WISE, INTENTIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
LEADERSHIP IN LIFE
Mike Prom - Director
August, 2008 – Vol. 1, Num. 4
Simulcast 2009 – Friday, May 8
Putting the words, servant and leadership together may seem to be a contradiction of terms for leaders. Yet a fair amount has been written in recent years about the servant leader concept.
Being a servant leader is not a contradiction, rather it opens a whole new way of leading people. It is not the idea of being soft and letting people do what they want, nor being spineless when the situations arise where a leader needs to be firm and unmovable.
For whom would you rather work? The person who puts you down, does not lead by example nor is interested in you as a person, or would you want to work for someone who takes an interest in who you are as a person, encourages and builds you up and is available when needs arise at work? That is a no brainer for the majority of people. When I am a servant leader, I am thinking of those for whom I have a responsibility to oversee. I look out for their best interests, caring about them as people rather than simply the means to the end product or result.
What that means is I lead by example by not talking about people behind their back, that I deal with conflict straight up meaning if I have a problem with someone, I go to that person and deal with the conflict. More morale has been destroyed by violating that principle.
I make myself available to listen and get feedback. I look for ways to help because my desire is to make my employees or those under my responsibility strive for excellence, letting them know that they play a vital role in the success of the organization or business.
If I am being a servant leader, then expecting my employees to be on time or when it is the end of a break, begin work immediately. I need to be on time and give my employer the full amount of time required of me.
The argument will arise stating that there just is not enough time in one’s day to be out among the workers, to take time to be available. The higher up you go in leadership, the greater the value that needs to be placed in your greatest resource available to you – your people.
It is amazing to observe and listen to different work situations, about the good and bad you hear and see and the vast majority of time, it relates back to the one in charge. If you think that just because you have a title, you will get the respect and loyalty that title brings, you are totally fooling yourself. If there is bickering and a lackadaisical attitude among the employees, I can almost guarantee that it comes from the leader of that group if the leader has been there for some time.
If you want to change the environment in your work place, start with yourself. It will affect not only you, but also those around you. Serve your people and watch for changes.
ILLUSTRATION
Turtle Leadership
Some years ago a successful businessman named Allan Emery drove to an airport to pick up a well-known pastor from
“Allan,” he said, “when I was a schoolboy, from time to time we’d see a turtle on a fencepost, and every time we did, we knew he didn’t get there by himself.”
QUOTES ON SERVANT LEADERSHIP
“Only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it” Plato
“All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.” John Kenneth Galbraith
“ To lead people, walk beside them…As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear and the next the people hate…When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!’” Unknown
“In my beginning days, I also wanted to sit down and say, ‘Listen to me, listen to me’, and I realized that if I really wanted to lead people, I needed to walk slowly through the crowd, and keep my ears to the ground.” John Maxwell
