Leaders play a key role in defining the strategic direction that others are likely to follow, which highlights the importance of always working towards enhancing overall leadership capabilities (Vito, Suresh, & Richards, 2011). The qualities a leader portrays act as key determinants of success or failure for the entire team attributed to the influence that leaders often have on their followers (Meese, & Ortmeier, 2010). Servant leadership is one of the notable leadership philosophies, which establishes the need for a leader to serve rather than being served. A servant leader focuses on others apart from him or herself with the intention of being towards empowering them for a much better outcome in terms of enhanced performance outcomes. Servant leadership differs from the traditional understanding of leadership, as it goes beyond working towards a given goal or objective, which is the main goal of traditional leadership. From this understanding, this project will examine servant leadership as it compares to traditional leadership, as well as, its application in a police organization. The definition of a leader is still problematic as various scholars defines it differently. According to Collins (2001) “leadership is the answer to everything is the modern equivalent of the God is the answer to everything perspective in the 1500s” (p.21). Meese and Ortmeir (2010) state that leadership can be labelled and defined based on traits, influence, behavior, power instruments, goal attainment among others. In this case, leadership can be best be descried best on traits. The following are some of the major traits that define a successful leader.
Honesty and Integrity
The supreme quality of any leadership ought to be honesty and integrity, as this would mean that leaders will always hold themselves to account based on their actions. The Bible emphasizes on the importance of integrity in every action, as it says that, “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out” (Proverbs 10:9, New International Version). That shows the value placed on this trait in ensuring that one is able to build on his or her capacity to achieve expected levels of success, especially in a leadership position.
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Strong Vision
Another major trait that defines the effectiveness of a leader is vision. Some of the most successful leaders in the world today hold a vision that allow them to see into the future, which defines their actions today. According to Collins (2001), effective leaders facilitates commitment to and spirited search of a strong and compelling vision to attract higher standards of performances. Vision helps in strategic planning, as it defines a clear path that leaders ought to take in their bid towards achieving some of the goals and objectives that they have set for themselves (Wexler, Wycoff, & Fischer, 2007).
Persuade and Inspire Others
Effective leaders also have the ability and capacity to persuade and inspire others towards their vision and mission. Leaders are expected to inspire their vision among their followers, as this would determine the extent to which their followers would be willing to take up current and future challenges.
Delegation and Empowerment
The effectiveness of a servant leader is defined by his or her ability to delegate duties as a way of empowering to improve on their capabilities. Delegation is seen as a key approach through which to help build a sense of trust and confidence among followers, which may push them towards greater successes. A servant leadership contributes to the personal and professional development of other members of his or her team, which distinguishes such leaders from traditional leaders. These are some of the major traits of a servant leader:
Empathy
A servant leader shows empathy towards his or her followers by recognizing and understanding their feelings and emotions. By showing empathy, it becomes much easier to connect with the followers at a much more personal level, which builds on the genuine desire to push for their personal and professional development (Bleich, 2014). The Bible say that “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). The basic expectation is that empathy will help in identification of possible instances where the followers lack the motivation to perform in a manner that matches set expectations.
Listening
Servant leaders often pay complete attention to what others are saying, which enhances their understanding of all interpersonal situations in a much more effective way. By embracing active listening, servant leaders are able to resolve conflicts, impart training, and offer advice where necessary. Basically, this means that a servant leader can use active listening as a tool to help bring out a much deeper and effective connection with individual followers.
Awareness
For a leader to be considered as being a servant leader, he or she must build on awareness focusing on the strengths, weaknesses, and values of his or her followers. Servant leaders find themselves in a much better position of avoiding personal biases brought out by a lack of understanding of what defines the capacity of an individual in his or her push towards success. Awareness also helps servant leaders make decisions that are inclined towards the success the entire team irrespective of the goals and objectives.
Stewardship
Servant leaders use their position in a manner that is similar to a steward, especially when focusing on the use of an organization’s resources. A servant leadership takes the responsibility of planning and managing all available resources with the expectation being towards ensuring that their teams achieve best possible outcomes. Generally, stewardship allow them to enhance their leadership capacities; thus, ensuring that they push for the achievement of greater levels of success.
Commitment to Growth of Others
As the name suggests, servant leaders often consider themselves as servant rather that considering themselves as leaders, which advances their commitment to ensuring that others grow, both personally and professionally. Servant leaders are likely to help employees chart out a clear path that would define their career advancements to ensure they move from one level to another without any major challenges. The desire to see others progress is seen as one of the major benefits associated with servant leadership as part of the team.
