Servant Leadership

First, I'd like to start this post off by stating something that jumped out at me when I stumbled upon this contemporary leadership theory of servant leadership. The title of my blog, "serving others before oneself" is something that I came up with on my own, without even knowing that there was an actual leadership theory entitled servant leadership. What a coincidence! When I found this theory I immediately knew that this is the one I should choose to blog about because it relates so closely to me and my leadership theory thus far. I was able to find this theory through a website, theleaderlab.org, which can ultimately be an extremely helpful tool in leadership as there are many related articles and posts. Leader lab also has a facebook page, twitter, and other online outlets for learning.

The theory of servant leadership is one that argues that the most effective leaders today are those who are servants of their people. These leaders give whole-hearted attention to their followers and their needs, unlike many approaches of leadership. Most theories you see offer suggestions on how leaders can influence and motivate their followers, rather than putting the emphasis on collaboration, trust, empathy and ethics like servant leadership does. The leader serves from a true desire to better serve others and not attain more power. With that, it is presumed that if leaders focus on the needs and desires of their people, the followers will reciprocate through increased teamwork, deeper engagement and overall better performance.

I feel as though I can very closely relate to servant leadership and what it stands for. I've always been one to place others' needs before my own and look for ways in which I can help other people. Servant leadership is a great component that I believe every leader should integrate into their theory. It does not need to be the one way they practice leadership but I believe that if they actively attempt at it every now and then they will find that it brings them great success in certain situations. I know personally that I cannot rely solely on servant leadership but I do know that it remains a big component of who I am as a leader and how I go about serving others.