Preview

Servant Leadership Characteristics

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
635 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Servant Leadership Characteristics
Fundamentally, servant leadership entails leaders being servants first. It starts off with a natural feeling that one wants to serve, and goes beyond one’s self interest, where leaders are genuinely concerned about serving their followers. Further, it also involves leaders not using their power to get things done but instead try to persuade and convince their followers. In this way, followers support their leaders and are motivated to become the very best they can become (Dierendonck, 2011). Indeed, servant leaders do care about the development of their employees and even share power. Servant leadership, according to Dierendonck (2011), has several characteristics: active listening, empathy and stewardship, commitment to the …show more content…
Some of the differences are: the purpose of servant leadership is to ensure that the priority of the leader is to serve others including the employee and to make sure that their needs are served before theirs (Dierendonck, 2011). Transformational leadership on the other hand focuses on developing the organization’s capacity to innovate even though it balances this with consideration for followers through its four major principles including individual consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence (Johnson, 2013). Specially, it is focused on enhancing a firm’s capacity to prioritize and support development of appropriate and necessary changes to business processes and practices. Servant leaders also focus more on the needs of the individual than the organization while transformational leaders focus on benefits to firms by enhancing employee effort and output. Servant leaders are also more likely to give greater freedom to subordinates than transformational leaders (Dierendonck, 2011). Transformational leadership drives towards leaders inspiring staff to work with more energy, commitment and purpose in order to achieve a vision. Servant leaders on the other hand give more autonomy to employees to make choices in order to inspire them to be more willing to work hard for the leader (Williams & Jones,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Servant leadership focuses on the needs of the employees and the stockholders instead of the needs of the leader of the organization. This way the organization benefits itself in a chain reaction, when employees are happy and motivated they will give excellent customer service and when clients are happy they will use your services again. When clients use the service of the organization again and refer your company the organizations receives more money and in the end will result in the stockholders being happy.…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Servant leadership has been identified by Robert Greenleaf, as one serving others before serving themselves, In addition Greenleaf also stated that true leadership emerges from those whose primary motivation is a deep desire to help other. (Spears & Lawrence, 2002). This means that a servant leader will have to develop compassion for people and also be able to respond to people in a way that can build up a person’s character. The most successful servant leaders are those who have become skilled empathetic listeners.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    An example of a bible passage relating to servant leadership would be bible verse John 13:12-15, “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another 's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.” (Bible, n.d., John 13:12-15) This clearly shows an example of servant leadership, leading by example and serving those around you. This is a religion viewpoint relating to Christianity which is very common; however, there are philosophical viewpoints as well. Theorists have explored philosophical viewpoints and models. Patterson used the concept of virtue to describe servant leadership. (Patterson, 2003) Virtue is conformity to a standard of right or a commendable quality or trait. (“Dictionary and Thesaurus – Merriam-Webster Online”, n.d.) Patterson identified seven different virtues that he associated with servant leadership. (Patterson, 2003) The traits that Patterson identified are agapáo love, vision,…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The servant leadership values the community. So the servant leaders have a commitment to their followers’ growth (St.Thomas University, 2015). But every leader has a potential to improve. They must get better to be more effective and positively impact their team. The growth of the leader helps support the growth and development of their followers. The personal growth of the leaders enables them to improve their own performance and management skills. This gives them more authenticity. The personal growth also helps them to be more aware of their strengths and weaknesses. This will aid them better connect with others and overcome obstacles easily (Lubbock Christian University, 2015).…