Servant Leadership from a Christian Worldview
The Bible continuously talks about servant leadership highlighting the importance of leaders to build on their position as servants as opposed to portraying themselves as full of power and authority. Matthew 20:26 says that, “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” The verse challenges great leaders towards becoming servants, as this would define a connection a close connection with their followers. Mark 9:35 supports this view of servant leadership saying that, “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”” The verse shows that Jesus, who was the Son of God believed in servant leadership urging His followers to always learn the importance of being servants.
Comparing and Contrasting of Traits
When comparing traditional leadership to servant leadership, it is clear that they portend several notable differences that define the existing difference between these two types of leaders. The main difference noted is that a servant leader is primarily focused on advancing growth and well-being of others while a traditional leader works towards accumulation and exercise of power. Servant leaders understand the value placed on their followers or communities within which they belong, which pushes them towards ensuring that they create a platform through which to promote growth and overall well-being of others. However, traditional leaders often want to advance their position at the “top of the pyramid” through the power they are able to accumulate or exercise over others. From this view, the two types of leadership can be seen as being rather different within themselves.
Another key difference noted from the traits is the fact that servant leaders show empathy when dealing with their followers, which is not the case when dealing with traditional leaders. The traits of a leader do not highlight the need for leaders to show empathy, as this is seen as a sign of weakness; thus, creating the need for leaders to often portray themselves in a manner that is strong. Traditional leaders are much more likely to show empathy when dealing or interacting with those within their same level, as this would help maintain their strength among others followers. However, servant leaders use empathy as a tool to enhance their capacities to connect with their followers in a much deeper level, which will be of importance in seeking to inspire them to greater successes. Servant leaders always take advantage of the relationship they create with their followers to serve as a guarantee for success in achievement of the expected goals and objectives.
On the other hand, traditional leadership and servant leadership can be considered as being rather similar, especially focusing on the expectation for the two types of leaders. The goal of traditional and servant leaders is to ensure that they work towards achievement of a set of goals and objectives. In most cases, this would mean that the leaders would use the strengths and weaknesses of their followers to their advantage in achievement of these objectives. Another notable similarity between these two types of leaders is fact that they each advocate for foresight on the part of the leaders. Both traditional and servant leaders are expected to have a vision for their future, which would allow them to engage strategic planning. Through strategic planning, both traditional and servant leaders find themselves in a much better position allowing them to determine the successes or failures associated with their leadership.
Notion of Servant Leadership in a Police Organization
Leadership serves as a key determinant of the successes achieved in police organizations, as they are expected to offer advanced leadership to help deal with a complex, diverse, and change society. The idea of introducing servant leadership is seen as one of the key ways through which to encourage a team-oriented approach in analysis and decision making within the police organizations (Chung, I-Heng, Yun-Ping, Chen, & Lin, 2011). The leadership within such organizations are expected to make decisions inclined towards the expected objectives of the police department. Consequently, incorporating servant leadership would mean that the decisions made by the leadership with these organizations would be inspired by the interests of the entire police department. The expectation is that servant leadership would ensure that the leadership pushes for a much better work environment for lower-level police officers to improve on their capacities to deliver on set objectives. Servant leadership is inclined towards leaders taking up necessary actions that define their capacities, especially in seeking to establish a connection with those that they govern or manager (Russell, Broomé, & Russell, 2018). Bringing servant leadership in a police organization is much more likely to inspire a sense of trust and confidence between those in leadership positions and lower-level police officers. That means that the leadership would avoid instances where they seem to engage in micromanagement of all actions taken by lower-level police officers. The ability for police officers to deliver on what is expected of them depends solely on the connection that they are able to build with their leadership. Consequently, that highlights the importance of incorporating servant leadership as the preferred philosophy that governs how leaders in police organizations engage with their followers. The projected outcome if that this would serve as a guarantee that police officers will be much more willing to engage in actions that conform to the expectations of the positions they hold.
