I’m becoming increasingly convinced that that I need to focus more time at the top of the pyramid. Something seems to happen to the brains of insulated senior leaders that keeps them from becoming servant-leaders. Instead they too often become constraints that consume our time, energy, and talent as project leaders and contributors.
Why the rant? I’m currently working with a client to deliver a webinar that addresses servant leadership. Robert K. Greenleaf (1904- 1990), coined the term servant-leader in 1970, so it is certainly not a new idea. But it doesn’t seem to be flourishing in many organizations. Refreshing my awareness of servant-leadership reminds me of how many leaders cause unnecessary stress and frustration when they could be enabling progress and improving human spirit.
One of the best descriptions of servant-leadership comes from Larry Spears, the CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, an international not-for-profit organization. According to Spears, servant-leaders posses the following 10 characteristics.*
- Listening to what is said and what is unsaid and reflecting on the meanings of each
- Empathizing even when you don’t necessarily agree with an opposing viewpoint
- Healing damaged relationships in order to work together more effectively
- Increasing self awareness and general awareness even if it is disturbing
- Using persuasion rather than coercion as a means for building consensus
- Conceptualizing the vision while maintaining an implementation orientation
- Exercising foresight and wisdom by integrating past lessons and present realities to predict the likely outcomes of decisions for the future
- Embracing the stewardship responsibility of serving the needs of others, not oneself
- Committing to the personal and professional growth of employees and colleagues through engaged mentoring
- Building a strong sense of community through specific acts of commitment rather than sweeping statements
Over the past seven years, I’ve been rather deeply involved in the pharmaceutical industry. Yesterday, while working with a diverse group of executives from the energy industry, I asked about their chief concerns in the realm of project leadership. Their answers were mostly related to dealing with senior leaders. How can we make senior leaders accept certain realities when they are not open to listening to our points of view? How can we sell our value to senior leaders? How can we make leaders understand the implementation implications when they are only interested the vision? Across industries, it seems, leaders are viewed as constraints. If not, Dilbert wouldn’t be so funny! But it’s not so funny when we are on the receiving end.
The good news is that we can practice servant-leadership ourselves, even when project team members don’t report to us. How are you doing against the above characteristics of servant-leaders?
* These characteristics were adapted from Larry Spears’ article entitled “On Character and Servant-Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders.” Larry Spears is Chief Executive Officer, The Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership.
