How To Embody Servant Leadership By Dolly Waddell with Germain St-Denis
“The first and most important choice a leader makes is the choice to serve, without which one’s capacity to lead is severely limited.” – Robert Greenleaf.
There’s no denying that a positive and inclusive company culture is integral to business success. It fosters an environment of trust, respect and collaboration, which consequently creates an environment for high performance and talent retention.
The question is: how can leaders promote this culture and drive sustainable growth?
According to Germain St-Denis, my latest podcast guest and the author of Empowering People Through Caring Leadership, the answer lies in one philosophy.
Servant leadership.
Data shows that teams led by servant leaders drive six per cent higher performance, eight per cent better customer service, and 50 per cent better employee retention.
In this blog, we will explore the core principles of servant leadership – what it means and how leaders can embody this philosophy to drive holistic business growth and impact.
What is servant leadership?
At its core, servant leadership is a leadership style and philosophy that prioritises the needs, growth, wellbeing and perspectives of team members. It aims to foster an inclusive, positive environment.
When implemented the right way, it can lead to higher engagement, more trust, increased innovation, and stronger relationships with team members and other stakeholders.
Technically, this philosophy has existed for centuries. However, Robert K. Greenleaf first coined the phrase "servant leadership" in his 1970 essay, "The Servant as a Leader."
Servant leadership is a simple concept that today’s leaders can incorporate into their leadership approach. When you become a leader, you have to flip your focus from yourself to your team.
Rather than striving to drive personal success, your goal should be to empower your team by caring for them and equipping them with the tools they need for success.
How to equip your team with the tools they need for success
Ensuring that you’re providing your team with what they need (rather than what you THINK they need) is rarely ever an easy task. However, as Germain points out, it all begins with connection.
Leaders can gain the clarity they need when they take the time to understand the people they work with.
Germain: “You need to get to know your people one-on-one as individuals, not just as employees. If you talk to them one-on-one and share a bit about your own life, they will open up and share theirs, too. This way, you can find out what motivates them and provide them with the opportunities they need.
So, it’s critical to ask them the right questions and actually listen when they speak. It’s important to establish that connection because as I always say, the heart of leadership is human connection.”
How servant leadership and parenting are intertwined
Connection plays a vital role in servant leadership, and in many cases, it is very much like parenting.
Just as parenting strategies must be adapted to a child's growth and development – recognising that the approach for a toddler significantly diverges from that for a ten-year-old – leaders must evolve their methods, too.
Effective parenting and leadership both hinge on the ability to connect and dedicate time to understand the changing needs and priorities of those you guide.
As a leader, to serve your team and make a positive impact on the people you lead, you must connect with them.
Creating balance and harmony as a servant leader
In an earlier podcast episode with Dr Gary Crotaz, award-winning author and keynote speaker, he pointed out that leadership (and life in general) is very much like dancing. Regardless of what goes on, there is a constant flow of movement and motion.
Thus, as humans, we must create balance and harmony between ourselves and our priorities. For the servant leader, this means helping your team members achieve these two critical elements. Germain describes what this might look like in a workplace setting:
Germain: “It’s critical to find balance and harmony in life's priorities. Everybody has these priorities – it could be their children or something else. For example, years ago, I was asked to take over managing an individual who was supposedly difficult. So, I set up a call with the person and I asked her a bunch of questions about herself, her concerns and issues.
By the second call, I knew what the problem was. Her mom had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, which meant that there was no way she could be 100 per cent focused at work. So, I gave her more freedom, and it changed everything. All I had to do was dig deep and find out more about her and her situation.”
Most leaders are familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Essentially, it states that there is a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid.
Source: Simplypsychology.org
Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to the needs higher up.
As leaders, if we can recognise what the people in front of us need, we’ll be able to help them achieve that balance and create a safer environment where they can thrive and perform at their best.
Germain suggests engaging with five critical questions to pinpoint your people’s top priorities.
The questions are as follows:
What aspects of your work bring you satisfaction?
Which tasks do you dislike but find unavoidable? (likely due to their administrative nature?)
What activities within your work do you genuinely love and enjoy?
How much of your day is consumed by each of these task categories?
If you or your people discover a disparity, giving the most time to the less enjoyable tasks, it signals a need for recalibration to achieve a better balance among your priorities.
Key takeaway
Servant leadership is primarily about prioritising the needs, growth and wellbeing of team members, to foster an inclusive and positive work environment, leading to higher engagement, trust and innovation.
By flipping the focus from personal success to empowering the team, leaders can drive sustainable business growth and create a culture where employees feel valued, leading to improved performance and retention.
For more insights on this concept, listen to my full conversation with Germain on the extra-Ordinary Leaders podcast.
You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel or explore the free resources I have on my website for more insights on how to dial up the extra-Ordinary in your leadership.
