Servant leadership is not a relatively new term, it is the principles that emphasize facilitation and helping employees grow and harness their maximum potential, empowering both individual team members and the company to be successful. As a servant leader, you need to learn to place people and your team ahead of power; this is not your typical type of leadership. A servant leader prioritizes the team’s growth and well-being, letting their own needs and ambition take a backseat.
Being a servant leader takes some certain things and some core characteristics. To put servant leadership to work with your team, here are 4 principles you should follow.
1. Listening: Listening is one of the most important if not the most aspect of servant leadership. When team members are speaking, do not try to silence them or shut them up, give them your full focus and attention. This is one way to make your team feel valued.
2. Empathy: Empathy has to do with a lot of things. However, when servant leadership is involved, it comes down to getting to know and understand your team. Understand their strengths and weaknesses and what makes them tick, by doing this you assist individual members of your team shine and stand out.
3. Self-awareness: It is pivotal to understand your team’s strengths and weaknesses but it is important also to do a little self-reflection on your team. Take note of your strength and weaknesses and how you fit the team. Understanding your limitations can help you see opportunities.
4. Persuasion: Sales tactics might be what comes into your mind when you this of persuasion but this is not the case. Servant leaders use persuasion to build consensus and get buy-in from their team. That way everyone feels like they have a stake in the team’s success.
Servant leaders give more of themselves not because they have to, but because they want to. Servant leaders are transparent, honest, and yes, even vulnerable.
Leave a Reply