Servant Leadership: A Timeless Leadership Style

Kathleen Patterson, Ph.D.
This article provided by the Engstrom Institute

Introduction

Many years ago, I began to wonder why a leader would strive to serve their followers; after all, shouldn't a leader be in charge and direct followers? After years of searching to understand the connection between leading and serving, I have come to believe that true service is indeed true leadership. And here's why—leaders who actively seek to have a Christ-like approach in the manner in which they lead, will actively seek to serve their followers; in fact, the very idea of leading and serving are so linked that one could make a strong case the two concepts are inseparable. This article takes a brief look at servant leadership as a virtuous way to lead and then the seven components that servant leaders utilize in their efforts to lead from a servant's heart.

A Virtuous Way to Lead

Servant leaders lead from a virtues perspective, which according to Aristotelian tradition, has three components, these being good habits, the middle ground between the extremes of too much or too little, and a habit that is a firm and settled disposition toward choosing good. Virtues in leadership show the connection between leading others and moral character. Leaders who lead from a virtuous approach focus on what is good for followers rather than a profit-maximizing agenda; this creates a healthy work environment that allows for innovation and creativity, healthy and happy workers, and (believe it or not) an often successful financial condition. Isn't it interesting how when we focus on others (followers) rather than on profit, something incredible begins to happen and the right things begin to occur. And let's be honest, why are we serving anyway, is it about profit or agenda, or about our followers? When we get our focus straight, we might just begin to see things they way we ought to be seeing them.

The Seven Components of Servant Leaders

There are seven components in servant leadership; these are agápao love, humility, altruism, trust, vision, empowerment and service; each of these is now discussed.

Love. Love is a mystery, and often when we talk of love we think of romance; and yet love is not all about romance, and certainly not in a leadership perspective. Ever wonder why Jesus put the two greatest commandments in the context of love—with love God with our whole hearts and our neighbors as ourselves, a pretty high calling specifically in the light of leadership. Love in leadership, specifically for the servant leader is agápao love—or moral love, meaning to do the right things at the right times, and for the right reasons. Imagine if we as leaders were to lead with this type of moral love, it would greatly change the way we see others, the policies we enact and the agendas we create. In fact, I once read that we should see others as wearing an invisible sign that reads 'I want to be loved', if we did this it would certainly change how we see others and how we lead. I love what Bruce Winston says about agápao love—it is when we go beyond seeing our followers as hired hands and beginning to see them as hired hearts.

Humility. While many would see humility as a weakness, something that is permissive or fragile, in actuality, humility is strength. Humility is a non-overestimentation of our own merits; realizing we are not the end all to what is happening nor do we have all the answers. Servant leaders have the ability to grasp this idea of not knowing, understanding or having all the answers. Servant leaders do not over value themselves, in fact it is this humility which causes the servant leader to look beyond their own interests and look to the interests of their followers. Leaders are the very ones who have the greatest temptation to think of themselves as something special, servant leaders go beyond this and appropriate the 'special' to others, as they know they are nothing; this stems from their lack of arrogance, self piety, or interest in their own image. This disinterest in self allows the servant leader to be fully concentrated on their followers and give them the greatest gift—themselves as a whole leader who is present not only physically, but also emotionally and spiritually.

Altruism. This component of servant leadership can sometimes be a difficult one for leaders, as altruism requires a lot from us as leaders, we have to face ourselves and ask why are we leading? Altruism is the link between good motives and good behavior, simplistically stated it is helping just for the sake of helping. But here is the catch, as leaders we help our followers with no expectation, just to help in our efforts to do the right thing for our followers, in fact, it might cost us something as it often involves risk or sacrifice on our behalf. Think of altruism as a continuum, with self-interest on one side and others-interest on the other, altruism lies on the side of others-interest. Here again we see, as leaders, we should be seeking the Biblical wisdom found in Philippians 2:4 "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (NIV).

