Leaders who prioritize meeting the needs of their subordinates over their own or the organization's are practicing servant leadership theory. Putting people ahead of power is not the usual leadership paradigm most of us are accustomed to, and yet, research is beginning to show that amazing things can happen when leaders decide to make serving their team a priority.
When we think about leadership styles, the idea of “serving” others is usually the last that comes to our mind. Leaders are depicted as those who drive, who give orders, and directions, and whose instructions need to be followed. Subordinates serve leaders, not the other way around, right? Is “servant leadership” nothing more than an oxymoron?
Well, it turns out that servant leadership theory is a concept that has been around for quite a while, and it is gathering momentum. In this post, we will explain what servant leadership is and we will show you which behaviors you need to adopt if you want to become a servant leader.
While traditional leadership prioritizes company success, servant leadership prioritizes employee growth and engagement to achieve success and foster trust, accountability, and inclusion in the workplace.
We will also report on research that explores how servant leadership can be beneficial for service employee empowerment, one of the critical success factors in hospitality. Last but not least, how effective servant leadership depends also on the personality of your subordinates, in particular, their level of “openness”. Follow us on a guided tour of how to empower service employees by engaging in servant leadership.
Generally speaking, servant leaders often possess the characteristics of having a high EQ (emotional intelligence) and self-awareness. Servant leaders are defined as those who emphasize their behaviors on serving others, including their subordinates and society at large.
Servant leaders will put the interests of their subordinates above their own, create a trusting relationship and support the professional development of their subordinates with the purpose of helping them reach their full potential. Wondering what type of leader you are?
Different researchers have proposed a variety of frameworks to describe the behaviors a servant leader engages in. Some of these frameworks have considerable overlap. If you want to check your own behaviors against some of the most important benchmarks for servant leadership theory, try to ask yourself how many of the following examples of servant leadership you practice:
Team empowerment or individual employee empowerment is a psychological state in employees that has several facets:
Servant leaders promote most if not all of these perceptions; they help their subordinates realize their full potential, which instills meaning and shows that they can make a difference. Servant leaders also strengthen their subordinates' skills and actively involve them in decision-making processes. This strengthens their sense of competence and autonomy. In other words, when leaders engage in servant leadership behaviors, their subordinates' sense of empowerment should grow considerably.
All service employees – and all human beings, as a matter of fact – differ with regard to their personalities. The “big five” personality model – a popular way of describing and measuring personality – highlights “openness” as one defining characteristic of personality. Individuals who are high in openness are creative, imaginative individuals who welcome other people’s opinions and are generally curious about new experiences.
When service employees are high in openness, chances are that they will have a stronger sense of empowerment, to begin with. Their natural creativity and interest in trying out new things will lead them to actively seek out opportunities for taking initiative and responsibility. Not surprisingly, our research suggests that while servant leadership benefits all employees, those who lack “openness” benefit more than all others from interacting with a servant leader. Servant leadership behaviors may strengthen their self-confidence and encourage them to venture out into new territory and take some of the risks that are inherent in empowered behaviors. Without a servant leader, they may have refrained from showing such new attitudes.
Servant leadership requires guts and the willingness to think outside of the box. It implies putting aside the old notion that leaders always have to “call the shots”. Engaging in servant leadership can promote empowerment in your employees, and empowerment is a key ingredient for seamless service delivery and high levels of guest satisfaction.
Give servant leadership a try – and observe how your team will reward you for it. You may be surprised by the outcomes.