In an institution or any other environment, leadership is a process that impacts other people’s efforts to reach a shared objective. In a corporate setting, leadership may guide workers or colleagues to work toward a shared aim of attaining the organization’s goals (Zeng & Xu, 2020). When the leader actively participates in the task, it is a service to lead, and people or employees follow and feel like part of the company. This paper is a reflection on the servant leadership principles covered in this course and a personal assessment of how those theories will be helpful in future leadership activities.
Furthermore, servant leaders establish themselves as role models by providing excellent service to their followers. In this respect, they aim to comprehend the followers’ situation and their problems and obstacles and demonstrate to them how to effectively navigate through them while making any sacrifices or making any concessions that they would demand from the followers (Lawrence, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the principles of servant leadership that have been acquired in this course and provide a personal viewpoint on how those theories would be beneficial in future leadership activities. The article explores four ideas and theories related to servant leadership and illustrates how those concepts and approaches might be used in the practice of servant leadership. As a result, the paper will demonstrate that servant leadership is critical in today’s leadership practice since it increases employee happiness while also encouraging initiative, initiative-taking, and improved teamwork.
Toister’s service culture notion describes how leaders may motivate their people to put in additional effort and devotion. A customer-focused culture is critical for commercial organizations, and the manager’s attitude is essential to instilling such a tradition throughout the company. A customer-focused culture is one in which the customer’s requirements are prioritized above all others. The business guarantees that this stays the case regardless of problems or inconveniences. As a result, management and personnel must continually meet or exceed consumer expectations (Toister 2017). However, establishing this mentality across the company by directives and instructions may be challenging. As a result, via servant leadership, the manager motivates the staff to go above and beyond by setting an example, no matter how challenging it may be. Casalena, a Squarespace manager, encouraged colleagues to personally transport gasoline to a generator on the 17th floor during a blackout induced by Hurricane Sandy to guarantee that services to customers were not disrupted, as an example. She begins by doing it herself to motivate and excite the staff. In this scenario, we can see how servant leadership may help establish or change a company’s culture (Toister, 2017).
The concept of Jesus Christ was employed throughout the article to expand on a specific theme from the offered content. The idea of leadership is based on the idea that it is a service in which the leader has a set of responsibilities to accomplish in order for the company to succeed. The text backs up the idea by demonstrating how he carried out his task on the hearth at the time. The notion necessitates that the leaders believe they can achieve the objectives. Leaders should show how to achieve those objectives to the rest of the team. More information on using Jesus’ example to aid with present and future leadership actions may be found in the paper (Wilkes, 1998). People or leaders are taught risk-taking in this notion, much as he was for his faith in God. This second aspect of the leadership style adopted in a given business also includes sharing tasks and authority. In accordance with Wilkes (1998), the seven principles of servant leadership are as follows: humility, following God’s will rather than personal motivations, perceiving oneself first and foremost as a servant rather than a leader, taking risks to serve others while trusting in God’s protection, attending to the needs of those beneath you, sharing authority and responsibility, and building a team with a global vision rather than selfish interests. These principles explain what it means to be a servant leader, and they should be utilized to grow or strengthen one’s ability to serve others.
The third concept that may be very useful in leadership today and in the future is transformation as a leader. The readings described it in-depth, referring to the concept of when Jesus first met the disciples who were fishermen before they joined him to be disciples, based on the prior courses and the information presented. People’s behavior and actions transform; it is strongly tied to what leadership is, which impacts other people’s thinking and conduct. According to the article, Jesus did not choose the holy ones to be his followers, but he was willing to change the people’s nature, develop, and purify them.
If one wants to be able to alter and influence how subordinates operates inside an institution, one should study and learn from the life of Jesus. Humility, following the correct processes and not his own, willingness to communicate with the individuals who want to convert, and developing a team that will assist in meeting the established objectives are all essential. The transformation factor is crucial because it will aid in the transformation of workers to fit into the ideal team that will assist in the achievement of the specified objectives if the leader has these characteristics. As a result of this example, the leader must be transformational. This approach will assist the leader in molding the people under their command into the sort of individuals required to meet their objectives.
