Category: Unit 4

John Maxwell passionately describes the process a leader must go through to be successful. This process involves the leader being actively involved with the people they are leading.  From the hiring process, through vision casting, working shoulder to shoulder through organizational growth and improvement and on toward developing individuals to reach their highest capacity.  The leader must care deeply for and about the people that are being developed.  Relationship produces loyalty and respect in both directions (Maxwell, 2015). This aligns with other work that has been done on servant leadership.  The servant leader puts the follower first, empowers them and develops their potential. This is done by paying attentions to them, caring for them and developing them (Northouse, 2016). Colleen Barrett of Southwest Airlines sums it by explaining that the leader should treat everyone with egalitarian equality and passionately serve other people (Barrett, 2008).

Servant Leadership differs from transformational leadership. Instead of being focused on developing the follower for the benefit of the organization, the servant leader develops the follower for the benefit of the follower. As the servant leader builds the team over time, macro (organizational) and micro (individual) behaviours such as compassion, empathy and hope will develop (Searle and Barbuto, 2011).The leader who is aware of the broader context of the organization will know how to develop different followers in different ways so that all outcomes benefit the individual, the organization and society (Northouse, 2016).

References

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

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

Searle, T.P. and Barbuto, J.E. (2011). Servant Leadership, Hope, and Organizational Virtuousness: A Framework Exploring Positive Micro and Macro Behaviors and Performance Impact. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 18(1), 107-117. [Library Link; sign-in required](https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1548051810383863

Transformational leadership is a newer leadership model and has been researched in contrast to transactional leadership. The transformational leader is tasked with inspiring people to do great things to further the goals of the organization (Northouse, 2016). This leadership requires that the leader has a higher moral development than her followers and therefore her personal demonstration of virtue is important. (Mulla and Krishnan, 2011).  This leader must recognize the need for change, articulate a new vision and inspire and motivate others to work for something that is greater than herself (Northouse, 2016).  Inspiration takes time.  Transformational leadership is most effective in creating change in followers when the leader has an opportunity to work directly with them over a long period of time (Mulla and Krishnan, 2011).

Mother Theresa is a good example of a transformational leader.  She set out to serve the church, do God’s will and help the less fortunate in Culcutta.  Mother Theresa impacted countless people through her work with the poor.  She had a vision for what needed to be done, sought permission from the church to do it her way and inspired others to work with her.  Her dedication drew the attention of the world which she used to continually funnel resources back to those she cared so deeply for (Biography, 2014).

References

Biography.com editors. 2014. Mother Teresa Biography. sourced from https://www.biography.com/people/mother-teresa-9504160

Mulla, Z. R. and Krishnan, V. R. (2011) Transformational leadership: Do the leader’s morals matter and do the follower’s morals change? In the Journal of Human Values. Vol 17, Issue 2 pp 129-143

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.