Nursing Servant Leadership Paper

As we develop into leaders, one of the things we need to know is what it means to be a servant leader. Today such examples are greatly lacking. Servant leadership is a choice by a leader to follow the example of The Jesus Christ and The Mother Teresa and lead by serving, becoming a bondservant and giving his life for others. Servant leadership is an inner attitude of the heart by which a person chooses to place himself or herself under the leadership of Jesus Christ and Mother Teresa. Christ often invited people to follow him. Some followed and many did not. One of the things to understand is the difference between obedience and submission. A person in authority or general leader in our present society can command for obedience. Submission, on the other hand, is a choice by the follower to choose to follow a leader, and also an inner attitude of the heart can never be commanded. Some chose to submit to Christ and followed him. Many chose not to submit to Christ and followed other religious leaders. Christ gives us the freedom to make the choice not to follow or submit. Most religious leaders out there serve the people and community first. The characteristics of a servant leadership as seen by Robert Greenleaf are “listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and building the community.” (Greenleaf, 2002, p. #19-25)
The first and most important characteristic of an excellent servant leader is listening. A servant leader always listens to the concerns of his/her co-workers, staff members, or patients and tries to find the most appropriate or the best solution to a problem. Leaders have traditionally been valued for their communication and decision-making skills. Although these are also important skills for servant leaders, they need to be reinforced by a deep commitment to listen intently to others. By listening intently, servant leaders seek to identify the will of their group