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Role of leaders in a society
Introduction of servant leadership
Introduction of servant leadership
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Recommended: Role of leaders in a society
Overview
With any organization leadership is an essential key which ultimately determines the overall success or failure of an organization. In addition to leadership knowing the vision of the organization is important to ensure all members are working toward the same goal outlined in the organizations vision. “A good management control system stimulates action by spotting the significant variations from the original plan and highlighting them for the people who can set things right.” (Merchant, 1982) During this paper Servant Leadership, Hershey-Blanchard Leadership and vision will be discussed. With these three concepts we will evaluate the importance of these concepts in an organization as well apply biblical integration of these concepts.
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(Genesis 6:14-22, ESV) God was a telling leader when laying out his reasoning and instruction to Noah and Noah in return transitioned to readiness state. God adjusted his leadership style to get the ark built by Noah which something that many leaders throughout the bible encountered. As followers of Christ we all view things differently and one approach that works for one will not result in the same outcome from someone else which is why Hershey-Blanchard Leadership is an important example used within the Bible.
The bible tells us that “where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Job 29:18). God’s vision for his followers were to use the bible as a template for people to live by and adhere to. He understood and knew that people would be tempted to indulge in things that weren’t godly but he understood that we’re humans and that we would all sin at one point or another but there was always a way for him to forgive us for our sins with was/is prayer and being saved. His vision for his followers are now being administered through Pastors, Ministers, and
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108). Elements of this theory include the direction given on tasks by the leader, the support provided by the leader, and the readiness of those tasked to take on responsibilities which works as a leveling mechanism. As the subordinate’s responsibility and ownership increases the leader’s support and direction will decrease. If the opposite occurs then the leveling is reversed. When the leader’s direction and support are high they are considered telling leaders. When the transition to subordinate responsibility is made the leader becomes for of a selling leader. This concept is important because its holds the leader responsible for adapting their leadership style to the development of the subordinates. There are times when leaders are looking for subordinates to take ownership or responsibility and reversing the roles enables the leaders to understand the importance of accountability and
There has been a bit of research done on the nature of servant leadership. The belief is that many organizations are moving from the traditional style of leadership to a more servant based style. Larry C. Spears (2010) and Kent Keith (2016) note a few characteristics of one who is a servant leader. The characteristics proposed by Spears (2010) are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to others growth, and community building. These traits will often manifest naturally becoming more enriched as time goes by through experience. Keith (2016) references only four elements of servant leadership. He begins with an element of morality, then of the servant focus, concern for others’
The Servant Leader discusses the importance of leaders who adopt a service oriented attitude in which they care for the needs of others before their own. A servant leader need not be an actual servant or have ever been a servant to become a servant leader. Rather, a servant leader is born with or adopts an “others first” disposition. Climbing through the ranks may help to create a servant leader, though it is not necessary. When leaders choose to see that the needs of their followers or their organizations are the highest priority they become servants.
Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that augments the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and creates a more just and caring world, they put the team first, and themselves second (MindTools, 2015). Servant leaders are able to demonstrate their traits through interaction with followers and other leaders within the organization. The characteristics of servant leaders include their commitment to the growth of people, stewardship, and building community, and provide leaders with the opportunity to experience change and to invite followers to change (Savage-Austin & Honeycutt 2011). Servant leadership encourages leaders and followers to ‘raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality’, and set their leadership focus: follower’s first, organizations second, their own needs last (Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). The servant leader focuses on the needs of others to include team members.
What is a servant leader? A servant leader is a individual that wants to serve first and is selfless. “The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” (Keith) A servant leader can be anyone in a group setting from a work place, education, religion and cultures. Jesus was a servant leader. He was selfless he died on the cross for our sins. He was selfless and while here on earth was always helping people and teaching the way of the lord.
Primary service is the key. Many view this as a contradiction because the leader is leading and serving. How can a person do both? Good servant leaders are good listeners. The communication between the leader and the follower being served allows the leader to listen to the follower first, in order to understand what the other person has to say and to understand their needs. These leaders practice empathy as well. Understanding what the follower is facing or feeling is comforting to the follower because it validates their importance to another person. The ability to heal a person through care and the concern for a person’s well being is another quality of a servant leader. These are only a few of the characteristics that generate a strong servant leader. Mother Teresa said, “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.” Her words describe exactly what servant leaders do. Servant leaders serve others willingly because they find joy and pleasure in doing so. The outcome of serving others in this manner is growth and social impacts for a greater good. When there is an improvement in self-actualization, followers improve in their goal reaching or task completion by understanding their full potential to do
Servant leadership consists of leaders helping their followers become leaders themselves. The use personal skills such as empathy, compassion and listening to help their followers succeed. It is not necessarily the most popular form of leadership but, it has been proven successful b those leaders who implement it in their work practices. Servant leaders typically have a strong bond with their team. They are the base and the foundation of their teams.
