Health Center At Texas State University

This paper is about implementing servant leadership into healthcare. It gives insight on how to use servant-leadership qualities by giving the reader guidelines to follow in order to achieve these goals. Some key points of this paper are how to be a true servant-leader. One definition that I found for a servant-leader is that these individuals simply place the serving of others as the number one priority. Servant- leaders are drawn to a purpose greater than themselves and are great listeners that have empathy for the well- being of others.

A successful and societally beneficial healthcare organization must have a leader who has a sense of right and wrong, exhibits restraint, dispenses wisdom, and is a visionary that guides the organization to reach its maximum potential. The role of a successful leader is dependent upon employees that embrace the organization’s culture, mission, and direction. An effective leader rallies employee support and allegiance to the organization’s cause. An influential leader can elicit employee positivity and dedication, and has the ability to engage employees in achieving goals set forth by the organization and leadership.

The servant leadership theory is an idea first presented by Robert K. Greenleaf. It is to be understood as a sort of leadership ideology where the leader of a group interacts with his or her subordinates as almost a friend or equivalent. The objective is to achieve

Styles of leadership have a direct impact on quality in healthcare. A skillful leader leads an organization towards accomplishing goals. Strong leadership is in demand in healthcare. The role of the leader has a great significance on healthcare policies. There are numerous leadership styles applied to healthcare. Among these leadership styles are transformational, complexity, and emotionally/behaviorally intelligent leadership. One leadership style alone will not prove to be successful. In today’s rapidly there is a need leader’s to use all of the tools they have available to be successful, while driving costs down and quality up.

Servant leadership is best know for placing the needs and wants of others above those of the leader; this helps to create a trusting and empowered team of followers to help organizations reach their goals (Mahembe & Engelbrecht, 2014). The servant leadership model is able to help nonprofit organizations gain a competitive advantage in ways that are not necessarily profit driven, such as improving employee satisfaction and commitment to the organization (Center for Servant Leadership, n.d.). The improvement of employee satisfaction has been linked to improved customer satisfaction, which helps to build support for the organization (Center for Servant Leadership, n.d.).

Servant leadership is a theory based on the notion that one should be a servant to others first, and a leader second. A person should have the desire to serve others, in order to be a servant-leader. The following paper will address several key components of the servant leadership philosophy related to the book: The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership, written by James C. Hunter. First, I will examine the theory of servant leadership including its history, definitions, and major concepts. Next, the function of this leadership style in the field of nursing and nursing roles will be discussed. Finally, how this philosophy can be utilized in my personal nursing practice and how the theory has sparked personal growth in myself as a leader will be examined.

Servant leadership is a term defined by Robert L. Greenleaf in 1970 (Spear, 2010). Marquis and Huston, (2015, p. 56) describe servant leadership as, “…put serving others…as the number-one priority. In addition, servant leaders foster a service inclination in others that promotes collaboration, teamwork, and collective activism.” This is a type of leadership style that can positively impact one’s relationships with others. Servant leadership has various characteristics that distinguish this unique style of leadership. Listening, awareness and empathy are three major characteristics that one must possess to truly be a servant leader. These characteristics can be implemented in the every day practice of nursing to better the work environment.

With that in mind, health care leaders are asking questions like how can we deliver the best care possible to our patients, involving everyone on their team. Also leading by example with humility and not power would nurture a strong leader-employee relationship. “Executives and all the other managers in the organization must become students of the work, relinquishing their need to (seem to) have all the answers. Most importantly, they must mentor, coach, and teach’ (Toussaint,

Servant leadership has the ability to enhance individual lives, create better organizations and provide a world where everyone’s cares according to Robert Greenleaf (Greenleaf). The purpose of this paper is to introduce servant leader operational philosophy to the organization to maximize the capacity of the company’s performance with the ability to strengthen personnel growth from the lower to the upper level employees. By implementing this philosophy, the outcome is extremely positive and may create a win-win environment, as the focus is to grow the people to grow the organization. Servant leadership does not necessary require a title, in addition, most servant leadership in the organization does not have a title assigned to them. Servant leadership may be very contagious, a trend may be created when one service another, in-turn, the one that was served may become a servant leader. This development generates are great working atmosphere, where retention level increase, but most importantly, the knowledge of the people to grow the organization.

Leadership styles are an important quality in healthcare administrators. Transformational leadership is a popular style that is used to “encourage the group to pursue innovative and creative ideas and actions” (Blanken, 2013, para. 42). Leaders engage, mentor, and motivate their followers to change by utilizing the qualities that make them their leader, such as listening to them and including them in the decision making process, and showing interest in their work day while acknowledging their achievements and being honest (Giltinane, 2013). By treating the followers as they wish

What is servant leadership? Servant leadership is shown when an individual or an organization thrives to support others around them and uses their power to make others stronger.

Servant Leadership places great emphases on support, trust and encouragement working for the subordinates versus leading by instruction and direction, (Savage-Austin and Honeycutt, 2011). The leader’s position is to support their employees by insuring they have all of the necessary tools to complete their objective. The authors state that servant leadership is similar to transformational and authentic leadership in that the employees are encouraged through mentoring and open interaction. According to the authors, Savage and Honeycutt, (2011), little research has been conducted on servant leadership in the profit driven organizations versus not for profit or volunteer work. It was also noted that organizations that do not

Servant leadership is defined as, the process through which a leader or even an organization, identify the need to serve others first, and then use this aspiration to lead others. It is more of a situation of serve-first then leads (Greenleaf, 2007). This concept is credited to Robert Greenleaf, who is said to be the ‘father’ of servant leadership. This type of leadership prioritizes on the need to use relevant leadership skills and techniques, so as to efficiently and effectively serve others. Servant leadership is closely related to the participative leadership style, where other people including employees, are involved in the decision-making process in an organization or even in a country (Hawkinson & Johnston, 2013).

Leadership theories and practices are quite numerous, many leaders start out with one style and over the years adopt various styles and practices based on the organization and the situation that they are faced with. However, throughout the years two important aspects of leadership has remained constant. (Ferch & Mitchell, 2001, p. 81) pointed out that “leadership is a relational phenomenon that occurs between people, and the fundamental goal of leadership is to remain as effective as possible”. Servant leadership is one theory that I predominantly identify with because it focuses on the relationship with a goal of improving an individual or an organization.

Healthcare leaders are no doubt evolving and adapting to new set of skills required to successfully lead an organization. They are for the most part faced with so many challeneges and variety of complex issues that often demand essential leadership skills and qualitites to keep and organization running and at the forfront of success esepcially in times of uncertainity. Thus, a great healthcare leader need to have a clear vision of the organizational mission and values as well as a strong abilities to lead other healthcare personnel in pursuit of the organizational values and a healthy envirionemt that promote caring, innovation an creativity in order to meet the needs of our patints' population and the community.