Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy in which a leader puts the needs of the employees before his own needs, thereby serving first before leading. Robert Greenleaf published an essay in 1970, stating that a servant leader works towards developing the work ethic and virtues of his employees, helping them achieve personal growth. Three main reasons why servant leadership is important is that it coaches others to express themselves more freely and in the process builds trust among co-workers leading to higher engagement and stronger relationships (Sarros, 2016). Servant leadership also helps employees to reach their full potential since the servant leader focuses on the needs of his employees to bring out the best in them. It also fosters loyalty from the employees as their needs become of primary importance and they feel included in the decision making process that favors them.
Besides putting their subordinates first, servant leaders are characterized by their ability to listen and empathize. By listening, servant leaders emphasize the importance of communication and always seek to identify the will of the people. These efforts help subordinates to feel accepted and helps them to express themselves more freely in the workplace. This freedom of expression fosters and sense of community and co-workers bond and interact more freely, creating a healthy work environment. Empathy also as a strong characteristic of a good servant leader helps bring a better understanding of others and accepting everybody for who and what they are. This builds trust in the workplace. When people feel accepted, the sense of belonging pushes them to push themselves daily to be better and in overall results of this process is realized in the total production of an organization (Sarros, 2016).
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Good servant leaders also possess the trait of being committed to the growth of people. The end goal is to help workers reach their full potential through nurturing their personal, professional, and spiritual growth. Servant leadership, as a principle, focuses on strengths much more than correcting weaknesses. A servant leader looks at people and their professional aspirations as long term investments. Conceptualization helps them think beyond the present day need and stretch their efforts into a possible future. Since they rely on persuasion rather than positional authority, they seek to convince others to stay persistent, take massive action, and also set realistic goals. Effective servant leaders also use their awareness and foresight to consistently provide continuous learning and fresh challenges to their subordinates to keep them motivated and in the long run help them realize their full potential (Frick, 2015).
Loyalty from employees comes about when the workers themselves feel included in the day to day decision making processes and helps maintain positive work culture. Effective servant leaders help employees to do their job in the best possible manner, take pride in the job they do, stay keen for new learning opportunities, and also avoid taking unnecessary risk. All these are these efforts go a long way in ensuring employee loyalty. Employee satisfaction occupies 77% of the total effect of servant leadership and employee loyalty (Frick, 2015). When workers feel their individual everyday needs are taken into consideration, it helps improve their psychological satisfaction and cultivates a sense of belonging in the workplace. This starts a chain reaction that goes a long way in ensuring employees remain loyal to their organizations.
Servant leadership is a form of leadership style in management preferred to other methods of management. It helps employees to feel that they can express themselves freely and in this sense helps them to reach their full potential. The level of trust cultivated between a servant leader and his subordinates goes a long way in ensuring that workers have a sense of belonging, which builds loyalty in the long run.
References
Seto, S., & Sarros, J. C. (2016). Servant Leadership Influence on Trust and Quality Relationship in Organizational Settings. International Leadership Journal , 8 (3).
Sipe, J. W., & Frick, D. M. (2015). Seven pillars of servant leadership: Practicing the wisdom of leading by serving . Paulist Press.
