Where to Begin with Servant Leadership: 10 Actions to Cultivate the 10 Principles Every Day

The concept of Servant Leadership is nothing new. The philosophy of empowering others through support and encouragement is one many people see the value in and want to practice. Distilled into 10 main principles, Servant Leadership has been easily transformed into countless graphics, slide decks, and articles (here’s one more!). The theory is clear and concise, but what isn't clear is how to put it into action, really.?

Where do you start with developing empathy? Or healing?

I wanted to share some specific actions that leaders can take in order to turn these principles into practice. If this concept has sounded nice to you in the past, but you’ve not really known where to start, try this:?

Principle 1: Listening

Action: Ask Thoughtful Questions?

Listening is at the heart of Servant Leadership, but what are you listening to? If the questions you’re asking your team members are vague, or worse - you’re not asking them many questions at all, the value of what you hear back diminishes. Be specific and curious.?

Ask: How is your bandwidth? How are you enjoying X task? Are you struggling in any particular area of your work right now? What can I change/add/subtract to better enable and empower you??

Don’t ask: “How’s everything going?”?

Specificity is your friend and will help you identify specific challenges to address with your team and hear how they’re really doing.

*Note: The opportunity to listen requires others to express themselves with you honestly, and honesty requires a high level of psychological safety.?The way you receive and respond to what is shared is critical to building trust and keeping lines of communication useful and open. See below for more on this.?

Principle 2: Self Awareness

Action: Seek Feedback and Handle it with Grace

How do you become more self aware? Introspection is definitely helpful, but you’re not going to truly know how you're coming across to others without asking what they think and how your behavior is actually landing (Not how you think it’s landing or how you’re intending it to land). You need to seek feedback from those around you.?

(*Bonus points if you send questions in advance and give others time to develop thoughtful answers for you.)

If there’s any identified gaps shared, ask colleagues how you might be able to close them. What can you do differently to ensure you’re showing up the way you want to be? Try out their suggestions.?

This requires a level of grace and acceptance to the feedback you receive. Your helpful respondents should not be met with defensiveness, excuses, or anger - they may not share with you again. Your intentions may be very different to how others experience your actions, and you might mean well, but if it’s not being received the right way, it’s time to accept it and try something new.??

(*Extra bonus points if you’re seeking feedback regularly…and it’s 360.)

Principle 3: Empathy

Action: Take Off YOUR Shoes First ?

Empathy means being able to put yourself in another’s shoes and to understand their experiences and perspectives. A common challenge leaders face is not necessarily that they cannot see the other person’s point of view, but rather, they have trouble removing their own from the equation at the same time.?

It’s like trying to step into someone else's shoes while you’re already wearing your own pair.?

It’s not the same, and it inhibits your ability to understand.?

Your team members operate differently, they may not have all the information or experience that you do, and they may be facing different challenges in the workplace, or at home. If you bring your beliefs, biases, knowledge, or privileges into that lens, you will fail to accurately grasp what they are experiencing.?

Do not focus on the deadline they might not meet - that’s your lens. In order to be empathetic, you need to ground yourself in their world first, assess what they are working with and how they feel, then try and solve - pressure free.?

*And truthfully, what’s going on in their world may be far more important than that deadline. Understand that if you and your team can take a breath and release the pressure for a moment, you can better support them.

Principle 4: Commitment to Growing People

Action: Learn the ROI, Share it with Others

Depending on your organization, you may be committed to growing and investing in your people, but others may have differing priorities. Additional learning and development can sometimes be seen as a “nice to have” rather than a necessity (it’s a necessity), so to get what you need for your teams, you must be able to convince others of its value.

Do the research, know the ROI on training, incentives, wellbeing resources, and any other people-focused initiatives you’re interested in. Knowing the cost-saving implications of these investments and being able to share that value in a meaningful way, will help you get the buy-in you need to deliver the right resources for your team. It will also outwardly demonstrate to your team your commitment to their growth and development - another trust building opportunity.?

Principle 5: Stewardship

Action: Model what You Want to See?

