Servant Leadership Action Steps

Servant Leadership Action Steps
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Servant Leadership Action Steps
The achievement of desired outcomes within a group or organizational setting demands the application of effective leadership and management approaches and practices. Traditionally, most leaders or individuals in leadership positions used their positions to influence their groups or staff members towards achieving the set goals and standards for the group or the organization at large CITATION Fis171 \l 1033 (Fischer, 2017). Such a leadership approach is characteristic of commanding and brandishing one’s authority over staff members, which may limit their potential to excel beyond the management’s set standards or expectations. An effective leadership approach is pivotal in unlocking such potentials among staff members for sustainable growth and development of a group or organization CITATION Die16 \l 1033 (Dierendonck, 2016). The traditional top-bottom or authoritative leadership approach where leaders assume the top hierarchical positions with their staff members at the bottom often limits the former’s ability to unlock the latter’s potential for improved performances. Servant leadership offers an effective remedy to such undesired outcomes of the traditional leadership model as it thrives on a bottom-top approach with leaders at the bottom of the hierarchy in servitude to the staff members at the top. In essence, a servant leadership model provides an excellent platform for unlocking the potential of individuals or groups as it encourages the exploration of individual thoughts and experiences for creativity purposes in discharging one’s duties and responsibilities.
Servant Leadership and Important Actions for Servant Leaders in Organizations
Servant leadership is a leadership and management model that seeks to bring out the best of all staff members in a group or within an organization by providing or rather creating a conducive environment for unlocking everyone’s potential towards achieving the desired outcomes CITATION Kum18 \l 1033 (Kumar, 2018). Servant leadership thrives on the ability of a leader to create and inspire positive behavior and attitude among employers while also aligning their sense of belonging to the organization’s sustainable growth and development endeavors. The achievement of the said outcome rests on the ability of servant leaders to take some key actions that are fundamental to the creation of an appropriate environment for all CITATION Kum18 \l 1033 (Kumar, 2018). Servant leaders endeavor to create a working environment where all staff members can contribute to the organization without any form of bias or discrimination while feeling valued, respected, and appreciated for their input or effort. It is, therefore, important for servant leaders to take some integral actions towards setting the tone and model behaviors to be emulated by their staff members, colleagues, and peers to achieve the desired positive outcomes at both the individual and collective levels in the organization.
Among the key actions taken by servant leaders in executing their leadership mandates is building and developing real relationships across the organization CITATION Wah14 \l 1033 (Wahyu, 2014). It is important for servant leaders to have an in-depth understanding of the employees or staff members so as to develop ways in which they can unlock their potentials for improved performances. Building real relationships with colleagues, team members, and peers allows the leaders to identify what is important to the former and what they need to achieve the set goals and standards CITATION Die16 \l 1033 (Dierendonck, 2016). Recognition of the employees’ or staff members’ input and contribution to the group and the organization at large also makes for one of the key actions embraced by servant leaders in executing their duties in the organization. Appreciating an individual’s effort goes a long way in promoting their sense of belonging to the organization, thus improving their performance CITATION Kum18 \l 1033 (Kumar, 2018). Servant leaders should also be empathetic to their staff members by developing an emotional connection to them, thus strengthening the established relationships CITATION Kum18 \l 1033 (Kumar, 2018). Developing...