You’re in a Servant Leadership role. How can you demonstrate your leadership skills?

I find my self repeating this phrase constantly: “What they say, what they mean, what you hear, and what you understand are four different things.” To move beyond hearing, and into listening you have to seek to align the four pieces. You do this by intentionally listening. Confirming what you hear through paraphrasing. Lastly, and most importantly actually caring about the person you are listening to.

Listening is crucial. It's not just about hearing words but understanding emotions and underlying needs. Empathy is your superpower. Giving others your full attention and don't cast judgment, and rephrase conversation to ensure clarity. Be curious, ask open-ended questions to dive deeper into perspectives. Let others speak freely, valuing their input. Through active listening, you cultivate trust, foster collaboration, and empower others to thrive.

Empower others shows so many great traits. It’s builds a trust with you and your team. It gives employees what they want. It progresses at a faster rate. It also demonstrates from the top down that working together as a team is paramount to success

Serving 2-up and 2-down is key to your success. Your team and leader has to feel supported. By serving 2 up and 2 down, you make sure the needs of your team members are taken care of, as well as your boss's boss.

Key aspect for a servant leader is to act as enabler for their people. If you can identify members in your team who have potential to take care your role that is a real achievement w.r.t developing people. One way to develop abilities in your team is co-create and solve problems together with them, give them authority to take decisions and be available next to them when they need you. Never judge their performance with their success rate only, failures give more learning.

Simply put, serve those you lead. Take time to understand the pain points in their work and remove them if possible. Meanwhile show them you also are willing to share in that part of their work since removing the hurdles may take some time to implement. Little behaviors go a long way - such as stopping to pick up stray items on the hallway floor. Not only are you demonstrating humility- you are setting the standards - and demonstrating no one is above them, which is crucial for servant leadership.

In a servant leadership role, demonstrating leadership skills involves prioritizing the needs of the team and empowering them to succeed. This can be done by actively listening to their concerns, providing support and guidance, and facilitating their professional growth and development. Additionally, leading by example, fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment, and advocating for the well-being of team members are crucial aspects of servant leadership. By consistently embodying these principles and values, I can effectively demonstrate my leadership skills in a servant leadership role.