    • 107 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Robert K. Greenleaf’s definition of servant leadership is one which is based on teamwork and community while seeking to involve others in the decision making and is strongly based in ethical and caring behavior while enhancing the growth of people (Spears, 1996). Greenleaf even lists his view of the characteristics of a servant leader to include: (1) Listening: leaders have been valued for their communication and listening skills-the servant leader seeks to identify the will of the group by listening receptively, (2) Empathy: people need to be accepted for their unique and special spirits, (3) Healing: servant leaders realize they have an opportunity to help make whole those they lead, (4) Awareness: general awareness and self-awareness strengthen the servant leader, (5) Persuasion: convincing others instead of coercing them, (6) Conceptualization: nurturing abilities in the ones they lead to “dream great dreams”, (7) Foresight: understanding the lessons of the past, realities of the present, and consequences of the future decisions, (8) Stewardship: holding in trust something dear to another, (9) Commitment to the growth of people, and (10) Building community: building and creating something special in those that work within today’s institutions (Spears, 2004). Some leadership theorist can even quantify with diagrams and tables of what servant leadership…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They recognized and celebrated our achievements, fostering a sense of pride and motivation. Through their servant leadership style, they inspire us to strive for excellence, both individually and collectively. Conclusion The concept of the leader as servant challenges traditional notions of leadership, emphasizing the importance of selflessness, empathy, and service. Its compelling elements, such as compassion, active listening, and collaboration, hold immense potential for fostering organizational success and personal growth. Servant leadership is not a fleeting trend; rather, it aligns with the evolving needs of organizations and societies, making it a timeless and invaluable approach to leadership.…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Parris, D., & Peachey, J. (2013). A Systematic Literature Review of Servant Leadership Theory in Organizational Contexts. Journal Of Business Ethics, 113(3), 377-393. Retrieved from: http://wguproxy.egloballibrary.com/login?user=true&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=heh&AN=87015717&site=ehost-live&scope=site…

    • 2728 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Servant leadership is a leadership style where leaders will put followers first to accomplish the goals of the organization. This leadership is a paradox with service and influence. Also, focuses on the point of view of the leader and their behaviors, coincidentally servant leadership is viewed as a behavior in this class. There are said to be 10 characteristics a servant leader must have which are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building the community. Thus, translating into seven servant leadership behaviors which are conceptualizing, emotional healing, putting followers first, helping followers grow and succeed, behaving ethically,…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The over-arcing theme for each of the leader’s view of servant leadership is that servant leadership is about getting the focus off self and into a focus on stewardship through guidance, with attention, intention, awareness – of self and others – with a large dose of serving versus being served as a leader.…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The characteristics of servant leaders are: Listening, Empathy, Healing, Awareness, Persuasion, Conceptualization, Foresight, Stewardship, Commitment to the Growth of People, and Building Community (“The Understanding and Practice of Servant Leadership”, L.C. Spears, 2005) but this is perhaps better embodied by the following:…

    • 1293 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Servant Leadership Ldr-630

    • 1849 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Servant Leadership is where the leader feels the need to take care of the needs of their employees. It has been proven in such organizations such as GE that this method works. Their employees basic needs were taken care of and addressed. This allowed the employees to feel appreciated and they were able to productive at the same time.…

    • 1849 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    My leadership style is that of servant leadership. In this leadership approach, I conceive of myself not as someone who wields power over subordinates, rather I’m deeply responsible to, and for, coworkers and subordinates. My way of servant leadership comes from an orientation of accountability, compassion, and care.…

    • 127 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One of the fundamental characteristics of a Servant leader is their ability to look at the human and value the human aspect to all business processes. This characteristic of a Servant Leader is important. When you look at employees and value each employee, you can create an environment that fosters motivation. Every human being want to be treated with a level of respect. When being interviewed for an article Cheryl Bachelder stated, “We give dignity to human beings, and we attempt to be humble. People perform better under those circumstances.”(Goudreau 2015) This is a sign that this leader embodies her ability to be humble in situations that require this important characteristic. The leader is showing to her employees that she is no better than they are and that each person has a job to do within the organization. When leaders do not place themselves above their subordinates employees are often willing to go above and beyond for the organization. This is a sign of inspiration. The employee is not being inspired by anything more than being treated like they should be treated in the first place.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Servant Leadership

    • 1528 Words
    • 7 Pages

    When we talk about leadership, we refer to people who motivate, influence, and build up relationships, based on trust, respect, and integrity. Servant leaders are people who serve first. So what is Servant leadership? Servant leader ship is “when people lead at a higher level, they make the world a better place, because their goals are focused on the greater good” (Blanchard, 2010, p. 261). For example, educators are visionaries who help attain goals, instill value, and develop potential leaders. Educators assist in strengthening and developing the mind and body, so individuals can apply their talents and become great servant leaders in the areas of healing, educating, and inspiring.…

    • 1528 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Now, the Servant Leadership model is all about helping others, and being there to make sure the whole team is successful thus the entire company will also be. It is serving others because is the right thing to do and will create a positive outcome not only within…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays