Southwest Airlines And Servant Leadership Summary

In this week’s article, “Southwest Airlines’ Colleen Barrett Flies High on Fuel Hedging and ‘Servant Leadership’”, Collen Barrett spoke about her experiences during the beginning of Southwest airlines to where the company is today. My takeaway is the importance that Colleen placed on satisfying her employees and customers, but most importantly how much she has learned as a leader from following. She commented that she has learned a great greatly from “washing other peoples’ feet and this is a very humble – yet noble thing to say as a leader.

This article resonated with me personally because I really enjoy helping others succeed and experience a feeling of self-worth when I am able to solve a problem for others. For example, the leaders in

my department ask me for solutions that will improve the efficiency of our processes and trust that I will examine all of the aspects of the problem while building a comprehensive solution. As a servant leader, I realize that my purpose is greater than I am and the result will improve the work environment of my peers. In addition, I converse with my peers to understand the issues that they are experiencing in lieu of creating and delivering a solution to reassure myself that I am proposing solutions that they will appreciate. The result of approaching the situation as a servant leader assists me in providing a solution that is bigger than my own train of thought and improved the workplace environment for the frontline staff.
I can apply what I have learned from this article to place the importance of others, tasks and initiatives above myself consistently and apply my skills and knowledge for the success of the organization (Model the Way).

At times, I struggle by wondering whether I am exerting too much effort or giving “too much” of myself to the organization, but at the end of the day, you can never give too much to support others as a leader. Going forward, I will take actions to ensure that my peers know how important their success is to me by providing helpful input and “going the extra mile” to assist them in their success (Encourage the Heart). I will practice active listening and provide thorough input to ensure that they know I am available to assist them in any way that I am able (Inspire a Shared Vision). At times, I give my closest colleagues a hard time for not knowing procedures that I feel they should. However, this is not modeling the way as an egalitarian, nor following the principles of a servant leader even though I say things in a joking manner. As a servant leader, I will treat them as equals and will not “wear hats” within the workplace, as we all share the common goal to serve our members (Model the Way). In addition, I will follow suit in my personal life by applying the same servant leadership behaviors. I have never had a problem assisting and supporting others, but the times when I question how much effort I exert in the process is an area of

improvement.