Servant Leadership at MSOE
Well, we had a wonderful speaker, Dr. Samuel Scheibler who enlightened us on the qualities and responsibilities of a servant leader.
What is Servant-Leadership? From the Greenleaf Center Website,
"Servant-Leadership is a practical philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first, and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions. Servant-leaders may or may not hold formal leadership positions. Servant-leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment."
Your task here would be to read and comment on the following article.......
On Character and Servant-Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders by Larry C. Spears.
Gene A. Wright
posted by Gene A. Wright @ 8:34 AM
6 Comments:
As discussed in class these suggestions seem to be counter to what today's culture promotes.
Perhaps the traditional beliefs in positive characteristics is not flashy enough to "sell." Similar to eating less and exercising doesn't get much promotion for diets unless the food or exercise is unique.
The care for others growth and "improving quality of organizational life" is a nice alternative to "look out for #1"
I will definitely take example from Servant Leadership with me as I continue in my career.
-bod
I've only recently, within the last year, been given supervisor responsibility. One of my big concerns before accepting was that I was going to be evaluated from that point on, not necessarily on my effectiveness, but on the effectiveness of my direct reports. For this reason, the principle I am most identifying with is "my value comes from the growth and abilities of those people I lead." The experience has had its ups and downs but I do have to admit that I've experienced satisfaction watching some that I supervise growth and take on more responsibility.
When reading the 10 characteristics of a Servant-Leader, I had some confusion with the 6th characteristic of Conceptualization. This seems to me to be somewhat contradictory. When they stated, "Unfortunately, boards can sometimes become involved in the day-to-day operations-- something that should always be discouraged." I understood a servant leader to serve... To me this may mean one might need to be involved in the day to day operation to help share there dreams and listen to others doing their jobs and maybe helping them dream as well...So I am a little confused with the statement.
RB
Here's what I took away from Dr. Scheibler's talk at MSOE and the article...
The metaphor of "The Servant-Leader" is a powerful model for today's managers and leaders. Both customers and staff want leaders who will listen and empower - rather than dominate and tell them what to do.
The power of the servant-leadership model lies in the ability of its ideas to inspire us to collectively be more than the sum of our individual parts. The main assumption is that true leadership should call us to serve a higher purpose, something beyond ourselves.
It is essential to see the ten characteristics of the Servant-Leadership concept in relationship to one another rather than as individual entities.
SM
Dr. Scheibler’s presentation to the class initiated some reflective thought about positive values that seem to be missed in many leaders today.
Positive Today
Investing Leveraging
Export Import
Middle Class Upper Class
Neighborhood Life-Style
Mom and Dad Day-Care
Achievement Fame
Duty Divorce
Press Conference Photo Opportunity
“We Accomplished” “IAccomplished”
I took away this:
- Put others ahead of your own agenda. It means to be aware of the needs of the people you lead and be helpful.
- A Servant Leader does not worry about position or rank.
- A Servant Leader has the confidence to serve. Someone who thinks they are too important to serve is someone who is probably insecure.
- A Servant Leader initiates service. Servant leaders see the need, seize the opportunity, and serve without expecting anything in return.
- Serves out of love, concern for others, not out of being manipulative or self-promoting.
-jjr
I believe the servant leadership style is a rarity. From the standpoint of an employee, I would believe that working for a company run by a servant leader would be a much better experience. The retention rate of people within the firm would be much higher in my opinion as there is a feeling of value and worth within the employees and the strategy of the company is long term and everyone would know where you were going.
I would think that being a servant leader, it would be extremely hard to work for a company that was run via stock prices and a board of directors that were more interested in the quarter to quarter SVA. That would appear to be a very big task to balance the needs of the stock prices and the needs of the employees and community at the same time.
The characteristics that were listed are extremely admirable and is something to strive for if one were to work towards being a leader of an organization someday. Great leaders become great by not necessarily being great themselves but by having great people under them. Growing the people under you is very key to becoming that great leader.
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