Servant leadership was first spoken of in the leadership literature, by Robert Greenleaf in 1970. He observed that leading by serving had Judeo-Christian roots and that Christ Himself was the ultimate example.

Jesus said that He had come to serve; not to be served. That approach is entirely contrary to the leader-first approach that characterised other leadership theories. Without exception, all leadership models, save that of servant leadership, focussed primarily on what leaders should do in order to get those they wanted to lead to follow them.

Servant leaders, on the other hand, focussed on how to develop those they served. The credit, if there is any to be had, was given to the followers. The servant leader chose to remain in the shadows.

 

False servant leaders

There are those who serve others to the extent that they will experience reciprocal rewards.

This is seen in spades at the various business networking organisations. On the surface, it looks like they are trying to out-serve one another by bringing in more referrals than their peers; but take away the reciprocity, and all that giving will stop in a heartbeat.

You see, it’s when nothing is received in return that the true character of the alleged servant leader is revealed.

 

What servant leadership looks like

If you read the Gospel accounts of the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus, then you’ll notice that His disciples – His followers – ran away. One denied even knowing Him, not once, but three times.

And yet, after His resurrection, we read that Christ restored the relationship He had with the remaining eleven, including the one who had vehemently denied Him.

That’s what true servant leadership looks like.

It exemplifies what Greenleaf himself said separated leader-first from servant-first leadership. He observed that fundamentally the servant leader does his utmost – makes it his priority – to meet the needs of others first. And that propensity to servanthood persists irrespective of the actions of those being led.

It’s worth digressing for a moment to consider this word priority.

Nowadays, it’s fashionable to think about having more than one, i.e. priorities. That’s an oxymoron. There can only be one priority because only one thing can be before everything else. For the servant leader, the one thing that is before everything else is whatever others need.

 

The servant leader’s needs are secondary – always, regardless, no matter what. Christ said famously that “no greater love has a man than this, that he lays down his life for his friends. That statement is equally true for women. And that’s the extent of servant leadership.

 

Why is servant leadership effective?

Why is that kind of leadership so effective? It’s because when someone is that committed to you, to your success, it compels you to do what that person says you ought to do. It’s because you are convinced in your heart that that person would never ask you to do something that would cause you ultimate harm. It’s because you would know in your heart that you could trust that person no matter what the request was. And you would do what you were asked to do because you wanted to feel the smile of approval by that person.

That means that servant leadership is much more than a way to influence people to do what you want them to do, the essence of all other leadership styles. Servant leadership is how you change the lives of others. When you fundamentally change the life of another for their ultimate good, and they know that that is your goal, then there is nothing that they won’t do if you ask them. Resistance comes from the suspicion that you have ulterior motives.

Servant leaders are transparent. They have nothing to hide. Nothing they do gives their followers cause to suspect otherwise. No one ever wonders what’s in it for the leader because their followers know that the reward they get is in watching their “disciples” succeed.

Can you see the difference? Can you see how radical the behaviour of the servant leader is compared to the traditional leadership styles widely practiced today?

 

Servant leadership

Greenleaf has this to say about servant leadership:

It’s a “philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world”.

Let’s unpack that a bit. There are two parts to this definition: a philosophy and a set of practices.

 

What is a philosophy?

It’s not the same as being philosophical.

When we speak of being philosophical, we generally mean that we’re looking at something as part of a larger picture. We’re not taking one thing that seriously because there is so much else going on that it almost makes it trivial by comparison.

A philosophy, on the other hand, is the result of rationally evaluating a group of facts so as to increase your understanding of how they all relate to one another. It’s from that philosophy that you are able to identify the practices that make it what it is.

Notice that these practices “enrich the lives of individuals” before they do anything else.

It starts with them. It’s all about them. It’s not about you. And because organisations consist of individuals, they improve as the lives of those who are in them get better. And because our world consists of various entities, large and small, individuals whose lives are enriched also create a better society for all of us. The antithesis, therefore, of servant leadership is to focus on yourself first.

 

What’s in it for you.

And isn’t that what we see in the attitudes of so many leaders and managers when it comes to organisational change? The predominant view is not that the executives need to change. It’s that everyone else should.

Think about that. Ponder it. You can learn a great deal about yourself and what it means to be a servant leader by doing so.

What else?

 

Servant leaders want to be servant leaders.

There is something inside of them, deep down, that makes them want to serve others rather than themselves. That means that you can’t fake it. Eventually, your own selfishness will surface and overtake your supposed servant attitudes. And do you want to know something? Hypocrisy does much more harm than good. Hypocrisy in you will create cynicism in everyone else. They will think even less of you for being a hypocrite than if you had just been yourself from the beginning.

Anytime the lifestyle of someone is radically different from everyone else’s, you stand out. People become curious. They want to know why you’re different. They’ll scrutinise your behaviour to see if you’re real, or if you’re just putting on an act. They may even try to provoke you. So if the desire in your heart is not to be a servant leader, then don’t think even for a moment that you can fool people.

 

How can you become a servant leader?

What can you do if you want to become a servant leader, but you know in your heart that you still possess selfish motives? It’s not as though you can simply decide to change. Something has to change you.

There is no such thing as a best way; not in this or in anything else; but those who change share the same kind of experience.

For some, they become Christians. That is, they realise that they don’t deserve God’s heaven because they have offended Him by their sin, and they believe what the Bible says about how to obtain salvation. Whether you believe that or not, those who do live a life that is radically different from the one they lived before they were saved. Drunkards or those suffering from various addictions, for example, often are reformed overnight; and others in a relatively short period of time.

For those who don’t have an experience like this, they may encounter something that is so heinous or so appallingly that they realise that if anything is to be done about it, then they have to do it.

 

Princess Diana sought to eradicate land-mines. She saw first-hand what they did to innocent children.

Martin Luther King sought equality for African-Americans in the United States, the Constitution of which promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to all its citizens.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was founded by a mother whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver.

These people and many others were transformed by what they experienced to the extent that they decided to do something about it.

And that’s what you have to do.

If you want to become a servant leader and, in your heart you lack an others-first conviction, then you need to go someplace where your heart will be broken. You need to see, feel, and experience for yourself the paucity of freedoms and resources that others have so that when you come home, you’re truly thankful for what you have. You see, the underlying problem for those who pretend to be servant leaders is that they can’t let go of the desire to get more for themselves.

 

True servant leaders are willing to forego everything in order to enrich the lives of those they serve.

That’s the difference.

 

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