Month: October 2018

papagena163’s post raised a good point about servant-leaders needing to heal themselves as well as their followers. As I was reading, I was reminded of a post by Dawn that I had previously read. I reflected on the fact that it is easy to serve others when they appreciate your efforts, but it is much more difficult to do so during periods of criticism and conflict. Just as leaders have to be critics of their own thoughts, so too do they need to demonstrate a high degree of self-awareness. Dawn wrote:  “So often the life of a leader is lived in public, that the only place we can show weakness is within ourselves. And this is a lonely place to be. In order to be effective leaders in the midst of it, we need to be very self aware and come to a place of inner healing”.  This made me realize how crucial it is to have a group of unbiased people that I trust and respect around me. People I can be vulnerable with and who help me to heal and come to terms with my strengths, weaknesses, doubts and struggles.  Without inner healing, a servant-leader will find it very difficult to continue to love and serve their followers unconditionally. As is admonished on every airline flight I’ve ever taken, one must put on one’s own oxygen mask before trying to help someone else with theirs.

Georgeena,

In response to the question in your post  about whether I have seen a shift from traditional leadership to servant leadership in my field, I would say yes. As financial constraints have increased and resources have become less and less available over the years, I have indeed seen more of a shift towards servant leadership. However, I do not feel this is due to moral or ethical reasons, but out of necessity. “Servant leadership seeks to involve others in decision making….. and enhances the growth of workers while improving the caring and quality of organizational life” (Spears, 2010). As I reflect upon past servant-leader principals, I think that their goals were to try to inspire us as teachers to do more with less in an effort to serve our students well.  It has worked. Many of us are so committed to our students’ success that we spend money from our own pockets on materials that the board can no longer provide. According to Spears, “servant leadership offers great hope for the future in creating better, more caring, institutions”.  Fortunately, I feel that this shift will continue to take place into the future. Companies such as Southwest Airlines have proven that servant-leadership can be very profitable, and in our capitalist society, profitability, rather than ethics, is the ultimate goal.

Spears, Larry C. (2010). Character and servant leadership: Ten characteristics of effective, caring leaders. The Journal of Virtues & Leadership, 1(1), 25-30.

When coordinating a group project in an organization, team leaders should function according to the Diamond Model for Practicing Servant-Leadership by Page & Wong (2000, p. 10) and rotate between the roles of leader, team member, and servant. According to the model, the team leader first stands in the role of leader to communicate a clear, elevating goal to the team (Larson & LaFasto, 1989, as cited in Northouse, 2016). This is represented by the CEO at the top of Figure 5.2 below. The leader should communicate what the vision is and why it is important. It should relate to something bigger than him or herself, but at the same time be attainable, e.g. a “delicate balance between conceptual thinking and a day-to-day operational approach” (Spears, 2010).  Next, the team leader should position him/herself as a team member in a ‘circle of partners’ (Page & Wong, 2000), approachable and humble. This is represented by the CEO as part of the circle in the middle of the diagram. In my view, it is important that the leader create a system of communication that gives voice to every member of the team; recognizing and valuing their experience and expertise. According to Spears, the leader should also work to build a unified commitment among the members. His relationship with, and respect for the individual members becomes the vehicle through which he can accomplish this (Northouse, 2016). As the members begin to see that they are each important to its accomplishment, their commitment to the common goal and their devised plan could increase. While monitoring team performance and setting priorities (Northouse, 2016), the leader next steps into the role of servant as he/she pours his efforts into assisting the members in achieving the goal and maintaining standards of excellence. All of his/her energy goes towards (1) empowering the team members so that they can produce high-quality results, and (2) working towards their personal and professional development (Spears, 2010) so that they reach their fullest potential (Page & Wong, 2000). This is represented by the CEO being at the bottom of the diagram. If the team’s goals change or if there is a significant change in personnel then the leader can revert back to the beginning of the process at the top of the figure. 

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Page, D., & Wong, T. P. (2000). A conceptual framework for measuring servant leadership. The human factor in shaping the course of history and development, 69-110. Retrieved from http://www.drpaulwong.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Conceptual-Framework.pdf

Spears, Larry C. (2010). Character and servant leadership: Ten characteristics of effective, caring leaders. The Journal of Virtues & Leadership, 1(1), 25-30.

Two critical functions of team effectiveness are performance (being able to accomplish high-quality tasks) and development (being able to work effectively and stay cohesive) (Northouse, 2016). Larson and Lafasto’s eight characteristics of excellent teams (as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 369) are: a clear, elevating goal, results-driven structure, competent team members, unified commitment, collaborative climate, standards of excellence, external support and recognition, and principled leadership.

I acted as a team leader to an educational assistant and a special needs assistant when I taught students with developmental disabilities for a number of years. The three of us were competent team members, able to work cohesively through regular, open communication where all viewpoints were valued. Each person was highly motivated towards student success and it remained our focus above all else. Our commitment, collaboration and high standards resulted in a dramatic decrease in negative student behaviours and greater interaction between our students and the rest of the school.

Principled leadership impacts team effectiveness through four processes: cognitive, motivational, affective, and coordination (Northouse, 2016). More specifically, leaders “can enhance the effectiveness of their team by keeping the team focused on its goals, maintaining a collaborative climate, building confidence among members, demonstrating technical competence, setting priorities, and managing performance (Larson & LaFasto, 1989, as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 372) .

