{"id":95,"date":"2018-06-02T23:54:43","date_gmt":"2018-06-02T23:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/?p=95"},"modified":"2018-06-02T23:54:43","modified_gmt":"2018-06-02T23:54:43","slug":"unit-5-character-and-servant-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/2018\/06\/02\/unit-5-character-and-servant-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Unit 5: Character and Servant Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test is: do those served grow as persons: do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived? (Greenleaf, 1977\/2002, p. 27)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the article, “Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics
\nof Effective, Caring Leaders,” Spears (2010), enlisted\u00a0 10 important characteristics of an effective servant leader. Those 10 characteristics are as below,<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Listening: It is essential for a leader to be a good listener. Being a good listener doesn’t mean only listening to others but also to one’s inner voices. It is about listening to whats said and unsaid. (Spears 2010,p.27).<\/li>\n
  2. Empathy:\u00a0\u00a0 People need to be accepted and recognized for their special and unique spirits (Spears 2010,p.27). A servant leader practices empathy.<\/li>\n
  3. Healing:\u00a0One of the great strengths of servant leadership is the potential for healing one\u2019s self and one\u2019s relationship to others. Most of the people have broken spirits in some way or the other. An effective servant leader works towards healing oneself and others (Spears 2010,p.27).<\/li>\n
  4. Awareness:\u00a0General awareness, and especially self-awareness, strengthens the servant-leader. Awareness helps one in understanding issues involving ethics, power, and values. Awareness is an awakener, and able leaders are usually sharp awake (Spears 2010, p.28).<\/li>\n
  5. Persuasion:\u00a0Another characteristic of servant leaders is reliance on persuasion.\u00a0 The servant leader seeks to convince others, rather than coerce compliance (Spears 2010, p.28).<\/li>\n
  6. Conceptualisation: One must be able to think beyond day to day realities. This is a characteristic that requires discipline and practice (Spears 2010, p.28).<\/li>\n
  7. Foresight:\u00a0Foresight is a characteristic that enables the servant leader to understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequence of a decision for the future (Spears 2010, p.28).<\/li>\n
  8. Stewardship:\u00a0Servant leadership assumes first and foremost a commitment to serving the needs of others. It also emphasizes the use of openness and persuasion, rather than control (Spears 2010, p.29).<\/li>\n
  9. Commitment to the growth of people:\u00a0 Servant leader is deeply committed to the growth of every individual within his or her organization.<\/li>\n
  10. Building community:\u00a0Servant leadership suggests that true community can be created among those who work in businesses and other institutions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I have picked two central actions that I believe a leader should take when coordinating a group project in an organization. First one is awareness. Enlightenment is the first step to change. No growth or change can occur without being aware of the problem and its cause. While coordinating group projects leaders should be mindful of each employee’s skills so he\/she can place them exactly where their potential can be 100% utilized.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Self-awareness is also a critical part of being a leader because if you are not aware of your shortcomings, you will not be open to change. Awareness awakens people and makes them uncomfortable. Most able leaders are aware and reasonably disturbed (Spears 2010, p.28).\u00a0 As one of my favorite mentors, Robin Sharma quoted in one of his books, “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and beautiful in the end.”<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    The second essential quality that a servant leader requires to be efficient in group activities is a commitment to the growth of people. To serve people is to commit yourself to help them grow. In group projects, his skill is undeniably vital as a leader.\u00a0 The servant leader recognizes the tremendous responsibility to do everything in his or her power to nurture the personal
    \nand professional growth of employees and colleagues. In practice, this can include (but is not limited to) concrete actions such as making funds available for personal and professional development, taking a personal interest in the ideas and suggestions from everyone, encouraging worker involvement in decision-making, and actively assisting laid-off employees to find other positions (Spears 2010,p.29).<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    It is true that the other eight qualities are indispensable as well. These two stood out to me the most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test is: do those served grow as persons: do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “Unit 5: Character and Servant Leadership”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-unit-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/99"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/shaaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}