Servant Leadership

Effects of Servant Leadership on Company Morale The health of an organization is directly linked to the well-being of the company’s employees. A motivated workforce is able to outperform disengaged or disgruntled workers, provided the same circumstances exist. Researchers have determined that authoritarian leadership styles are not well suited to today’s workforce, and can have negative impacts on productivity. Instead, research is pointing toward participative leadership styles as the ideal methods of insuring company success. Given this, JLB Enterprises can resolve their current efficiency issues by encouraging employee engagement through the use of new leadership tactics. Servant leadership is one leadership style that has empirically demonstrated

Greenleaf describes a style of leadership where the leader’s desire to serve others is the impetus for leading, rather than personal gain. The servant-leader’s first priority is meeting the needs of his followers, striving to extract their fullest potential. This is in stark contrast to traditional power-based leadership styles that focus on the centralization of power, focusing on the leader’s success. Frick and Sipe (2009) describe servant leadership as having seven essential pillars. These pillars are: personal character, desire to serve, communication, compassion, foresight, systematic thinking, and moral code. These traits combine to create a company culture that is inclusive and empowering, increasing employee performance. Employees in an environment of servant leadership are able to work to their fullest potential, as company leadership provides opportunities to grow in ways other leadership styles tend to

Bosco & Melchar (2010) noted that servant leadership can behave in a trickle down manner if adopted by upper management. As the change in leadership style influences company culture, lower-level managers will begin exhibiting servant-leadership traits. Clear communication is an essential component of servant leadership, and may be one of the areas where JLB Enterprises can gain the most improvement. Compassionate managers asking employees, “Why do you think productivity has slowed?” or “How do you think we can improve our operations?” may help leadership discover issues that are easily resolved. Management may be unaware of equipment that was new three years ago, which is now temperamental, requiring frequent repairs. By opening lines of communication through servant leadership, the organization can harness the ingenuity of the entire