Because the dictionary definition of servanthood is “The role of being a servant’ some believe servant leadership is submissive and lacks strength. Servant leadership is not a position of weakness but rather one of exceptional strength. It takes courage and confidence to be a servant leader. Servant leaders are motivated and work hard to help others be successful. That begins with self. Continuous improvement and development of critical leadership skills, putting others first and adding value to them whenever possible is what makes servant leadership both beneficial and challenging. Imagine how different the world would be today if everyone was a servant leader.
I am writing this blog on servanthood as the second in a series of 6 leadership topics in our Cornerstone Moments and ask you to consider this concept: servant leadership is your multiplier. It has the greatest impact on the most people that you can achieve.
Who First?
I believe leadership is a privilege as well as a responsibility. To whom you believe you are responsible as a leader is key. Some believe the company should come first, then the customer and then the employees. I have a much different perspective. The upside-down funnel that I often use for illustration is a matter of leadership focus. My methodology is to have the funnel turned upside down with people at the top, customers in the middle and company at the bottom. The wide opening of the upside-down funnel is what I consider our opportunity for success. It is much wider than if reversed. Nowhere in that funnel appear the words “me” or “I”. The oft-used concept of “there is no I in TEAM” may be “old school” but then some other things, like toothpaste and deodorant, seem to never go out of style.
Serving the interests of other people on your team, those who as managers you are responsible for, or those who you provide services to (your customers), should be a top priority for you as a leader – regardless of title or job responsibility. There should be no question about this priority! The question, however, becomes, what are the best interests of those people? Are they your interests? Are those interests their own desires? Do they come from a book or an employee manual? Are they simply those dictated by the goals of your company? I believe that it could be all of these or none of these and as a leader it is your responsibility to decipher what they are.
Effort
Each one of us was born with a nature that puts ourselves first. None of us can honestly deny that. When you desire to become true leaders in the sense of servant leadership, you must intentionally work to overcome the instinct to be “number one” and renew your mind with thoughts that change the way your nature reacts to circumstances and situations. After that you must practice what you have taken in over, and over again. You may not always be at your best, but you must stay with it to improve. No one is perfect! Becoming a better leader is not something you are born with. You can only become better through continuous effort.
Garbage in Garbage out
Our autonomic nervous system (ANS) is where our emotions come from. We don’t control our emotions directly. We can try to contain them, hide them, deny them or whatever other action or mechanism we determine to use to not allow our emotions to be visible to others, or to affect our actions, but we can’t directly control the emotions themselves. When I get angry, I am angry. I can manage that anger, but I can’t directly prevent it from occurring when it begins to emote. When happy, I am happy in the same way.
Our ANS (according to the experts) is like a computer. The software loaded into the computer determines what it will do and how it will calculate input. If we load bad software (often referred to as garbage) into a computer, we often get undesirable results that need to be corrected. Our ANS is not different than the computer (so to speak). If we are constantly thinking about self, self, self and no one else, it will be exceedingly difficult to be an effective servant leader.
Focus
If your fame (position/title) comes before the job you must do as a leader, you will lose sight of what you should be focusing on, which is the success of others. When your fame comes first, how can your employees, your customers and your company succeed? The upside-down funnel helps make that happen by putting your focus in the right place.
Focusing on people first will motivate those people to focus on customers. They will care more because they are cared for. They will provide better service, ideas for success and generally a stronger partner relationship. The customers will in turn provide reward for the company in the form of repeat business, good references and expanding product ideas. Focusing on helping others be their best will ultimately be the true reward for everyone involved. And frankly, sometimes that means helping them find a new position or path that better suits them. Servant leadership requires loving concern, courage and confidence.
Confidence
For you to be able to serve as a leader you must be confident doing certain things (and really mean it). A few of those things include:
Giving others credit
Trusting others to do their job effectively
Allowing others to make mistakes when trying to do the right things
Taking some arrows for the team to shelter them
Being able to accept other ideas and ways of doing things
Only when you become confident with who you are, and confident you are doing your best to lead effectively, will you be able to compitently serve others in a leadership capacity.