Servant Leadership – oxymoron or alloy?

Traditional Leadership (TL) is all about what the employee can do for the leader. Servant Leadership (SL) is all about what the leader can do for the employee.

SL isn’t advocating that your organisation become some sort of hippie commune. Staff still have to deliver to the team’s objectives. Leaders still provide direction, can still dictate when needed, and are still accountable. So what exactly is the difference?

It all comes down to the use of power.

In ancient times back in the 20th century, businesses sold what they could make. Then behold, Marketing was invented, and they flipped to making what they could sell. Both philosophies make and sell stuff, but they're 180 degrees different.

Similarly, TL and SL both use their privilege of power to lead others, but in opposite ways. So in the same way that Marketing says that you get what you want by serving your customer, Servant Leadership says that you get what you want by serving your team.

What’s the issue?

Here are some truths about being a leader:

1. You don’t know everything, you don’t have the best answer to every problem, and you’re not always the fastest route to a solution. (And nor should you be btw.)
2. You have unconscious bias, which means you are not entirely objective, and not entirely rational, which means you’re not always entirely right
3. You will be tempted to use your power to stay in power, because you’ve evolved to have a deep-rooted primal self-protection mechanism that sees change (in this case, a change to your status) as a threat to your security

Servant Leadership is the antidote to all these issues.

Here’s how:

Consider this

1 Ask your staff how you can help them
(Pause for effect here, because this will be a 180 handbrake turn for some.)

Combine your power* and strategic viewpoint with their operational knowledge, their closeness to your customers, and their ideas which are born out of having to live with recurring issues that are tanking your productivity.

* e.g. your budget, authority limits, job title, comms channels, connections, reputation, skills and experience etc.

2 Provide air-cover
Use your arsenal of authority to protect your people. Fend off external and internal threats for them so they can get on with their work to meet your objectives.

3 Go large on empathy
Empathy is defined as the ability to take on another person’s perspective. Here are some practical steps:

A) Let go of your own perspective for just a moment. Get up from your side of the campfire and go round to their side.

B) Take the time / create the time / respect the time that it takes to explore their perspective. Being too busy is a lame excuse and most definitely an ish-you.

C) Compare A and B to establish common ground, to acknowledge uncommon ground, to shift your ground, or shift their ground.

D) Agree a mutually acceptable way forward, or, ultimately draw a line and dictate your decision. People usually follow leaders who over-rule them if they feel a) they’ve been heard and b) the decision has been explained. Inclusion and transparency buy goodwill and discretionary effort.

4 Unless you’re already a fully paid-up practitioner, list all the things that make SL a clear and present danger (such as appearing weak because you don’t immediately have the answer)
And then list all the things that make it a potential future threat (such as you’ll back a subordinate’s idea that might fail). Those lists are what are driving your fear and anxiety that are preventing your from adapting your leadership behaviour.

Try this

At your next team meeting, ask your staff what you can do for them.

At HPC, we developed Adaptability Based Leadership with the express purpose of raising productivity through more engaged, better led staff. If that approach resonates, contact me and let’s get you started on the next phase of your journey towards mastering leadership.