listened to regularly, as people see them as having a ring of truth (https://futureofworking.com/5-famous-servant-leaders/).

References

Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. (2016). What is servant leadership? Retrieved from https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication

Barrett, C. (2008, July 9). Southwest Airlines’ Colleen Barrett on ‘Servant Leadership’. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TgR95vnM0c

Maxwell, J. (2015, August 30). John Maxwell 5 Levels of Leadership Full Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe6XacmIZms