Why evidence-based decision making is important for the transformational servant leader

Leadership, in my opinion, involves influencing others towards accomplishing common or shared objectives. A transformational servant leader (TSL) could be described as a leader who; (a) sees themselves as a servant or steward who has been entrusted with responsibilities to manage, as against, leader who only exercises authority and superiority over others, (b) has the primary intention of serving others by placing their needs and aspirations ahead of theirs, and, (c) inspires themselves and others towards deeper levels of morality and motivation (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002).

Based on my experiences, I have realized that in order to influence others towards a common goal, a leader would be required to take strategic decisions that provide a clear sense of direction to those being led. Hence, decision making is a key function of leadership and the quality of leadership delivered reflects in the extent to which a leader takes informed decisions.

Several factors can influence a leader’s decision making, one of such, is the ability of the leader to make use of credible evidence. Put simply, evidence-based decision making involves basing decisions on empirical data. A transformational servant leader who adopts an evidence-based decision making process, would, where practicable, take decisions by considering data and insights that have been derived from credible research, among other factors.

I believe evidence-based decision making is important for the transformational servant leader, for the following reasons;

  1. Evidence-based decisions are less subjective and almost entirely free from bias. Consequently, decisions based on evidence from credible research, are obviously more effective for addressing problem(s) or approaching the issues at hand.
  2. Logically, a transformational servant leader is expected to adopt a much more collaborative approach towards leadership (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002, p. 62); this implies that a TSL would require consensus building and more engagement with others. In addition to helping the TSL take better informed decisions, I believe it would be easier to influence others and earn their cooperation and support, if the leader is able to provide unbiased evidences as the basis for their decisions.
  3. Lastly, one important question arising from the nature of the TSL is how they can appropriately determine the needs and aspirations of the led. Another, is how practicable it is to satisfy the needs and aspirations of everyone being led, especially if resources are limited and these needs/aspirations are diverse? This makes an additional strong case for applying insights gained from the use of empirical evidences where practicable.

In conclusion, it is my opinion that without evidence-based decision making, a transformational servant leader would against their best intentions, remain ineffective at delivering sound leadership; intentions don’t yield results, taking action does!

 

References

Sendjaya, S. & Sarros, J.C. (2002). Servant leadership: Its origin, development, and application in organizations. Journal of Leadership and Organization Studies, 9(2), 57-64.