THE SERVE FRAMEWORK DELIVERS THE PHILOSOPHY OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP

The philosophy of Servant leadership had been championed by many academics and writers of leadership – namely Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey and Peter Senge to name but a few; But of the many definitions/descriptions that try to encapsulate the philosophy of Servant Leadership I prefer this one below from Robert K Greenleaf in his essay “The Servant Leader”:

 “The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

“The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?......“

So how do I think the SERVE framework can help you achieve this?

3 key actions listed under each element of SERVE below:

S – Seeing the vision - Ensuring that you yourself as the leader clearly understand the vision and direction of your organisation. That you are able to align the goals and objectives of your team to that vision. Demonstrating to your teams that you are fully engaged with the vision. Working tirelessly with your teams to help them see and engage with the same vision.

1. You must understand the context of your organisation – what drives the chosen strategy – “Why we take the direction we do”. Conduct regular external analysis (PESTLE) and competitor and internal capability analysis (7S).
2. Use ‘Golden Thread’ philosophy when setting your team and individual objectives – be clear how your peoples contribution delivers towards organisational goals and strategy.
3. Translate organisational strategy for your people so they see it, are excited by it and will proactively suggest how they can contribute towards it – always ask yourself “what more can I do to help them engage with the strategy” avoid thinking “why don’t they get it, I have explained it several times”.

E – Engaging and developing your people - Engaging individuals to recognise their part in delivering team goals. Acknowledging the uniqueness of their individual talents mix and ensuring those talents can be harnessed and developed for both the benefit of the individual and the organisation.

1. Use the Gallup Q12 indicators of engagement to identify where you can improve your efforts towards engagement.
2. Remember that ‘Great Managers’ create opportunity for their people to use and develop their talents – Use Gallup ‘Strength Finder’ Assessment (Tom Rath) for your people and adopt strengths-based philosophy with work allocation and personal development planning.
3. Remember that current motivational theory (Dan Pink) emphasises that to be engaged and truly motivated at work our people are searching for 3 things. so deliver: – Autonomy, Mastery, Prime Purpose.

R – Reshape Continuously - Holding the mirror up to yourself first and ask how I can improve and develop what I do as a leader to better SERVE my people.   Leading a culture of continuous improvement within the team, encouraging challenge, creativity and innovation. Taking responsibility to be the catalyst for and leader of organisational change.

1. Understand and apply the concepts of Emotional Intelligence (EI). Undertake the ESCI 360 feedback tool against the EI quadrants – (Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Self-Management and Relationship-Management)– then act on the feedback.
2. Deliver team facilitation exercises that seek creativity and innovation to improve the way ‘we do business and work as a team’. Encourage Debone six thinking hats culture.
3. Be the custodian for the ‘right way’ of implementing change within organisations. Make sure you hold your organisation and leadership teams accountable for delivering change against principles of the Change Kaleidoscope ‘readiness assessment’ and ADKAR ‘change implementation’ framework.

V – Value business and people - Recognising and accepting the business imperative of delivering organisational goals/KPI whilst at the same time meeting the needs of our people. It is a balancing act, and both are equally important.  Whether it is profit, or surplus – without understanding how the business is run, how can you meet the needs of the people you need.

1. Ensure individual objectives balance the need to grow and develop individuals whilst at the same time being mapped to clear business KPI – use Business Balance Scorecard framework (Kaplan and Norton) to help you do this.
2. Know your business commercials, understand the financial drivers and metrics – otherwise your team leadership actions can appear unhinged to reality – Know how to read a balance sheet and P&L.
3. Get your reward strategy right – Harmonise, be transparent and fair. Consider the unique needs of individuals when defining reward strategy – think Flex benefits, give people choice.

E – Embody the values - Simple really – are you walking the talk. Do they see in you a SERVANT LEADER in everything you do and say – every minute of every day? And when you do falter, as you will because we are all human – you show the humility to put your hands up and say “I got that wrong”.

1. Check your actions against the lists in this table.
2. Ask for regular feedback – ESCI, Q12.
3. Get a Leadership coach........