Reflection On Servant Leadership

Before starting this course and reading the book The Servant by James Hunter, I had a preconceived idea of what traits a leader contained. Looking at leadership with the notion of serving others as the primary focus of a leadership model was an idea I wasn’t too sure of how it would play out in real life. While reading The Servant, I found myself intrigued by the idea of not only serving others in a leadership role, but by using the leadership model in everyday life. After further investigating servant leadership it was easy to see the leadership styles application into nursing practice not only as an individual in a leadership position, but also simply as a nurse in an organization serving coworkers, families and patients.
Background
Although

The concept of being an advocate and putting others needs before our own is the basis of nursing practice as we look out for the needs of our coworkers, families and patients that we interact with. Creating an authority between ourselves as the bedside nurse and the family and patient would increase the trust and confidence in our abilities. When families and patients trust more it leads to overall more successful patient outcomes with them buying into the education we provide them and following through with recommendations. Also using servant leadership as a new graduate in relation to our coworkers would lead to having a positive perception of someone who is selfless and willing to help and put the needs of everyone else before our own. This perception could led to quicker acceptance and bonding among staff members. Also as new nurses coming in as a fresh perspective if we put principles of servant leadership into place those that we are serving are becoming healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, and more likely themselves to become servants (Greenleaf, 2016). This spiral of creating a culture of servants would overall create a more positive and successful work environment. Looking into a potential future in nursing as an individual in a management position using servant leadership would bridge the gap

As a servant leader the upmost important characteristic is being selfless and self-aware. As a servant leader one uses the knowledge of people’s legitimate needs to build influence and authority with them (Hunter, 2012). Also by being a selfless leader one is treating and acting in a manner that they would want others to act and putting their wants and needs aside to create a strong bond while listen to the concerns of others. The 10 essential practices of servant leadership are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of the people, and building a community (Mueller, 2011). Just think if all the leaders in the world used servant leadership with the core being selflessness how much more peaceful of a world we would live in. People often get themselves a negative persona with the public when they are serving themselves before others. In a world that is so self-absorbed the principle of being selfless and self-aware, especially in a position of authority is simply