There are different kinds of leadership styles, and they all have multiple benefits and challenges. The leadership styles that can be found in the modern work environment are transactional, autocratic, democratic, liberal, transformational, and servant. The leadership that I find to be most effective is the servant leadership style. Servant leadership means serving others throughout the leadership process. It places everyone else first and puts others before oneself. Other leadership styles focus on the leader and can be ineffective in creating trust with other employees or subordinates. Servant leadership focuses on serving others and how one can be beneficial to others.
One of the unique qualities in servant leadership that makes it effective is its focus on helping others reach their potential. The leader is concerned about how one can put the followers' needs first and help them grow and succeed. The servant leader is thus willing to build a better community through service. By focusing on achieving others' needs, the servant leader can realize an improvement in the overall condition of the people he or she leads. The nature of work done by servant leaders makes them world changers. Their primary role is in identifying opportunities for people to serve and creating a caring society. The servant leader understands that organizations have the power to transform society. However, the change can only begin with the execution of the servant style of leadership.
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Modern organizations and companies have an increasingly diverse workforce. The servant leader recognizes the diversity and invites a discussion regarding the opposing views. The leader would show empathy by looking at the situation from the perspectives of others. Instead of making a decision that would only benefit the leadership team, the servant leader focuses on decisions that would be beneficial to the entire organization. Employees in an organization will know that the leadership respects them and cares for their own needs. Employees will have an improved sense of trust and loyalty to the organization and the leadership team. Employees who feel respected and have their needs taken care of will transfer the same care and concern to customers. They will be able to focus on the needs of the customers. The servant leadership style will result in a win for the organization, leadership, employees, and customers.
Examples of Servant Leadership
Servant leadership style can be found in leaders who focus on the betterment and support of others and seek to meet others' needs and ambitions. One example of a servant leader is Bill Gates through Microsoft and various humanitarian and philanthropic acts. Microsoft's vision is to create an innovative technology accessible to anyone and adapt to everyone’s needs. Under Bill Gates' leadership, Microsoft showed a commitment to customers by striving to develop new software and technologies that would improve their lives. Such a leadership style improved its employees' performance, as seen through the success in the company's innovation and productivity. Bill Gates's style of leadership can also be described as servant leadership through various philanthropic efforts. Gates and his wife established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that seeks to help people in different parts of the world to live healthier and more productive lives.
Another example of a servant leadership style can be found in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership throughout the Civil Rights movement. Dr. King championed the Civil Rights movement by considering the benefits it would have the black population after racial segregation had ended. He chose to sacrifice his own goals for the benefit of other people that he served. He was a champion of non-violent protests and knew that the approach would be challenging but beneficial to the people he served. The Civil Rights Movement was highly successful in ending racial segregation in the United States.
