10 Traits of a Servant Leader

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Even though the term 'servant leadership' was coined in 1957, this style of leadership has witnessed immense popularity over the recent years. With so many styles of leadership around, servant leadership is one that tends to have the greatest moral component out of all. Servant leadership differs from all the other traditional styles of leadership in a way that it removes the significance of personality traits and use of power. Instead, servant leadership brings in selflessness and submission in the role of a leader.
A servant leader will give a great deal of importance to the well-being and satisfaction of the key stakeholders in a business and will continuously work towards achieving this objective. A servant leader will hence develop and foster an organizational culture aimed at serving the interests of others.

Traits of a Servant Leader

According to Larry C Spears, a servant leader is seen to have the following characteristics that make them stand out from the traditional style leaders.

1.   Listening

Servant leadership places a lot of value and importance on the opinions and suggestions of others. A servant leader offers a listening ear to all those looking to feel heard from their leader. This trait makes the people feel valued and appreciated. A servant leader addresses everyone and keeps communication going with everyone in the organization.

2.      Empathy

A servant leader does not only lend a listening ear to the people but also provides them the level of understanding that each person deserves. Such a leader will not refuse any person’s suggestions or method and will value all that has been said. This leader will recognize that all people have faults and will thus deal with everyone in the organization in a more forgiving manner.

3.      Healing

In addition to the tra-its mentioned above, a servant leader is also able to heal the areas that have been affected due to miscommunication or misconceptions. This enables the leader to create a unified culture that brings everyone in the organization together and motivated to work together without any hard feelings.

4.      Awareness

A servant leader is never too busy to know what is happening around them. Such a leader is always aware of their surroundings and also carries self-awareness that enables them to become great leaders. This self-awareness makes the leader take decisions that use one approach and every decision made takes into consideration every surrounding factor.

5.      Persuasion

In the case of a traditional leader, getting the job done by people in the organization requires the use of power and absolute authority. However, in servant leadership, the leader does not merely use the element of power to get things done. Rather, such a leader seeks to convince and persuade those around them to carry forward an idea or a decision.

6.      Conceptualization

This trait of a servant leader is highly beneficial for the overall performance of the organization. This is because, under a traditional leadership style, the leaders set goals or create visions that focus on short-term goals being achieved.  A servant leader, on the other hand, takes into account a conceptualized way of thinking and uses a broad perspective when dealing with issues.

7.      Foresight

Becoming a servant leader requires you to have the foresight that is required to make better decisions for the organization. A servant leader, because of all the tra-its mentioned above, is better-equipped to make decisions based on their ability to take into consideration what has happened earlier along with their foresight for the future.

8.      Stewardship

Like stewardship, servant leadership requires the leader to keep the needs and wants of others first. The main goal of a servant leader is to make sure everyone is at ease and feels trusted and valued.

9.      Commitment to Growth of People

A servant leader is a great mentor; they are not hard to reach or talk to; Servant leaders try their best to mentor people and guide them in a way that could help them grow. For a servant leader, nothing is more important than seeing the people around them grow and flourish.

10.  Building Community

Servant leaders, using their skills, try continuously to build a community within the organization. This is different from the traditional leadership as a servant leader does not only keep the focus on achieving business goals but also aims to build a community structure.

Benefits of Servant Leadership

1.      Loyalty

Because of the importance and value are given to the people around, the staff remains more committed to such an organization that uses a servant leadership style. This is because people will remain loyal where they feel they are being heard and appreciated. By giving more importance to people rather than material goals, a servant leader can achieve a great level of loyalty.

2.      Productivity

Servant leadership shifts the responsibility of work onto the shoulders of every individual. An absence of accountability to the leader makes the people feel more responsible. Hence, you can witness an increase in the level of motivation of all the employees.

3.      Diversity

Since servant leadership does not impose ideas coming from a single entity but rather takes into consideration the thoughts and opinions of other people in the organization, it makes the culture more flexible and suitable for various groups of people.

4.      Participation

As stated earlier, in a servant leadership style employees are given immense importance and are valued for their thoughts and opinions. Such a culture ends up making the employees feel more appreciated and thus results in increased employee engagement which is vital to the success of any organization.

Conclusion

Servant leadership, even though differs greatly from the traditional styles of leadership, can be seen as one that gives rise to a more understanding and refined culture. This style of leadership works best for the growth and nurturing of employees. Through this style of leadership, a leader can add a certain level of submission to their personality to achieve significant changes in the way their business is conducted.

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Wesley Middleton author of Violent Leadership: Be a Force for Change. Disrupt. Innovate. Energize. (ForbesBooks), co-founder and managing partner of Middleton Raines + Zapata LLP (MRZ), a tax and accounting services firm, and is also an executive team member for MRZ Financial and SKY Valuation. With over 25 years of tax compliance and consulting experience, he has demonstrated a knack for helping business owners transform their companies into growth and strategy-oriented organizations that excel in operations, marketing, technology, customer service, and workforce engagement, as well as tax and accounting services. Middleton is a certified public accountant and member of the AICPA, Texas Society of CPAs, and the Association of Accounting Marketing.

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