Trust. Trust is seen as the building block of all leader/follower relationships, and no wonder, without trust as leaders we do not have much else. Servant leaders are incredibly trustworthy and trusting, providing a bridge that goes both ways. Trusting followers does an interesting thing—it encourages them to step out, step up and go forward; when we encourage with trust we send a big message to our followers that they can do it. For the servant leader, trust involves several things—respect, in that we respect our followers enough to give them our trust; integrity, in that we are honest about their abilities; and goodwill, in that we are spreading confidence in the skills of our followers. Trust creates an environment or culture of harmony, without trust we find discord and disharmony—not a desirable place to be for anyone, follower or leader. Trust creates openness in organizations, where folk truly have a voice and collaboration can occur.

Vision. Now we all know organizations need a vision of where things are headed, but servant leaders are also visionary for their followers. Servant leaders have the uncanny ability to see followers not as they are today but for who they can become tomorrow, and they serve them as such. It is a powerful thing to not been seen as you are but for who you can become, in this way servant leaders take the stance of dreaming for their followers, and in many ways they build better human beings by encouraging followers to grow and become what they were meant to be. Seeing folk as viable people, as worthy individuals and as a future contributor can do great things for followers, they can begin to dream for themselves, embrace big ideas and become interested in ideas that maybe they could not have dreamt for themselves without a gentle nudge from a leader. You want to be a leader that can change the world? Start with the followers before you—change them and you do change the world.

Empowerment. Servant leaders share their power, really share it—not the looking over the shoulder or the constant checking up on others, but the real sharing of power, as in giving it away. The key here is that you give your power away, but you ensure folk are ready for it; you help them to be ready. Some leaders are fearful of giving their power away, as if the person is going to take their position, and yet, servant leaders would love this, working themselves out of a position to move others upward and onward would be a reward they live for. Empowerment involves effective listening, helping people feel significant, teamwork, and a great deal of valuing others. I cannot stress enough the true power is not your leadership power; it is the power of valuing people with love and dignity and moving them into the future.

Service. Servant leaders are all about service, the servant leader lives a life of service; you will see this person serving everywhere they go—they help their family members, they mow the neighbor's lawn, they walk the groceries to the car for the lady with too few hands, they provide above and beyond the expected to their followers; they give of their time, money and talents—they give themselves! Servant leaders see their life as a mission of service; they accept responsibility for others with energy, care, and compassion. Maybe Matthew 23:11 gets it right, that the greatest is indeed the servant. Service can be infectious, you set the tone of serving, others will follow—you take the lead.

Conclusion

One of the tendencies we as Christians have is that we seem to think that as Christians we automatically get this servant leadership style, when in fact we do not. I am sad to say that I have seen many Christian leaders get it wrong, and we don't have to—we can get it right! We can change lives; we can lead with love, walk in humility, be altruistic, trust others, be visionary for followers, truly empower folk, and yes—serve others.

When we begin to lead and serve in the same breath, an amazing thing happens—our servant's heart comes to life, but more importantly, we touch the lives of those around us. Guess it might come down to seeing service and leadership as linked so closely, that we begin to see them as the same thing, when in fact—they are.

Servant leaders are the unsung heroes in leadership, and yet they are the very ones making a difference in the lives of so many. In leadership and life this is not easy, in fact I often say it is only for the brave, it is tough—real tough—to take the stance of a servant, but I guarantee you this, it will dramatically change your life and the lives around you.

Recommended resources

Bruce Winston. (2002). Be a Leader for God's Sake. Regent University: Virginia Beach, VA.

Andrew Murray. (2001). Humility. The Journey toward Holiness. Bethany House.

Henri Nouwen. (1993). In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. Crossroad/Faith & Formation.

Regent University's Servant Leadership Research Roundtable Proceedings: http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/sl_proceedings/home.shtml

Key Words: Servant Leadership, love, altruism, vision, service, empowerment, trust

Biography: Dr. Kathleen Patterson is a noted expert on servant leadership coordinating the annual Servant Leadership Research Roundtables held each year in Las Vegas, Nevada at the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS) conference as well as in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She is involved with the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, IALC (International Association of Leadership Consultants), ILA (International Leadership Associates) and ILA (International Leadership Association). Currently she serves as Professor of Leadership at Regent University and can be reached at kathpat@regent.edu. See also www.regent.edu/acad/global/facultyandstaff/patterson/home.shtml