Servant Leadership Approach

A New Way of Viewing Leadership Traditionally, society has placed people in leadership positions in the spotlight. Many people in this country have become convinced that people in these positions have all of the right answers and are going places they want to go. If they become successful, the followers become successful. This may be the reason why, in today’s world, that everyone is trying to get ahead. But this approach has led to many egocentric leaders with no desire to help others get ahead. According to Marquis & Huston (2015) many individuals who become placed in positions of authority and become leaders tend to start lacking mindfulness and consideration of others’ feelings and needs. What if this traditional understanding of a leader’s …show more content…
This is even truer when it comes to servant leadership. Servant leadership requires commitment for continuous improvement in the organization, requires commitment to stick to maintaining promises that were made and finishing what was said that was going to be done (Hunter, 2004, p. 109). In order to become relationship-focused leader, it also takes commitment towards helping others become the best individuals that they can be. It requires skillful listening and consideration of others’ feelings and attitudes towards something. Like Hunter (2012) mentions in his book The Servant during his garden metaphor, maintaining a leadership role and position of influence requires a commitment to tend to it. If a person doesn’t tend to or care for their garden, everything previously planted will most likely fail to grow and will eventually perish away. This is also true of any organization. Lacking commitment and care for the people involved and the goals established in an organization will ultimately result in …show more content…
I believed that the leader-managers had all of the answers and that as a subordinate, my goal was to make them happy and serve their needs. I believe this perception came from my experience working under self-focused leaders and also from my lack of understanding that leaders could be different. It’s like Blanchard (2007) says in his book Leading at a Higher Level, when we enter this world as a baby, we are all very self-centered and focus only on meeting our own needs. It’s a learned skill representing growth and maturation when a person transitions into realizing that life is not about what you get rather it’s about what you give. I know realize that there are numerous leadership theories and techniques and that certain ones, like servant leadership, produce greater results than