One year I taught second grade with a team of 7 other teachers. All of the teachers on the team were competent, hard-working and collaborative and we had a team leader. Interestingly, our team leader was initially worried about stepping into that role because she had the least amount of teaching experience (teaching was her second career). However, she demonstrated all four processes of principled leadership, especially the ability to maintain a collaborative climate. For example, she knew when to step back and let others take the lead, recognizing their expertise and experience; but she also knew when to step in and help us come to a consensus when we were stuck. She understood the conditions that would enable us demonstrate excellence as a team (Northouse, 2016), and she advocated on our behalf when needed. According to Northouse, a team leader needs to be “behaviorally flexible and have a wide repertoire of actions or skills to meet the team’s diverse needs” (p. 365). I learned that an effective team leader must have many more skills than technical knowledge. Our team leader was an excellent example of this.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

B, I really appreciated your message about the value of time management in your recent post. It reminded me once again about the importance of our thoughts and how they impact everything that we do, including how we use our time. The bible mentions that we are what we think (Proverbs 23:7). I have come to the realization that the root cause for the struggles that people have with issues such as procrastination or time management (indeed any issue at all) is what they THINK and BELIEVE. This course is instrumental in helping me make changes in how I operate, and it all starts with the thoughts in my head. I recognize that I need to look beyond a particular behaviour to the underlying thoughts governing my behaviour in that situation. Prayer and studying God’s word will enable me to see and to change negative thought patterns into positive ones. This will take as much tenacity as the character in your story demonstrated as he fought for the vision he had for his life, but it is a challenge well worth meeting. Thanks for your inspiring post.

Daniel you made an interesting point when you compared psychodynamic emotional intelligence to that of servant leadership in your blog post:

There is a difference between emotional intelligence and servant leadership’s awareness. Mainly that emotional intelligence focuses on looking at and understanding the follower’s emotions and then harnessing those so that the follower can become more productive and effective. Whereas awareness in the servant leadership approach allows the leader to step aside and view themselves and their own perspectives in the greater context of the situation (Northouse, 2019, p. 229).

I agree with your view. According to Northouse, the underlying premise of the value of emotional intelligence is that “people who are more sensitive to their emotions and the impact of their emotions on others will be leaders who are more effective” (p. 28). However servant leaders use their awareness of the feelings of others as an opportunity to serve. Not only do they step aside and put the follower’s needs before theirs, they understand the impact that this will have upon others in turn. They know the value of the golden rule: that treating others they way we would want to be treated will in turn give rise to a desire for service on the part of the follower. In the videos this was demonstrated exceptionally well . The employees of Southwest airlines give incredible customer service and the company was rewarded with much success simply because the leaders made it a priority to place their employee’s needs above all else. Ms Barrett and Mr Kelleher translated their awareness of their employee’s needs into direct opportunities for service.

I feel that Ms Barrett demonstrated exceptionally well the approach to psychodynamic leadership that you defined in your blog post. Just by listening to her you could FEEL the passion that she had for serving others and it motivated everything that she did. She believed 100% in modelling the golden rule and this is evident in the fact that it is in fact the mission of the company., thus proving that if you pour yourself in to people, they will in turn pour themselves into others.

With respect to emotional intelligence, it seems that John Maxwell emphasized emotional intelligence more so than Ms Barrett did. He called it ‘people skills’; the ability to be aware of and connect with people.  May takeaway from the two videos is this: the key to successful leadership is the ability to create positive relationships with people through which you can serve their needs and promote their personal development. John Maxwell pointed out that if you can connect with people and invest in their development, you will earn their loyalty and they will be inspired to treat others in exactly the same manner. The goal of leadership according to Maxwell is in fact to replicate yourself; to create other leaders who in turn serve and develop others. This is the essence of transformational servant leadership.

In my opinion Colleen Barrett is an excellent example of a servant leader. The fact that she had no previous leadership training or experience speaks volumes to the power of servant leadership and the fact that it is something that can be learned, rather than a special trait. According to Ms Barrett (KnowledgeAtWharton, 2008), Southwest Airlines chose to prioritize providing proactive customer service to their employees above everything else. This high level of service created a domino effect. It motivated the employees to provide excellent service to their customers, the customers became loyal to the company, the company became profitable, and the shareholders were recipients of the profits. Ms. Barrett also spoke of the positive, family-like atmosphere that was developed among staff, customers and shareholders. According to Searle and Barbuto Jr, servant leaders have the potential to bring about positive behaviours in individuals, groups and organizations all at the same time and Southwest Airlines clearly demonstrates this. Ms. Barrett also seemed to meet most of John Maxwell’s levels of leadership (Leadership, 2015), with perhaps the exception of level 4: people development. She did not go into detail about what proactive customer service actually looks like, and whether efforts were made to develop the employees personally or professionally. Interestingly, Herb Kelleher is, in my mind, an example of a transformational servant leader and not just a servan leader because through his mentorship Ms. Barrett was transformed from a legal secretary into a co-president of the company despite her lack of formal training. This story helped me to better differentiate servant leadership from transformational servant leadership and it helped me see that both types of leadership can be extremely effective in the secular business world.

KnowledgeAtWharton. [Screen name]. (2008, July 9). Serving on southwest [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watchv=6TgR95vnM0

Leadership. [Screen name]. (2015, Aug 30). John Maxwell 5 levels of leadership full video [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe6XacmIZms