The Servant As Leader By Robert Greenleaf

The type of leadership most noticeable in the service activity was servant leadership. Servant leadership was first introduced in 1970 by Robert K. Greenleaf in the essay “The Servant Leader”. In his essay Greenleaf says “The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.” (Greenleaf, 1970) Greenleaf essentially

Simply, servant leaders hold a view as a servant first and leader second (Owens & Hekman, 2012). Moreover, servant leaders emphasize personal responsibility for the organization and all internal and external stakeholders (Peterson, Galvin, & Lange, 2012). As stated, expressing a genuine concern and care for people are a basis of servant leadership. In addition, servant leadership also focuses on the growth of

Many have developed elements that they believe are the foundation of servant leadership. In summary, included in the fundamentals are healing, creating value for community, empowering, empathy, listening, awareness, behaving ethically, and helping others grow and succeed. Healing refers to leaders trying to help solve problems and relationships. Creating value for community refers to leaders serving as an example and encouraging others to also serve the community. Empowering refers to leaders providing followers with autonomy. Empathy refers to leaders understanding others. Listening is a trait all leaders should possess. In order to understand, one should first listen. Awareness refers to leaders attentive to the things happening around them. Behaving ethically refers to the demonstrating of integrity to gain the trust of followers. Helping others grow and succeed refers to leaders providing support to followers to help them develop and accomplish professional and personal goals.

With some insight on my leadership skills, I believe my nursing leadership style is one of a servant leader. The term servant leader was coined by Robert Greenleaf and describes individuals who not only influence but motivate others around them by building relationships and developing the skills of individual team members. According to Greenleaf this style of management requires that the entire team

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.” - Robert K. Greenleaf. This is Robert Greenleaf’s definition of servant leadership. If members of the scholarship selection committee were to walk around my high school Delphos Jefferson and Vantage Career Center my peers, teachers, and school administrators would describe be as a servant leader for many different reasons.

Robert Greenleaf’s idea of servant leadership is a new concept to this era and for many people, it is a difficult theory to grasp. Although Greenleaf faces criticism and disagreement from people about his perception of servant leadership, his philosophies are unwavering because he holds true to what he believes. Throughout his writings, Greenleaf believes that in order to be a good leader, one must be a servant first. He supports his servant-first idea by using examples of extraordinary leaders of our time.

Servant leadership is desire of someone to serve one another through certain principles. Greenleaf, Senge, Covey, and Spears (2002) identifies servant leaders as those work are doing the utmost best for their community. A civil rights activist and leader, Martin Luther King Jr. embodied the aspects of servant leadership. Martin Luther King Jr. is committed to the growth of the community, a dedicated servant leader who inspires followership and has many qualities to emulate. Principles of Servant Leadership

Servant leadership was a term that was first used by Keifner Greenleaf(1970) in his first essay, The Servant as Leader (as cited by Crippen, C., 2005). Greenleaf based his

Leadership and management for many go hand in hand, and may be perceived as one in the same. In the book titled, The Servant (1998), James C. Hunter challenged this mainstream view, and literally turned this concept, which so many are coached on, upside-down. The notions of what characterizes a virtuous leader, as well as what it means to serve others, are the primary focal points of Hunter’s book. He did an eloquent job of revealing his theory concerning effective leadership by using an allegorical approach which, made the content easier to digest and much more personable. The Servant deeply resonated with me, and I gained significant value from the attitudes Hunter presented which, I can apply to my schooling, personal life, and future career paths. I was also able to discern what I felt to be applicable elements regarding the mark of a worthy leader, and arrived at my own theories.

Lee displays the following characteristics of servant leadership: Listening, empathy, awareness, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment of the growth of people, and building community.

These organizational processes are often thought of as empowering employees, which is also characteristic of servant leadership. Servant Leadership can be defined as a behavior of putting followers first. Listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and building a community are all characteristics of Servant Leadership (Northouse, 2016, p. 339).

Robert Greenleaf is the father of modern servant-leadership movement and founder of the Greenleaf servant for Leadership. His desire to change a power centered authoritarian leadership style that was prominent in the US institution motivated him to create a leadership style that is focused on leaders being servant. He was inspired by Larry Spears’ work and promoted that a servant leader should have the characteristics or principles of listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth of people, and building community. In this paper, servant leadership will be better understood. A Venn diagram will also be shown to illustrate the similarities and differences between Greenleaf's principles of servant leadership and several biblical passages; a summary of how both Greenleaf and Christianity call people to serve; and will discuss how one feels when called to serve as a leader.

Today, I will be discussing The Four Domains of Servant Leadership, which are the major emphasis of Lead Like Jesus. Next we will explore the supporting evidence for servant leadership, followed by how I, as both a military officer and future Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, will apply the fundamentals presented in “Lead Like Jesus.”

Servant leadership underscores service. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first (Greenleaf 2002, p.4). Servant leaders are not only team builders, motivators, but they are ready and willing to take matters in their hands. Besides, they act on their visions and their actions inspire people to become involve. A leader can ascend from anywhere in this world. Moreover, as our leaders rise we are able to examine their attributes, actions, and identify the servant leaders. The ten characteristics that are associated, with servant leadership are; listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. This paper will explore and analyze the actions, qualities of a young female head, as it relates to the ten characteristics of a servant leader.

Being able to hear what your employee is saying is very important. Being to offer advice and support to your employee is can be very helpful. If they feel like they are being listened to them will feel more valued to their organization and could bring more to the table than an employee that’s feels like their ideas or thoughts are not being heard.