Stewardship is simply leading by example. If you talk the talk, you need to walk the walk. Gone are the days when bosses can say there are “rules for thee but not for me”.

The truth is, as a leader, all of your team’s eyes are on you. It matters how you show up, and you are not in a special separate category where the rules don’t apply.?

If you seek cooperation, cooperate. If you seek a positive attitude, have one. If you want your team members to keep their word and commitments, keep yours. You are the model for the behaviors and attitudes you want to foster in your team. You set the standard.

Principle 6: Persuasion

Action: Validate Others?

Being a leader involves creating alignment. But with so many team members and viewpoints, how can you get everyone to agree? Any sales person will tell you, a sale doesn’t start with all the reasons why your product is great, it starts with listening. Listening to the needs, desires, and challenges of your client. You won’t know where the misalignments even exist if you don’t pause and listen to the genuine concerns or suggestions of your team. (It will also ensure you get the best ideas out there and go with the best solution, but that’s for another post.)?

The ability to persuade is ultimately predicated on others being open and receptive to your ideas.?And that may be predicated on you demonstrating that you are open and receptive to theirs. Validating your team’s ideas and concerns will help them feel seen and heard, even if you have a different perspective.

If you need to get everyone on board with a particular direction, start with “I hear you” and “Where you’re coming from makes sense”, and move to “This is how I see us addressing those concerns” or “It’s a tough situation but what we need to prioritize is X and I’ll share why”

Principle 7: Healing

Action: Show Appreciation?

How do you help someone heal? This is the principle in Servant Leadership I find most enigmatic.?

Healing looks different person to person, as it depends on what exactly they are healing from. The environments, bosses, and cultures your team members have experienced vary, and unfortunately there’s no silver bullet to supporting their unique journeys; but what can be healing for others is having a leader (you) that can ground them in a safe and positive new space. I believe this can happen with appreciation.?

Appreciation says: “I see you, I hear you, I am grateful that you are here, and for the work that you are doing.”

Saying thank you, shouting out wins, sending a card, a small gift for going the extra mile - appreciation can take many forms (and is basically free). Appreciating your team regularly is a key component to ensuring colleagues feel valued. With it, you can start to create a safe, open, and positive work environment. This can be the first step in helping an employee heal; as you might create a place where for the first time in a long time, they’re able to exhale.

Principle 8: Conceptualization

Action: Time Block?

In order to conceptualize the broader scope of what your team is working towards and why, you need time and space removed from the day-to-day fires and tasks that are directly in front of you. It’s easy to get pulled out of the “focus time” in your calendar, but white space is crucial to being able to organize your thoughts and to see the big picture.

You need to get clear in order to cascade the vision and mission to your team and to go on that journey together. Start with blocking (and honoring!) an hour of white space per week. See what you come up with.?

Principle 9: Foresight

Action: Review and Analyze the Past

If data analytics has taught me anything, it’s that you need A TON of data to predict with accuracy. And if prediction (ie foresight) comes from data, and data is an expression of the past, then you need to look backwards in order to look ahead. Understanding what’s worked, what’s failed, where you’ve missed opportunities, where you’ve found unexpected wins - it’s like watching your company’s game tape and studying how to improve.?

Learning from your mistakes will help you avoid them in the future. Recreating processes that led to successes will help you achieve more wins. The language may seem counter intuitive, but foresight actually starts with a retro.?

Principle 10: Building Community

Action: Share Openly ?

Community is created when openness and positivity are present. In such a global and diverse workforce, there are so many different norms around how you show up at work, and what you should and should not share. Some workplaces invite you to bring your “whole self” to work, while in others, colleagues barely share when they get married or even their birthday.

In the same vein as Stewardship, you need to model that it's okay to be open if you want your team members to be open. Sharing weekend plans, experiences, and what your kids or pets are getting up to will create a sense of safety for others to do the same. Community will transcend from the safety, empathy, compassion, and openness you demonstrate and cultivate as a leader.?

I hope these suggestions were helpful.?

If you made it this far, thank you for reading my first article.

Good luck, Leader!