Toward the end of his book, Hunter shares a phrase with a similar intent of the four domains of Blanchard and Hodges. He writes: “Thoughts become actions, actions become habits, habits become our character, and our character becomes our destiny.” (Hunter, 1998, p. 167). With this quote in mind, Hunter affirms Blanchard and Hodges’s perspective of servant leadership. Both authors concur that by centering one’s life on the love of Jesus Christ, servant leadership will come naturally. When a leader puts their own selfish needs aside and places their trust in God, they will be empowered to spread Christ’s light to all those they meet. Leading in this way mirrors the way Jesus led because it calls for service as a way of
The way person leads a group of people or an organization is key to a successful business or outreach. There are many styles and techniques for a leader to implement. Christian leaders are no exception; some might say being a leader in a church organization can be a more scrutinizing position than other leaders. Since, a church leader has expectations on how they should act or conduct themselves because of the Christian faith. This paper will discuss an interview with a person in leadership brother Larry and will give an account of his leadership approach. Furthermore, what strengths and weaknesses are prevalent according to authors Kouzes and Posner and the model they have in their book, Christian Reflections on The Leadership Challenge.
Before reading about characteristics of servant leadership, I tried thinking about what I already knew about this type of leadership. Some of the thoughts I had were: leaders put others before themselves and leaders go beyond their responsibilities to help others. When I read Chapter 7 from The Special Education Teacher as a Servant Leader, I found that I was correct but did not have the full answer.
In order to be a servant leader, one needs to develop and know their inner characteristics. It is the inner qualities of the person that determine the quality of his or her performance (Page and Wong, 2000). At the heart of these characteristics should be a genuine desire to serve others for the common good. These leaders will motivate followers through investing in them and empowering them to do their best (Page and Wong, 2000). There are several characteristics that one can have. In The Servant, James C. Hunter lists the characteristics of patience, kindness, humility, respectfulness, selflessness, forgiveness, honesty, and commitment (pg. 24). Another set of characteristics are given by Spears (2010), these are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community (pg. 27-29). Out of these characteristics there are more that can probably be named. Looking at these, the three key characteristics are patience, humility, and selflessness. These three can be used to not only achieve a good balance but also achieve all of the
Introduction Through identification and ongoing assessment of her leadership style and ability, this leader is able to develop and understand her own strengths and limitations in order to grow and develop into a more effective leader. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of servant leadership, contingency, and path-goal styles of leadership to gain an understanding of current leadership models, identify this author’s style of leadership, and explore why leadership is important to organizations, society, and this author. A Personal Model of Leadership Servant leadership was a term that was first used by Keifner Greenleaf (1970) in his first essay, The Servant as Leader (as cited by Crippen, C., 2005). Greenleaf based his essay on his belief that a servant leader is a servant first, and explained that it would begin with the natural urge to serve and then the leader would make a conscious choice to become a leader, in doing so he makes the choice to ensure that others needs are met first (2005 ). As a servant leader develops he should always keep aware of those who he serves and strive to ensure that they are becoming healthier, wiser, freer, have an increase in autonomy, and become more like servants themselves (2005).
Chung, Y. (2011). Why servant leadership? Its uniqueness and principles in the life of Jesus. Journal Of Asia Adventist Seminary, 14(2), 159-170.
Greenleaf “The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” Servant leaders put the needs of the employee first, they do not focus on themselves. A priority is put on meeting the needs of employees rather than one’s self. An example of such leadership in a hypothetical environment would be if a leader helped all team members first instead of himself. A servant leader would be a good listener, must be able to set a vison for employees and trust them. Although servant leadership is unorthodox as it’s difficult to use in an operation and apply in everyday situations. As Greenleaf (1977) stated “it is meant to be neither a scholarly treatise nor a how-to-do-it manual” (p.49). Servant leadership is very different from current views in organizations where often times they put the organizations profits before the individual. One can only hope this theory and model becomes more widely
Wilkes, C. G. Jesus on Leadership: Timeless Wisdom on Servant Leadership. Carol Stream, Illnois: Tyndale House, 1998.
Leadership is an awesome responsibility, and regardless of where leadership occurs, followers want leadership that is trustworthy, inspiring, consequential, and most importantly, effective. Thus, effective leadership is often weighed in theory and common indicators such as the impact on a team or process, follower attitudes and perceptions, and even career longevity (Yukl, 2010). Furthermore, leadership effectiveness may also be determined by the leader’s title, position, skills, traits, and moral behaviors (Carolina College of Biblical Studies [CCBS], n.d.). Often overlooked in all these things are God’s purpose for leadership, and the call for the leader to remain obedient to God while leading (CCBS, n.d.). Since mankind is sinful by