Christian Leadership Alliance
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Servant Leadership: A Timeless Leadership Style
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.
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