The Servant Leader
Jose Luis Cardosa Manzano
Senior Manager / Head of Engineering and Delivery
Open your eyes and memorise this sentence: the greatest asset that you and your company possess is your team, the human element, the people in it.
Do you have an unmotivated, disjointed team, who are not giving their 100%? In this entry you will learn how to reverse this situation.
The best way to get the most out of each and every member of your team is to be a servant leader. If you haven't heard of this leadership style, today you are going to discover and learn about it.
When I myself discovered what it meant, I was in the client I told you about in my previous article. By the way, if you haven't read it, you should do it before continuing with this one, here you can do it:
I met a friend for dinner. My friend was trying to promote to team lead. He asked me for advice and if I could help him. Definitely! I gave him some coaching and told him about a couple of books he could use to continue learning about leadership.
I also told him about that last client that became a success story, and the ideas and actions I introduced.
After a few drinks he said: "Jose, I think you are a servant leader, most of the actions you mentioned I read about in the book Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf, you just copied those and applied them, didn't you?"
I smiled and said, "Come on, don't be silly, those actions were just common sense!", my friend smiled and said "I'm serious, read it and then we can discuss it".
That night, a bit tipsy and on my way home, I went on Amazon and bought the book. Within two days I had it delivered, read it, and realised that there were things I could have applied better, obviously, but I was delighted to have matched so much of my style at that client with the book. Theory met practice.
Do you know where a chain always breaks? At its weakest link, because a chain is as weak as that link. The same thing happens in teams, even if there are many people who perform very well, if there is someone who doesn’t, it can bring the entire team down.
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What do I mean by this? That each member of a team is as important as the next one and a leader must ensure that each member performs at the same level as the rest, that every link in that chain is strong.
In my opinion, this can only be achieved when you are a servant leader, when you care about everyone in the same way, about their problems and concerns.
A servant leader emphasises empathy and compassion, active listening and a commitment to the growth and well-being of team members. Servant leaders view their role as a stewardship, and by serving their teams, they cultivate a culture of trust and collaboration.
Foresight and address your team's needs and provide opportunities for growth. Team well-being is a responsibility you must assume as a leader.
Lastly, lead by example, show others how to act as there is no better way to get your team to follow you.
Applying all this, as I told you in the previous post, I managed to increase people’s motivation and satisfaction, turning the account in one of the best ones. It is nothing more than prioritising collaboration and personal development, that is the culture I promoted.
In summary, a servant leader is the one who approaches leadership from the bottom up, in an altruistic way and generates a profound impact on each of the team members. It inverts the traditional hierarchical pyramid, where the leader is the one who has to serve and provide for the team.
Lead with heart, lead with purpose.
If you are leading a team right now, did you know about this leadership style? Have you ever applied it?
I published this post on December 22nd, being on holidays but not missing my weekly commitment to the newsletter. I have also set myself a goal to reach 250 subscribers before the end of 2023. If you are reading this and you liked it or learned something, share it and react with ?? so it will help me to meet this goal. Thank you very much! ??