7 Features of Servant Leadership
For servant leaders, you probably know the qualities that you embody, as outlined below. Here’s a great guide to servant leadership if you wish to know more.
1. You are an Active Listener
Active listening is an important aspect of ensuring engaging conversations and effective communication. Spending your time actively listening is not only a sign of respect but also a way of showing your colleagues or teammates that you’re an ally, not strictly a leader.
Active listening is much easier than you think. You can practise it by:
Expressing genuine interest in the message the speaker is putting forward and displaying non-verbal involvement.
Paraphrasing the speaker’s message but avoiding interrupting.
Asking thoughtful questions that encourage the speaker to elaborate on their feelings or beliefs.
2. You Ask Meaningful Questions
Servant leaders are usually masters of conversations. Asking expressive questions can be beneficial for a variety of reasons. For starters, it demonstrates your ability to be caring and intuitive as a leader. Showing a heightened interest in your teammates is important to be a great leader.
In addition, asking meaningful questions will often lead to meaningful conversations. If you ask the right questions, it will present an opportunity to learn more about your teammates and their experiences, and this way, you will be in a better position to help them work toward their dreams, hopes, and work objectives.
3. You Are a Source of Encouragement
Nearly everyone will appreciate having a bright light in a dim space. Being a servant leader means that you should do your best to stay positive and be encouraging. The main prerogative should be growing and shaping those around you, which means you should aim to offer a constant source of encouragement to your team.
4. You Prioritize Self-awareness
Taking the time to reflect on your team’s weaknesses and strengths, you will be prioritizing self-awareness. Spending time on inward reflections will let you become better at your craft so that you can continue serving those around you.
Your main priority as a servant leader is serving the people around you. As such, you need to have confidence in your capabilities. Keep in mind that you’re no longer at a point in your career where your agenda is mostly serving your best interests.
5. You Lean by Example
As a servant leader, you work to empower your employees, and you don’t just disappear when the work is done. Rather, you remain present and constantly serve as a source of encouragement for your team. Empowering those that report directly to you and your teammates to have responsibility and ownership helps to accelerate the individual leadership capabilities, which they will then pass on to people around them. Being an exceptional leader makes it easier for your employees to model your behavior.
6. You Invest in your Team
In most cases, how your team and direct reports feel about you as their leader will have a direct effect on how they feel about the organization. This is why among your main responsibilities as the leader is investing in your team by fostering positive relationships with every individual teammate. Such connections can effectively be fostered through one-on-one meetings, in which you get a chance to build trust with your direct reports.
Strong worker-manager relations often lead to higher trust levels, which will in turn lead to higher engagement and output. Employees who feel like they have the ability and capacity to improve start realizing their potential, and as a result, they have a heightened work ethic and morale.
7. You Build a community
Leaders are essentially the cogs that are necessary when it comes to building a sense of community within the organization. Part of being a servant leader entails nurturing working relationships. When you put in the work, you will be rewarded with a strong community, which is built on transparency, trust, and genuine human connections.
Benefits of Servant Leadership
1. Boosts collaboration
Collaboration is an integral part of servant leadership. When people around you feel supported and comfortable, they will be more inclined to collaborate and participate actively. Organizations that embrace servant leadership prioritize cross-functional and inclusive collaboration.
2. Empowering employees
As a leader or manager within an organization, empowering the people around you is one of the most powerful things you could do to help them reach their full potential. As a servant leader, you should work to lift your teammates and employees by offering them encouragement, advice, words of wisdom, and guidance. If employees feel empowered, they will be more likely to become more accountable for their work and will be more efficient and energized in their roles.
3. Enhances Trust
Servant leadership is a great way of building trust. When you’re a servant leader, it means that you are an ally, and you create a nurturing environment where you put other people’s needs above your own to foster trust. Such an environment will make an employee more likely to embrace failures and take risks.
4. Builds a Culture of Belonging
In a digital-by-default or remote-first landscape, it can be quite difficult to create a sense of belonging among your teammates. With servant leadership, everyone feels heard and included in the group, which helps create a sense of togetherness.
5. Accelerates Leadership Skills
When you lead by example, you are encouraging the up-and-coming leaders in your team. When you put others first, you provide your teammates with the resources, tools, and support they need to thrive. This will let those being managed grow, and simultaneously encourage them to voice their opinions and bring their expertise to the table. This will in turn help them hone their leadership skills.