Behaviors of Servant Leadership
Last week's studies detailed the 10 characteristics of servant leadership as identified by Spears (2002) from the writings of Robert Greenleaf. Now that I know the attributes of a servant leader, how do I begin to translate those dispositions into actions and behaviors?
Liden, Wayne, Zhao, and Henderson (as cited in Northouse, 2019) identified seven behaviors as part of the servant leadership process. Each behavior can comprise multiple actions to accomplish the work of servant leadership. Here are the behaviors with some sample actions that servant leaders take to maintain the servant leadership model:
Conceptualizing: deep understanding of an organization’s purpose, mission, goals, and problems (Northouse, 2019)
Emotional healing: showing active support for a person’s well-being
Put followers first: soulful connection with people, customers, and stakeholders
Helping followers grow and succeed: Mentoring is a conscious effort to help followers (Murphy, 2011)
Behaving ethically: leading by example and modeling the values that the organization espouses (Kouzes & Posner, 2012)
Empowering: providing the freedom and support for followers to make independent decisions (Northouse, 2019)
Creating value for the community: goes beyond the core business of an organization
To lead people, walk behind them.