Servant Leadership

There are many types of leadership styles. Five that are commonly referenced are:

• Directive leadership

• Transformational leadership

• Servant leadership

• Participative leadership

• Authoritative leadership

All styles have there place can be very effective in providing groups with the purpose, direction and motivation to achieve great things. We choose to highlight Servant Leadership specifically because we believe our communities are largely built by unsung servant leaders. Here is a description of Servant Leadership from Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

The servant leadership style distributes the wealth of power among an entire team—and it is the servant leader’s role to facilitate this. The servant leader unites their team through common cause, by trusting team members, and by actively listening to their team members’ ideas and struggles. If you encourage collective decision-making, practice active listening, and focus on the growth of your team, then you are a servant leader.

Unlike top-down hierarchical structures, servant leadership encourages collaboration, trust, and empathy. The servant leader unlocks purpose and ingenuity across their employees—and, when successful, creates happy, engaged, and more productive employees. Recalling her journey toward becoming a servant leader in her book Dare to Serve, CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Cheryl Bachelder writes, “I had a chance to step out of the spotlight; to lead the people to a daring destination; to serve them well along the journey; and to create the conditions for superior performance.” By adopting the servant leadership style, Cheryl turned around a struggling franchise-based enterprise. “Popeyes’ performance results have been remarkable. I only wish I had been humbled sooner,” writes Bachelder.

Servant leadership does require long-term commitment. Although it has the potential to inspire high employee accountability and loyalty, management must still exhibit leadership tendencies. Ultimately, the servant leadership style of management does not allow for much control over employees, so managers must be confident in both the abilities of both their team members and themselves.