Category: LDRS 500

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

According to Northouse (2016), transformational leadership is leadership that has as its goal the transformation of people (p. 160). The relationship between the leader and follower is a key element because the bond formed between the leader and the follower is the medium through which the follower is motivated to accomplish tasks. Transformational leadership falls at one end of a spectrum. At the other end of the spectrum is ‘laissez-faire leadership’ in which the leader imposes no direction on the follower, allowing him/her to do as they please. In the middle of the spectrum is transactional leadership. Transactional leadership is leadership in which (a) the leader rewards the follower for meeting expected outcomes using mutually determined rewards, or (b) the leader motivates the follower via correction/punishment for not meeting the expected outcomes. Transformational leadership is more powerful than transactional leadership because it involves “an exceptional form of influence that moves followers to accomplish more than what is usually expected of them” (p. 161). It causes followers to begin to look out for more than just their own self-interests, and causes them to begin to do things for the greater good of the organization. Additionally, Mulla and Krishnan (2011) found that over time, transformational leaders can have an impact upon the moral development of followers.

Servant leadership is demonstrated by empowering and developing people through the expression of humility, authenticity, interpersonal acceptance, stewardship and direction (van Dierendonck, 2011). It is similar to transformational leadership in that the leader’s focus is on the followers. The goal of servant leader puts the needs of the follower first, nurtures and empathizes with them and works for their development through empowerment (Northouse, 2016). The servant leader also demonstrates high moral standards in his/her interactions with the followers. Searle and Barbuto Jr (2011) found that this type of leadership has the potential to simultaneously bring about positive behaviours in individuals, groups and organizations.

Smith, Montagno and Kuzmenko (2004) investigated the similarities between Servant and Transformational leadership and found that in both types of leadership the interrelationship between leader and follower was very important. Both leaders put the needs of followers above their own, model positive behaviours and demonstrate integrity in their leadership. Despite these similarities, however, they also concluded that the theoretical underpinnings and the contexts in which the two are successful differ significantly. Servant leadership was found to be more successful in static environments while transformational leadership was found to be more successful in dynamic environments. This seems to differ with the findings of Mulla and Krishnan who asserted that transformational leaders demonstrated impact upon the moral development of the followers over time. This led me to wonder what would be the optimal number of years necessary for transformational leadership to significantly impact the followers, given the findings of Smith et. al.  I also wondered if there was an optimal size of the organization beyond which transformational and servant leaders would be limited in their ability to form significant relationships with their followers…..?

 

References

Mulla, Z.R. and Krishnan, V.R. (2011). Transformational leadership: Do the leader’s morals matter and do the follower’s morals change? Journal of Human Values 17(2), 129-143. DOI: 0.1177/097168581101700203

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

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. DOI: 10.1177/1548051810383863

Smith, B.N., Montagno, R.V. and Kuzmenko, T.N. (2004). Transformational and servant leadership: Content and contextual comparisons. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies 10(4), 80-92.

Van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management 37(4), 1228-1261. DOI: 10.1177/0149206310380462

Monica,

Thank you for your post. I had not read the article by Calahan, but after reading your summary, I found myself relating the stages to my own experience in teaching just as you were evaluating where you are in your field of ministry.

The questions that you posed at the end of your post really got my mind thinking. Like you, I wondered if everyone automatically goes through this process. When I re-read your post however, I noticed Calahan’s quote explaining how novices become practitioners. “They grow in reading and assessing situations through comparing other situational experiences (Cahalan, 2017).” This implies that they reflect upon their previous experiences and apply what they have learned in new situations. In my unit 3 readings I have learned that many people are passive thinkers, avoiding engagement in active, critical thinking. Many are also ignorant of their thinking. I would hazard to guess that people that do not progress through the stages may be people who are not in the habit of engaging in personal reflection, or are unmotivated to do because they feel they already know everything they need to know, or perhaps feel overwhelmed and powerless to improve their performance.

So I feel that it really comes down to one’s mindset and how motivated one is to learn and grow. Now that I realize the huge impact that one’s thinking has upon one’s life, I am motivated to be more aware of my thought processes and I will begin to engage in critical thinking. I think that this is crucial for my own personal development, as well as for my development as a transformational servant leader.

The texts I selected were two web pages on The Foundation for Critical Thinking’s website: the pages entitled College and University students and Being a Critic of Your Own Thinking. I was really proud of myself for being able to summarize my notes into the following summary of key ideas in both articles. I found this to be a VERY useful exercise and I will use it in future!

1) Your thinking plays a powerful role in your life; thinking ‘well’ brings positive rewards while thinking ‘poorly’ brings negative consequences

2) The extent to which we become better quality thinkers is determined by the amount of time we dedicate towards this development, the quality of intellectual thought processes we engage in, and the depth of our commitment to becoming better quality thinkers

3) Four examples of ways to improve the quality of your thinking are: clarifying your thinking, maintaining relevance in thinking, questioning deeply and striving to be more reasonable in thinking

3a) -clarifying one’s thinking involves 2 things: clarifying your understanding of what others are saying and being aware of how clearly you are communicating to others

3b) -sticking to the point means being able to separate information that is relevant to the issue at hand from information that is not relevant

3c) -deep questioning involves asking questions skillfully to be able to get at the root of the problem or to fully understand a problem

3d) -being reasonable involves paying attention to when you or others are being unreasonable in a particular situation and asking yourself what the reason is for the behaviour. e.g. is a viewpoint being overlooked? Are there inherent biases? Am I really taking the best course of action for all involved? Are there better ideas for handling this?

When I read your post,  I could immediately relate to it because I also scored equally strongly on human and technical skills, and less so on conceptual skills. Unlike you however, I had a very limited view of leadership prior to this course and  felt that my weak conceptual skills prevented me from being an effective leader. However I have been growing in my understanding of leadership and have come to the realization that in some arenas, human and technical skills are more important than conceptual skills. For example, education, mentorship and counselling are three areas that immediately come to mind. I am excited to discover where this journey will take me as I begin to recognize and embrace my strengths.

With reference to your Style questionnaire results, it is my understanding that your low task score does not relate directly to your work with technical designs and processes, but rather is an indication that in your leadership style you give more attention to the degree to which you make others feel comfortable than you do to helping them define their roles and understand what is expected of them. I feel that this aligns with your informal management style that you referenced which is appreciated by many of your employees who have been working with you for decades. I find it fascinating how informative these seemingly simple surveys have been! Thanks for your post.

The results of the surveys were eye-opening. I learned that other people see many more leadership traits in me than I see in myself because I still struggle to see myself as a leader in the traditional sense. Yet I scored lower than my raters in perception and sensitivity. Listening and awareness are two of the 10 traits of a Servant Leader identified by Spears (Northouse, 2016) that are crucial for me to develop. It is very important it is for me to listen well and be attuned to the thoughts and opinions of others, particularly because my score on the style questionnaire indicates that I am more likely to lead with an emphasis on relationships vs tasks.

My stronger human and technical skills also make me more suited for leadership that involves close relationships with people, either by sharing my knowledge with them, or guiding them through the application of my knowledge.

My results of the Birkman assessment indicate that I am also a detail-oriented person with strong administrative skills. The picture that is emerging is that my leadership style is closer to management than leadership. I am less concerned about a big-picture visionary ideas than I am about order, consistency, problem-solving and people development. Each step of this journey is incredibly insightful and I am confident that by the end I will have a clear understanding of where and how to walk out my ‘why’ effectively.