What are some effective ways to measure the success of your servant leadership initiatives?

Servant leadership is a leadership approach that puts serving others above all other priorities. Leaders build a sense of community within the team by empowering the team to meet the work and personal goals. The core principles of servant leadership include: ?? Authenticity ?? Strong communication ?? Integrity ?? Compassion ?? Empowerment The leaders influence and inspire others - listen actively and empathetically, respect diversity and uniqueness, and value opinions and feelings. A servant leader’s awareness includes self-awareness and general awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of their team. It allows servant leaders to understand ethics and values from a more integrated and holistic perspective.

Communicate goals and values to team and empowered them to carry out with minimal guidance. Intervene only if goals misaligned. Otherwise let them shine and continue to succeed.

Even before defining your goals and values, work on your WHY. That's the secret of true servant leaders: they will set goals and bring values that align with that style of leadership, and therefore it will feel natural - for them, and for the people they lead.

It matters that you collect feedback, as well as how you collect feedback. In my experience, I have seen a particular leader who wanted to acquire it through anonymous surveys, and then couldn't handle the responses. That was one of the first elements that had broken the trust people had in him, as well as his aura of servant leader. Be mindful that you will have different mechanisms at different times, and they should match your maturity level and the maturity of your teams. By all means, invest in frequent 1 to 1 time with people you interact the least; those will give you the most honest feedback, often through their body language and through topics they AVOID addressing with you.

Collecting feedback and testimonials is an important part of servant leadership, as it helps to improve your performance, learn from followers, and build trust and credibility. The 360-degree feedback not only helps the leader to make the shift in the leadership style but also enable to the team to grow. The servant leaders are not afraid to ask their feedback and also provide constructive and valuable feedback.

Ensure those KPIs are clear to everyone in the team - and keep them to a minimum! Too many KPIs only mean, you don't know what you want to measure. At the same time, be mindful that setting a KPI will trigger certain behaviors from the team to meet that KPI, with eventually some unexpected side effects. Be on the watch for those.

Measurable KPIs are the key indicator and enabler in Servant Leadership. When goals are translated into KPIs and shared and owned by everyone on the team, then the need for authority diminishes completely. Clear and crisp KPIs are the driving force and will help foster a culture of excellence and ownership.

Feedback provides a very important aspect of measuring impact. It enables assessment of where one is in the journey of leadership and which way the needle needs to move. Other than the listed formal methods, discussion with peers and coach provide an insight into it.

Celebrate achievements - but true, real achievements. Be very cautious with toxic positivity, that makes people shut down and keeps honest, real conversations away. Celebrate failures too - when those are related to significant risk that has been taken and significant lessons were learnt. In short - keep it real and honest.

Celebrating achievements and learning from challenges is an important aspect of servant leadership, as it helps to foster a culture of trust, growth, and empowerment among the team members. Servant leaders do not take their team members’ achievements for granted, but rather acknowledge and praise them whenever they occur.

Servant Leadership always sets the vision for the organization or the team. To adjust and improve your initiatives, one needs to be flexible and responsive to the changing needs and expectations of the team members, customers, and stakeholders. It requires a constant evaluation of the impact and outcomes of your leadership practices and seek feedback and suggestions for improvement. It's important to have a strong roadmap and action plan and incorporate regular review process for both of them. This helps the organization to adapt quickly.

One of the key measures to check is to see whether people take accountability and ownership around you. Any leadership style is as effective as the outcomes it generates and the culture it fosters. If any of the above is missing, the style is rendered ineffective and it’s time to check if this is the style that your team needs ? Or is it your need to be a servant leader ?

Communicate, communicate, communicate - even the hard stuff (maybe especially the hard stuff). It's key that your people are clear on the vision, know the numbers and feel comfortable to (a) share when there's a problem area that maybe you can't see and (b) ask why or challenge what doesn't make sense to them. Everyone, at every level should understand and believe in the big picture. They should feel listened to and that their opinions are not only heard but welcomed. That's what creates trust and 'skin in the game' so all success is joint success and all failures are learning opportunities.

When scheduling 1:1s with direct reports creating an environment conducive of getting laser focused can begin prior to sitting down together. Providing the following questions can zero in on what’s most important to the participant: What topic/subject does the employee want to discuss? What specific goal does employee want by the end of the meeting? How will employee measure the success of the meeting? Why is this important to employee at this time ? What is employee willing to let go of to achieve this goal ? What was employees biggest win during the conversation ? What potential barriers does employee need to be aware of when working toward their goal(s)? What support does employee need or want?

Key principles of servant leadership I have learned include: - Listening: Understanding and validating followers' perspectives. - Empathy: Grasping and addressing others' feelings and needs. - Healing: Boosting personal growth in oneself and others. - Awareness: Recognizing one's and others' emotions. - Persuasion: Influencing others without authority. - Conceptualization: Balancing daily tasks with long-term vision. - Foresight: Predicting outcomes from past events and current situations. - Stewardship: Owning one's actions and their community impact. - Commitment to growth: Prioritizing personal and professional development. - Building community: Cultivating belonging and team interconnectedness.