Benefits and Pitfalls of Servant Leadership in a Police Organization
Incorporating servant leadership in a police organization may have a wide array of benefits and pitfalls that must be examined to determine whether indeed this type of leadership may apply in such organizations. The first benefit associated with servant leadership is that it will help boost morale among police officers. By promoting servant leadership in police organizations, the most likely outcome is that police officers will experience a sense of enthusiasm to deliver their mission in their respective communities (Lemoine, Hartnell, & Leroy, 2019). The expectation is that this would establish a front through which police officers dedicate themselves to their positions. The idea is that this would avoid some of the underlying issues experienced in police departments today including police engaging in corrupt activities due to lack of commitment to the positions they hold. The second benefit of incorporating servant leadership as part of police organizations is that it creates a roadmap to positive change. Servant leaders are in a much better position of influencing change, especially in cases where the change is likely to experience some form of resistance. Change is one of the greatest challenges that police departments encounter, as leaders often encounter a wide array of barriers that affect the success levels of such changes. Servant leadership would be considered as one of the most effective ways through which to push for positive change within police organizations. Servant leaders in these organizations would have a much better understanding of the type of change that lower-level police officers may want (Reed, 2016). Consequently, the implementation of such changes becomes much easier for the leaders, as they find it much in trying to push for a connection with all other police officers irrespective of their positions. Although police organizations are much more likely to enjoy some of the benefits associated with servant leadership, the leadership is equally expected to consider the pitfalls that may impact projected successes. The first major pitfall to note is that some of the police chiefs and commissioners are not wired in a manner that would allow them to project servant leadership. The fact that they are higher in rank means that they ought to use the power that they hold over lower-level police officers in any manner that they deem fit without due consideration of how this may affect other police officers. Most of the leaders in police departments often show autocratic leadership, which allows them to push those below their positions towards specific goals or objectives (Waddell & Patterson, 2018). Consequently, this becomes a major challenge considering that it becomes much harder for the leadership in the police department to accept a leadership philosophy that goes against what they believe.
The second notable pitfall associated with servant leadership is that it may become a challenge in trying to sell the whole idea around leaders operating in a manner that portrays them as being servants. Police organizations have adopted what can be described as a “do not ask style of command” through which those holding leadership positions often give commands and expect them to be followed without any questions (Hurt, 2018). In such organizations, it may be somewhat challenging trying to sell the whole idea about changing the leadership approach adopted towards servant leadership. The problem may arise from instances where those holding higher positions would prefer promoting leaders portraying an autocratic style of leadership compared to those showing servant leadership. The basic expectation is that autocratic leaders will be in a much better position allowing them to deliver on the set goals and objectives compared to servant leaders.
Implementation Plan for Servant Leadership
Implementation of an idea servant leadership would require commitment on the part of the top-level leadership in police organizations to a long-term plan for this type of leadership. What must be noted is that the implementation of servant leadership may take a little bit of time during which time taking into account that this is a leadership philosophy that goes against what is expected among leaders in the police force. The boards within these organizations may need to come up with a long-term plan on what they expected to be the projected outcome of embracing servant leadership (Tischler, Giambatista, McKeage, & McCormick, 2016). That will serve as a guide to determine the extent to which the idea of servant leadership is embraced as part of the police organizations. Additionally, the plan will also help outline the importance of servant leadership as it relates to the goals of a leader in police organizations. Another key phase to consider in the implementation of servant leadership is training and development of staff in police organizations. Through effective training, the staff will be in much better position to appreciate the role that servant leadership is likely to play in advancing positive change in the police force (Meese, & Ortmeier, 2010). The expectation is the training offered will serve as a guarantee that the staff in the police organizations learn the importance of serving as leaders as opposed to using their positions in a manner to suggest that they have power and authority. During the implementation of this plan, it is important for the leadership to have a central mission or vision that they intend to achieve. The basic expectation is that this mission or vision would guide the way the police organizations build on their overall capacity in trying to embrace servant leadership.
Conclusion
Leadership is one of the key determinants of whether an organization is likely to succeed or fail based on its goals and objectives. Servant leadership refers to a leadership philosophy within which leaders put the interests of their followers above their own as a way of establishing positive platforms that guarantee success achievement. From the analysis of traits associated with traditional leadership and those of servant leaders, it can be noted that they are highly similar, as they define the need for leaders to establish themselves in a manner likely to push for greater levels of success. In police organizations, servant leadership reflects on the ideals of trust and confidence, as it creates a much better platform for leaders to engage with their followers in a manner that defines their capacities. However, an analysis of servant leadership in police organizations shows that they incorporate a wide array of benefits and pitfalls, which are likely to impact the successes that such leaders are likely to achieve.
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