R. K. Greenleaf: Servant Leadership

Decent Essays
The term servant leader was discovered by R.K. Greenleaf in 1970, as defined in Servant Leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. Being a servant leader means being committed to an individual’s growth personally and professionally. According to Greenleaf there are ten principals of being a servant leader. These principals are listening, healing, awareness, empathy, stewardship, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, building a community and commitment personal growth of each individual within the organization.

A servant leader uses general awareness during observations of employees, which is one of their strength as a manager. Servant leaders persuade employees to comply, rather than strong-arm compliance. They also demonstrate by example, often times delegating and providing the power to others to lead or manage co-workers.
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This manager respected employees communication and decision making skills. He would set apart time weekly for each employee to do a 1:1 meeting to review issues, concerns and goals. He also made an effort to know what was going on with each employee in the personal lives, not by prying but simply asked “How is your family doing?” As a manager, he would evaluate employees and guide them in ways to improve in their position and performance, without being disgruntle towards the employee for their shortcomings.

The advantages of being a servant leader are not only are they attuned to their employees and their professional growth; employees are comfortable and receptive to constructive feedback from their leaders in lieu of feeling as if there are failures in their current roles. Organizations flourish under the direction of servant

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