SERVANT LEADERSHIP

Imagine a world where business and political leaders set their sights on enriching the lives of the people they lead to build strong organisational culture, achieve profitability, and create a more equitable and compassionate world. That’s the essence of Servant Leadership.

Transforming Leadership Practices

Servant Leadership is a holistic approach where leaders foster the potential of their people to help them achieve their best. This increases trust and motivation, reduces absenteeism, and enhances performance levels. Many companies named in Fortune Magazine’s “The 100 Best Companies to Work For” have integrated a servant leadership approach into their organisational cultures. Richard Branson said "As a leader of people, you have to be a great listener, a great motivator, be very good at praising and bringing out the best in people”. Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco, said “It is the leaders who lead with empathy and compassion for their employees who will continue to see the most success”. Robbins even started publishing a Purpose Report in 2021 to hold the company to account in meeting its values and vision.

South African Businessman Ian Fuhr puts a more colourful spin on it: “If my people are bowing and scraping to me, which end of them is facing the customer?” He’d rather serve his workforce so they serve the customers well.


Rooted in Ancient Wisdom

The concept of servant as leader is not new. I remember as a young university graduate reading in the I Ching, a 5000 year-old book of Chinese wisdom, “To Lead Truly is to Serve”. This resonated with me deeply and if you can fall in love with a book, I fell in love with this book and read it cover to cover several times over trying to understand its deeper meanings. Aristotle, 2500 years ago, said the role of the leader is not to enhance their own power but to create the conditions under which followers can achieve their potential.

The modern day movement of Servant Leadership was started by Robert Greenleaf, who as Director of Management Development at AT&T in the 1940s, promoted the first females to professional roles, and invited famous theologians and psychologists to speak about the wider implications of corporate decisions. A deeply spiritual man, Greenleaf was impacted by Hermann Hesse’s novella Journey to the East, and the Servant Leadership movement was born in the late 1960s as it is today.


The Test

Greenleaf had a simple test for Servant Leadership: "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 not be further deprived?”

We all lead. We all influence other people whether we’re leading an organisation, team, community, family, friends, or maybe you’re an influencer. It’s worth taking note of these questions and checking in with them every now and then, to help stay the course True North.


The Ripple Effect 

What about shareholders and bottom line profit? What about vision, direction, strategies, processes, systems, evaluating who does what, I hear you asking. Good question. I wondered the same thing at first, but it’s not an either or - it’s both. Walking comes easier if you’re on two legs rather than hopping on one.

It’s no use complaining that you’re struggling to hit targets because your people are not engaged, unresponsive, and the team’s not coming together. I can tell you as a coach who’s been privy to the other side, there’s a strong likelihood they're deeply unhappy thinking you don’t value them and they’re waiting for you to notice their plight and help them to achieve, grow, and be proud of their accomplishments.

A study by the University of Oxford and Harvard University* on the impact of wellbeing on the overall performance of an organisation finds “Higher levels of wellbeing generally predict higher firm valuations, higher return on assets, higher gross profits, and better stock performance… Organisations wanting to be successful in the new world would be wise to take note." Research by Deloitte* on culture change return on wellbeing investment shows “On average employers get nearly £4.70 back on their investment in improved productivity.”

Everyone wants to be valued and mentored, and when they give up waiting for you, they become disheartened and not only find it harder to focus and want to take days off work, but also start looking elsewhere for a better environment. Isolation at work is not pretty: many people perceive it as a form of bullying and costs America $154 billion per annum in lost productivity, absenteeism, and lower retention rates.*

The simple fact is that employees who feel valued and supported by their leadership are much more likely to be engaged, motivated, perform better, and loyal to the organisation. And guess what, they’re also going to be kinder to their colleagues, and become mentors themselves.  

Everyone deserves the opportunity to explore their potential, fulfil their skills and talents, and achieve their best – from the CEO to the janitor. This is empowering, gives meaning to our lives, and allows us a dignified existence.


Becoming a Great Leader

According to Larry Spears who was president of the Robert Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership from 1990 to 2007, the three most important traits of a leader are*:
1 - to be a good listener
2 - to have empathy
3 - to be a healer

Even though most of us are not born with great leadership skills, there’s much we can do to develop mastery. The chart below shows how attention to personal and professional development is foundational for advancing many of the qualities needed for excellence in leadership: strong vision ✧ connection to higher values ✧ purpose ✧ empathy ✧ good communication ✧ clarity of vision ✧ strategy formulation ✧ intuition and foresight ✧ ability to inspire ✧ command respect & loyalty.

I’ll leave you with this prophetic quote by Bill Gates, speaking in 1999 of his vision for effective leadership for the 21st century: "As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others".

Lubna