Consider adding Servant Leadership to Your Toolbox

When it comes to leadership styles, there are a variety of approaches that individuals could employ. There’s always the old-school heavyhanded approach that leverages fear and intimidation to achieve specific outcomes; there is always a cost – whether it be burning out your team or fraying other relationships with internal and external stakeholders

However, a new leadership concept is growing in prominence: the idea of Servant Leadership. What does this mean, and how can you translate this approach into the desired outcomes? According to research by the Society for Human Resource Management, Servant leadership is a leadership style that prioritizes employee growth, wellbeing, and empowerment. By employing this method, the hope is that employees can feel comfortable being their authentic selves, putting them in a position where their natural gifts can come out more readily, leading to increased productivity both in quality and quantity- potentially even leading to the best possible outcomes.

The National Institutes of Health has also published some work on how Servant Leadership can impact the workplace, noting that a structure that encourages this type of activity from leaders can positively impact employee engagement. Instead of having employees who engage in behaviors such as chronic absenteeism, non-participation, and poor customer service, you will instead have a team that is not only committed to the external goals of the organization but also invested in the team members.

In their article, SHRM has cited several examples of top corporate leaders who have embraced this model, including Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Co.; Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube; Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever; Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks; and Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. The key uniting trend for all of these individuals is to focus on the team's wellbeing, detect the clear line between success and profit, and understand that delineation.

Servant leadership does not translate into not having ambition or firm expectations for your team and the greater organization; it instead believes that the way forward in getting the best out of your reports is to put them in a position where they can not only feel like they can contribute to collective success but where their tangible contribution leads to continuous positive outcomes for all involved.