What are the most effective ways for Servant Leaders to measure their problem solving skills?

In my view, one of the most effective ways is to live to the principle of being an authentic servant leader. Involvement with the team is essential as the leader requires to be at the forefront of all efforts when exercising problem solving. Always visible and enabling others to offer value adding contributions. Also, being a very active part of the recognition and celebration stage, once an effective solution to the challenge is found is key. Last but not least, gathering team feedback on this matter is also a great source of information.

A servant leader is a leadership style where the leader's primary goal is to serve and prioritize the needs of others, fostering their growth and development. This approach is contradictory with traditional leadership styles that may prioritize the leader's authority or personal success. Key characteristics of a servant leader include: Empathy Listening Awareness Stewardship Commitment to Personal Growth Building Community Humility Servitude Healing Conceptualization Persuasion Foresight Amongst the above if a leader can empathize for the needs of their team and have proper awareness of their requirements, their skills and the way each of them work, it will be easier for them to understand the problems and solve them with ease

One of the techniques which I have experienced and used is also Design Thinking. While traditional problem-solving techniques focus on the present, design thinking is future focus looking tool and tries to attack the pain points and real time problems faced by the end users. Design Thinking as a tool is based on empathy mapping and woks on the concept of divergent and convergent thinking.

I completely agree to Ashutosh here. If I can provide in practical sense what is design thinking is all about accepting what is the reality and what was output planned or thought. Definitely there will be gaps major or minor which cause problems and then take the overall responsibility and accountability to close those gaps and make your mental model closer to reality. This seems very simple however your emotions get in between and you would not be able to plan for being closer to reality which we call not having problem solving skills. It is often found children have more compared to adults as adults start involving their egos and other emotions.

The best supervisor I ever had hired me into a promotion. I was honest with him and told him I was interested in entering a different field but needed the flexibility to finish school. He told me that if I gave him 110%, he would not only allow me to finish school, but he would also make introductions to facilitate my promotion into that other area. He was true to his word, and less than two years later, I moved on and up. That is servant leadership, and he has been my greatest role model ever since.

Agreed, it also empowers your team by allowing them to be heard, which then allows them to see they are valued as well as shows you trust them which in turn you will earn their trust.

Servant leader should ensure regular check-in and establish feedback mechanisms. In my experience, regular check-in meetings help to discuss the status of problems and assess progress, identify strategies, and make adjustments as needed. In addition, open communication enables a culture where feedback is valued, sharing of lessons learned, and enhancing best practices to adapt to changing circumstances.

Servant leadership is a fine line . Servant leadership is about supporting you team to serve them with the skills to be succesful. We are here to serve but we are not their servants. Meaning there needs to be a 2 way respect for servant leadership to be succesful.