What is servant leadership?

In recent years, leaders have transitioned from focusing on how their followers can serve their needs to now focusing on how they can better serve the needs of their followers. No leadership style exemplifies this more than servant leadership.

In this post, we’ll explore the definition of this leadership style, its pros and cons, as well as what this type of leader looks like in action.

What is Servant Leadership?

As a servant leader, you put the needs, growth, and wellbeing of your followers first. This means adopting a serve-first mindset and prioritize your organization, employees, and community above themselves.

Servant leadership is in direct contrast to styles like autocratic leadership, transactional leadership, and bureaucratic leadership – all of which focus on structure, hierarchy, and a rigid give-take relationship. Alternatively, it shares similarities with transformational leadership and democratic leadership.

Characteristics of Servant Leadership

To best understand the characteristics of servant leadership, it may be helpful to turn to “The Servant As Leader,” which is an essay written by the founder of this leadership style: Robert K. Greenleaf.

Based on his essay, we can identify key traits of a servant leader:

• – Committed to serving the needs of others

• – Selfless and humble

• – No interest in holding onto power or material possessions

• – Community focused

• – Highly empathetic

The 10 Principles of Servant Leadership

What does servant leadership look like in practice?

After years of reflecting on Greenleaf’s original writings, Larry C. Spears, former president of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, identified 10 key principles of servant leadership. They include:

1. Listening

Servant leaders listen intently to others. They take note of what is being said and unsaid. They also take time to listen, process, and reflect.

2. Empathy

Servant leaders operate with empathy. They recognize and understand the needs of their team, enabling them to build trust and actually boost job performance.

3. Healing

Imagine this: you have a new direct report who previously worked at another company under a toxic manager. You sense that they feel demotivated or unconfident in their work.

Servant leaders recognize that they have an opportunity to “heal” those around them. This might sound like a lofty or difficult undertaking, but it can be as straightforward as fostering a healthy working environment, creating work-life balance, and making each member feel respected and valued.