Servant-Leadership: Engaging Hearts and Minds

Transforming from ego-driven leaders (power over), to Servant-Leaders, (shared power)

We are in the midst of a major transformation of leadership.  Women are becoming voices and role models for a very different, more synergistic, more rewarding way of leading and teaming.  For many, making a difference has become more important than merely making a living.  Creating life/work balance for self and others is replacing a frantic race to keep up, accepting burnout as the price we pay for "wanting it all."  This column will share a new leadership paradigm with real stories of heart-warming success.

 

It's no accident that three of the top five companies chosen by their employees as Best Companies To Work For In America actively teach and practice Servant-Leadership.  Synovus Financial, TDIndustries and Southwest Airlines put their People first, invest heavily in People development and perform at the top, financially.  (Ann McGee-Cooper and Associates is proud to serve all three.)

 

But what is Servant-Leadership, and how is it different from traditional leadership?  According to Robert K. Greenleaf, who coined this term, the motivation comes from a sincere desire to serve others.  It's not about power, control, ego or perks.  Rather, deep satisfaction comes from making a difference, developing others and building shared vision.

 

In times of increasing challenges, leaders are searching for better answers, better tools, deeper insights and understanding.  You may have more of the answers deep within you than you realize.  Let's  revisit our assumptions about power, ethics and leadership.

 

Futurist Alvin Toffler, in Power Shift, describes a profound transformation.  Early in our history, power came from violence.  The ruler with the mightiest army controlled the most land, people and resources.  Our ethic said, "Might makes right!"

 

Then money replaced violence.  In the Industrial Revolution, if you had wealth, you had power.  We looked the other way if you took advantage of people by paying the lowest possible wage.  Those with money paid lobbyists to make laws favoring their needs.  A bit of philanthropy seemed to cover the sins of greed and uneven treatment of people.  And the glamour of riches seduced many into this new ethic called "Pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps."

 

Women have been leaders in questioning the lack of social justice woven into this self-serving paradigm in which a few could amass wealth on the backs of those at the bottom of the food chain and the gap between the have's and have-nots became greater.

 

Enter the computer and the Information Age.  Now knowledge becomes power.  We have all seen managers and leaders try to control and hoard knowledge.  Yet, here something amazing happens.  In these first three stages, hierarchy and control have been synonymous with leadership.  Suddenly, a fourth evolution spawns power from shared trust.  Leaders sharing control and power bring far greater creative possibilities and successful synergies!

 

The term Servant-Leadership may trigger thoughts of weakness or servitude.  Yet, the opposite can be true.  When people work quietly to lift up others, not to feed personal ego, but to contribute to a greater good, they model Servant-Leadership.  Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa and Maya Angelou are inspiring examples.  Our work places are filled with many others.

 

Again, Robert Greenleaf.  "The best test for servant-leadership is, do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?  And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will each benefit, or at least, will each not be further deprived?

Submitted by Ann McGee-Cooper, Ed.D.