leadership
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kate cooper
How do leaders lead and serve at the same time?
Effective leaders create a culture of service Kate Cooper is head of applied research and policy at the Institute of Leadership & Management
purpose and use their full potential in “The servant leader is servant first.” So contributing to the achievement of the wrote former AT&T executive Robert K organization’s higher purpose. Greenleaf in 1970. “It begins with the A servant leader may be charismatic natural feeling that one wants to serve, and followers may be drawn to that to serve first. This conscious desire brings charisma but the essence of servant on the aspiration to lead. That person is sharply different from the one who is leader leadership is not charisma, it is a first, perhaps because of his need to assuage recognition that, just as the leader is doing, people work for more than material reward. an unusual power drive or to acquire People come to work to give meaning to material possessions. The leader first and their lives, to belong to a community, to the servant first are two extreme types. enjoy the company of others, and to feel Between them are shades and blends proud of the contribution they make. that are part of the infinite variety of A servant leader works human nature.” towards creating a But of what is culture where such the leader a servant? The servant leader aspirations are normal Although eluding a is not the servant of and commonplace, clear definition, most her followers. She is the where empowering of our understanding of servant of a higher ideal others to succeed and leadership is connected where facilitating to ideas of hierarchy, the growth and power, orders, development of others are essential instructions and following. How does a leader lead and serve at the same time? And functions of the leader’s role. A servant leader also recognizes that there are what might this mean for the practice of many stakeholders in the work of an everyday leadership? organization, and that service extends The answer lies in considering of beyond the relationships with those he whom the servant leader is a servant. The or she leads – and includes the firm’s servant leader is not the servant of her customers, suppliers, investors, the followers. She is the servant of a higher environment and the wider community. ideal, the servant of the purpose of the The servant leader recognizes the organization, the good it intends to do interconnectedness of these relationships and the stakeholder interests it respects and acknowledges that long-term and protects. The servant leader does relationships where all parties benefit are not seek leadership positions for his own the only genuinely sustainable ones. advancement or simple material gain – but Servant leadership puts ethics and to help and encourage others to share stewardship at its heart. Servant leaders his ideals. hold the torch of the greater cause, but look A servant leader seeks to create a to pass on the torch to their followers, to culture of service, supporting and helping ensure that the cause continues. her followers understand their own higher Q1 2016 Dialogue
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12/11/2015 16:15