Servant Leadership Philosophy

However, servant leadership is a way for leaders to connect with their members and show that they understand what they are going through. They tend to create unique bonds with their team by assisting them to make them more productive. The idea of servant leadership came from a novel written by Hermann Hesse named “Journey to the East”. The novel was basically about a group of travellers going on a journey, accompanied by a servant who does literally everything for the travellers. The servant played the most important role on the journey by making sure everything and

“Servant Leadership” throughout history has always been a vital concept to grasp as leaders, however the actual term was not coined until the 1970’s by Robert Greenleaf in his essay The Servant as a Leader. Greenleaf depicts the concept of servant leadership as being a servant first meaning the leader is always willing, ready, and eager to assist those around them in order to create the best environment for everyone to work towards achieving goals.

Robert Greenleaf is the father of modern servant-leadership movement and founder of the Greenleaf servant for Leadership. His desire to change a power centered authoritarian leadership style that was prominent in the US institution motivated him to create a leadership style that is focused on leaders being servant. He was inspired by Larry Spears’ work and promoted that a servant leader should have the characteristics or principles of listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth of people, and building community. In this paper, servant leadership will be better understood. A Venn diagram will also be shown to illustrate the similarities and differences between Greenleaf's principles of servant leadership and several biblical passages; a summary of how both Greenleaf and Christianity call people to serve; and will discuss how one feels when called to serve as a leader.

Servant leadership is one of several models that have some basis in ethics, according to Northouse (2013), in this way servant leadership distinguishes itself from trait, path-goal or transformational models. The aim of this paper will be to examine on attribute of servant-leadership, describing how the principles might be applied, and the impact of such an approach, in a practical setting. The second part of this paper will evaluate servant leadership’s relationship with the Christian religion and ask whether the model is compatible with other belief systems.

Servant Leadership is defined as a leadership that is based on serving others altruistically. Servant leaders put the wellbeing of their followers ahead of their own needs in order to see them grow to their fullest potential. The leader makes sure that their followers grow as persons, become wiser, healthier, freer, and more likely to become servant leaders themselves (Northouse, 2013).

The definition of servant leadership varies to some degree depending on the source; however, Robert Greenleaf is credited with the basic definition upon which the concept is derived. Servant leadership is the idea that one desires to be a

From the group Biblical Integration Paper, it was understood that servant-leadership is not only a gift of purpose that God places in the hearts of His people, but it is also a calling in one’s life to truly touch the lives of others in need. Living a successful life, as a servant-leader is not one that focuses on self-fulfillment, rather it is in seeking a fulfillment that comes from Christ when one pours him/herself out for the sake of others. It is through servant-leadership that one is able to bring hope into hopeless situations (Group Integration Paper,

Servant leadership, as it applies to the modern world, is a concept that Robert Greenleaf defined in his influential 1970 essay, The Servant as Leader. Greenleaf’s essay explains that servant leadership is an amalgam of concrete leadership styles and “fragments of data” that came to him through “intuitive insight” (1970). Having worked at AT&T from 1926-1964, he accumulated a number of leadership qualities throughout his professional career. After retirement he began teaching at Harvard Business School, but became distressed by younger generations and their rebellious attitudes. After careful consideration, he decided institutions were doing a poor job of serving, so they were doing a poor job of leading. His

Servant leadership is a style of leadership practices first outlined by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970. The style of leadership is different than the other styles of leadership in that the focus of servant leadership is to empower others to make change alongside of the leader. Servant leaders believe in the change being made and work with others to make change happen, instead of simply dictating what needs to be done and how it should be done. Additionally, servant leadership also focuses on the growth and well-being of those serving and those being served. Greenleaf described servant leadership as the following: “The Servant-Leader is servant first… it begins with a natural feeling that one wants to serve first (Greenleaf Center).” This is different than those who are leaders first, in that a leader first is more driven by power. The principle of servant leadership, beginning with people with care and compassion, allows a strong community to build. This community could take the form of a company, a classroom or a geographic community.

In conclusion, without a ministering heart it is virtually impracticable to develop a servant leader. Concurring to the Holy Bible, to grow into a servant of God and to appreciate serving others is not merely a choice that an individual desires to take, it is primarily a merciful talent from God. Because of our new-fangled character, as Christian leaders we should discover ourselves enthusiastically captivated to the Christ-Centered servant guidance

The foundation of my personal leadership philosophy can be found in the principles of servant leadership as spelled out by Greenleaf (1970, 1977). Leadership is granted to individuals who are by nature servants. An individual emerges as a leader by first becoming a servant. Servant leaders attend to the needs of those they serve and help them become more informed, free, self-sufficient, and like servants themselves. Leaders and those they serve improve, enhance, and develop each other through their connection. A leader must also be conscious of inequalities and social injustices in the organizations they serve and work actively to resolve those issues. Servant leaders rely less on the use of official power and control, but focus on empowering those they

Question 1. What are the characteristics of servant leadership as propagated by Greenleaf (1970)? Give examples of servant leaders that you may know.

Servant leadership is a type of leadership whereby the leader serves the needs of the people, empathizes with them, and involves them in solving their needs. Servant leadership is all about involving the people you are leading in your decision making, being ethical and caring for the people to enhance their personal growth at the same time improve their life. A servant leader does not simply delegate roles; he starts the work and energizes the others to join him and get the work done. According to Spears (2004), the servant leader as defined by Greenleaf is one who gets the natural feeling of wanting to serve first and then a conscious choice brings him/her to lead. This leader makes sure that other people’s highest-priority needs are take

Historically, servant leadership has been one of the most applicable theory used to describe a person 's or an organization act of service. In which most can state it brought about improving the quality of people 's lives. Highly respected servant leaders that people honored and admired such as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr., has earned their glorious name as a faithful servant leader because they removed obstacles from people 's path by bringing about social changes (Nahavandi, 2014). People who were impacted by any servant leaders can say, servant leaders significantly contributed to social justices as the leaders ' transforms themselves into teachers for his or her followers.

Servanthood is to serve the needs of the people in the best way possible and bring forth the greatness these individuals have to offer their community. Being a servant leader also means being selfless. Leaders are placed in certain organizations and a position to bring forth the calling and vision God has for His people. Servant leadership in it entity is to motivate and encourage individuals to turn away from self-serving. Wilkes, author of the book, Jesus on Leadership, says it the best, “A servant leader serves the mission and leads by serving those on the mission with him”