Servant leadership has become a buzzword. Not a fan of that; so let’s think harder.
- Are you in alignment with its true meaning?
- What does it mean to you?
- Do you see it alive in your organization?
Unfortunately, corporate America tends to reward for attitude, tenure and measurable results rather than the soul of servant leadership: connection to mission, which moves goals forward.
But perhaps you can be the change you want to see.
True servant leaders share the power, putting the needs of the employees first and empowers their teams toward peak performance–not for the leaders benefit, but for the teams’ benefit and the greater good. Under authentic servant leadership, the leader exists to serve the people instead of the people working to serve the leader.
Here are some simple tactics to boost your servant leadership.
1. Carry the Burden of Risk. A good servant leader sees around corners, understands the consequences, refrains from blame and helps clean up messes.
In Real Life: Working at a research hospital put me at the center of a high-risk-tolerant environment. My colleagues were willing to carry the burden and clean up messes because they knew it meant more discovery and more learning. The only tricky part was deciding which messes are fixable and which messes are too disastrous.
2. Flip the Conversation. Servant leaders are always coaching. They don’t give out answers, they ask the right questions to help teams find the answer.
In Real Life: I was recently working on a new process for a project transition and I asked the team what they needed to move forward with ownership. Their reply? “Just give us what you’ve got.”. Nope. I pushed back and said “What do you really need to be successful and empowered with the new space?” I made them think harder and we got some great details for handoff.
3. Do the Actual Work Even–and especially–when it’s not your job. If the moment calls for it, grab a plunger and deal with a backed-up toilet.
In Real Life: During a Children’s Hospital transition, I found myself wheeling a gurney down 18th avenue in a snowstorm. And I’ll tell you–nothing makes you feel more alive than an experience like that.
4. Ask for Help. You’re not good at everything, so when you run into a weakness, get curious and ask your team or an employee for help. And to do that, you’ll need a team of experts.
In Real Life: I know quite a bit about construction, but I don’t have a construction management degree. So as an Owner’s Rep on a project, I remember a time when a client started talking about erecting steel. At that point, I turned to my experts to get technical and talk me through it. In this way, I understood what I need to understand but didn’t waste time going deep about a topic that didn’t serve me in the long run.
5. Create a Learning Space. A good servant leader creates a safe space for others to make decisions.
In Real Life: I once allowed a team to independently order equipment for a health care space. This order included refrigerators. When the appliances were delivered, they had built-in ice-makers, which required plumbing. But there was no plumbing hook ups in these particular rooms. So the team had to do some savvy problem-solving, faced a slight schedule delay and learned a valuable lesson
6. All Carrot, No Stick. When you demonstrate the higher purpose and future result instead of pushing people from behind, you get real commitment.
In Real Life: In the first stages of a hospital construction project, I brought a patient in to talk to the safety team. That patient told a heartfelt story about how much the hospital meant to him. After that the team’s commitment dramatically increased. They were more willing to work late hours and there was a new sense of urgency. They felt meaning behind the project.
7. Release Decision Control. Quietly determine one solution in your mind, then get ideas from the group and let them choose. Then actively–not begrudgingly–support that decision.
In Real Life: I was once designing a workspace for a department. I wanted to shrink the space and lower the cubicle walls so it had more of a community feel. The team agreed, but wanted to switch the direction each person faced to increase privacy, instead inserting a round table between them to facilitate working together. The result was both a collaborative decision and a collaborative space.
8. Step Back. A servant leader understands that not all things begin and end with them. They can step out of the leadership role and embrace that discomfort.
In Real Life: A leadership group I’m part of was recently tasked with helping a local non-profit. We had good intentions. But instead of saying: How can we help and then executing, we asked: What’s your plan? And began critiquing the plan. Then we fought for air-time trying to prove our worth. This is an example of good intentions, but non-servant leadership.
As you can see, these strategies are nuances in the big picture of effective servant leadership, Yet they made a real difference in output, collaboration and results. How could you implement one of these tactics in your leadership this week? Where does your team need this most of all?
