weLEAD Leadership Tip - The Servant Leader Approach

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Leadership Tip of the Month

May 2002

The Servant Leader Approach

Traditionally, almost all leaders have established and nurtured autocratic hierarchal organizations. Since the beginning of human civilization, certain individuals arose to assume positions of leadership among others. Leadership was often demonstrated by a “command and control” philosophy that sought to achieve only the leader’s personal goals. Governments and military institutions gravitated toward this type of authoritarian leadership. This philosophical approach typically viewed followers simply as individuals to be controlled, manipulated and often disposable in order to achieve the leader’s purposes. There was virtually no concern about the individual needs of followers. The reward offered to followers was continued survival, and possible advancement within the hierarchy if absolute loyalty was demonstrated. With this historical background it is no surprise that an autocratic leadership approach was naturally followed during the birth of the Industrial Revolution. The changes brought by the Industrial Revolution of the 18^th century overturned not only traditional economies, but also whole societies. Economic changes caused far-reaching social changes, including the movement of people to cities, and new ways of working. The Industrial Revolution was the first step in modern economic growth and development.

As the Industrial Revolution began, workers living in the cities and arriving from rural farms were often uneducated and unskilled for this new kind of labor. Work conditions were crude and the daily work hours demanded of them were oppressive. However, work was scarce and even meager wages could make the difference between survival or starvation. The emerging class of powerful business leaders viewed workers as basically ignorant, lazy, and undisciplined. Organizational leaders felt they must control and rigidly supervise all workers to maintain high levels of production. Business owners viewed themselves as paternalistic “father figures” who needed to dominate their “worker children”. Workers who did not completely yield or conform to the owner’s dictates were immediately terminated. Eventually workers created labor unions to provide a counter-balance to this tyrannical approach and harsh treatment. For over 200 years the general approach of leadership was hierarchal and authoritarian. This began to change in the latter part of the 20^th century. Democratic institutions brought about greater choices for workers. Public education created an educated workforce with the knowledge and skills to compete for better jobs and opportunities. Workers along with their culture began to reject dictatorial hierarchal organizations and the treatment they received from them.

Robert K. Greenleaf spent his first career in management research and education at AT&T. He then began a second career teaching and consulting at various institutions, including the Harvard Business School, Ford Foundation, and scores of not-for-profit institutions. Greenleaf was perplexed by the tumultuous changing culture of the 1960s and sought to understand why so many young people were in rebellion against America's established organizations, especially educational institutions. He determined that the fault lie with the institutions: they were not doing a good job of serving! Therefore, he concluded they were doing a poor job of leading.

In 1970, Greenleaf wrote a small essay called The Servant As Leader, which introduced the term "servant-leadership." In it, he described some of the characteristics and qualities of servant-leaders. He included examples, which showed that individual efforts, inspired both by “vision” and a servant attitude philosophy, can make a substantial difference in the quality of a society. Greenleaf wrote that true leaders are chosen by their followers. He discussed the skills necessary to become a servant-leader; the importance of keen awareness, foresight and listening. Greenleaf clearly drew contrasts between servant-leadership and the typical use of coercive, manipulative, and persuasive power. His later writings challenged conventional wisdom about hierarchical organization and the use of power in major modern institutions. Until his death in 1990, Greenleaf kept writing on the themes of management, power, servanthood, and spirituality.

Robert Greenleaf is considered the “father” of the modern servant-leadership philosophy. However, this philosophy has existed for thousands of years and has been used effectively in various institutions, including religious organizations, for many centuries. Greenleaf simply defined and articulated it effectively for a new generation and culture. You can find out more about Robert Greenleaf and the organization he founded (Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership) at www.greenleaf.org

Modern Servant-Leadership is a positive philosophy that describes people who choose to serve first, and then desire to lead as a way of expanding service to institutions and individuals. It encourages trust, collaboration, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power. It is now part of the culture of many profitable and influential organizations including some mentioned in Fortune Magazine’s annual “100 Best Companies To Work For” list. Servant-leaders often hold no formal leadership positions or titles.

Perhaps we can provide no better definition than the one provided by Robert Greenleaf himself in his book, The Servant As Leader, originally published in 1970.

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve – after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

The difference manifest itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer , is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, will they not be further deprived?”

Think about the servant-leadership approach and how it can change your impact and influence as a leader!

For weLEAD, this is Greg Thomas reminding you that it was Joe Jaworski who wrote, “The ultimate aim of the servant-leaders quest is to find the resources of character to meet his or her destiny – to find the wisdom and power to serve others.”