The 5 languages of love is a theory developed by Gary Chapman that focuses on servant leadership qualities characterized by love and caring. The feelings of love and compassion that servant leaders have for their followers motivate their activities. The five languages of love illustrate how a leader may demonstrate love and concern to those under their care (Surijah & Septiarly, 2016). Words of praise, quality time, receiving presents, acts of service, and physical contact are examples of nonverbal communication (Chapman, 2019). According to this concept, in order to demonstrate service, a leader should complement and praise followers in order to make them feel valued, spend time with them in order to get to know them better, and be considerate when it comes to accepting and giving presents and incentives. Additional to this, the leader should delegate certain chores to his or her followers in order to make their jobs easier, and he or she should utilize appropriate physical touches such as back pats or back massages to comfort or console their followers. As a result, these five languages may be used to show a leader’s affection. Additionally, leaders should delegate certain chores to their followers to make their jobs more accessible. They should utilize appropriate physical touches such as back pats or back massages to comfort or console their followers. As a result, these five languages may be used to show a leader’s affection.
It is essential to utilize Toister’s concept to motivate workers or other fellow workers to persevere in the face of perceived challenges in order to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives. Organizations confront various unexpected obstacles that cause routine operations to be disrupted, resulting in a negative impact on the original plan in terms of time and other resources. If this is not addressed as soon as possible, it may result in the achievement of the aims and objectives being missed. In this sense, a manager may leverage the customer-centered culture to motivate staff to go the additional mile by personally participating in sharing the employees’ work and demonstrating how to navigate through the hurdles. With regard to what influence the organizational culture will have on leadership, the culture will instill a feeling of responsibility in every individual in the company, both now and in the future. The notion of having a customer-focused culture will assist the individuals who work in the business in providing great services to the customers they serve. Moreover, due of the advantages outlined above, even leaders will be motivated and will regard their role as a service to the company, thanks to the organization’s collaboration and support for the organization’s culture. As a result, I will use this approach to assist my subordinates in remaining focused and motivated through challenging times by encouraging them to take personal initiative and innovate.
Serving as a servant leader requires four categories of leadership that are relevant in evaluating one’s character in relation to servant leadership. Using this approach, we may better understand the link between an individual’s heart, head, and deeds while providing servant leadership to others. An effective leader may utilize the four domains of servant leadership to evaluate themself and make the necessary modifications, drawing on the example of Jesus to guide them. Because of this, I will utilize this idea to continuously analyze my character and thinking in relation to the model of servant leadership set by Jesus Christ and fix any deficiencies that I may have discovered.
The seven principles of servant leadership theory developed by Wilkes aid in understanding the characteristics that a servant leader should possess, as represented by Christ. By examining these seven principles, a person may determine which features they currently have and which characteristics they need to develop. Additionally, a person may recognize and eliminate qualities that conflict with one another. In this sense, the seven principles serve as a road map for transforming oneself or others into servant leaders by following them. Because of this, I will utilize this idea to educate my subordinates or apprentices on how to observe servant leadership in their future jobs and instill those principles in them as they develop in their positions of authority.
According to Chapman’s 5 languages of love theory, leaders may utilize it to steer their followers into feeling helpful, significant, appreciated, and loved in various situations. Many times, managers and supervisors are perplexed about the most effective approaches to demonstrating their concern for their staff. In such cases, this theory gives a straightforward and exact solution. Thus, I will use this notion in every leadership position I occupy to demonstrate to my followers or subordinates that I love and care for them to increase their levels of pleasure, motivation, and collaboration.
The four ideas cannot be brought forward and accepted by everyone simultaneously; some obstacles impede the concepts from being successful. For example, a lack of helpful or cooperative personnel inside the company is one of the difficulties. That is when the organization’s personnel are opposed to the project and work against the organization’s intentions to provide proposals for introducing service leadership principles into the organization. The other obstacle to overcome is resistance to change (T & David, 2021). When the majority of the population is unwilling to change. The second problem is identifying a leader who is prepared to put everything else aside for the company’s good in question.
Implementing servant leadership ideas in practice is critical because it enhances followers’ or subordinates’ happiness, motivation, initiative, and improved teamwork. The service culture idea explains how servant leadership may create a goal-oriented culture in a company. According to the four leading domains like Jesus’ hypothesis, servant leadership is a blend of ideas, emotions, and deeds. The 7 leadership principles emphasize the traits of excellent servant leadership that leaders may employ to better themselves and others. The five languages of the love hypothesis offer a framework for leaders to convey their love and concern for their followers. These ideas increase employee motivation, contentment, and initiative while also fostering efficient teamwork. In this sense, servant leadership is critical to the success of an organization and the development of its people, and it should be promoted in all sectors.
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