Introduction to Servant Leadership

Robert K. Greenleaf (1977) is widely recognized as the one who coined the term, servant leadership. Greenleaf spent 40 years at AT&T as a manager of research, development, and education. Upon retirement, Greenleaf spent the next 25 years in a pursuit of creating a better, more caring society. Greenleaf remarked that he had great concern for leadership in America, the outlook for better leadership in our leadership-poor society is not encouraging (p. 18). Greenleaf founded the Center for Applied Ethics in 1964 which was renamed the Robert K. Greenleaf Center in 1985. Greenleaf described servant leadership as, servant firstIt begins with a natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead (p. 27). According to Greenleaf, true servant leaders put others needs before their own, and they make sure that other peoples highest priority needs are being served (p. 27). Larry Spears (1996), CEO of The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, outlined 10 characteristics that represent servant leaders: Listening, Empathy, Healing, Awareness, Persuasion, Conceptualization, Foresight, Stewardship, Commitment to the Growth of People, and Building Community. Patterson (2003), in her theory-building dissertation on servant leadership, described the Seven Virtuous Constructs of Servant Leadership: Humility, Agapao Love, Service, Vision, Altruism, and Trust. Page and Wong (2000) created the earliest servant leadership survey, the Self-Assessment of Servant Leadership Profile (SASLP). Page and Wongs goal was to develop a valid and reliable measure of servant leadership. Page and Wong developed a conceptual framework for assessing servant leadership. Through a study of the literature, they first generated a list of 200 descriptors of servant leadership. By eliminating redundant descriptors and combining items, they were able to reduce the descriptors to 100 items. They then classified the descriptors into 12 categories: Integrity, Humility, Servanthood, Caring for Others, Empowering Others, Developing Others, Visioning, Goal-Setting, Leading, Modeling, TeamBuilding, and Shared Decision-Making. Page and Wong (2003) identified authoritarian hierarchy and egotistical pride as the opposing forces to servant leadership, and they wanted their new instrument to reflect these two new factors. By rearranging and modifying some of the original 99 items, Page and Wong created the Servant Leadership Profile Revised (SLPR). The SLPR contains 62 items divided into 7 categories: 1. Empowering and Developing Others 2. Vulnerability and Humility 3. Serving Others 4. Open, Participatory Leadership 5. Inspiring Leadership 6. Visionary Leadership 7. Courageous Leadership (Integrity and Authenticity)

Spears 10 Characteristics of Servant Leaders (1996) 1. Commitment to Growth of People 2. Empathy 3. Healing 4. Stewardship 5. Listening 6. Building Community 7. Conceptualization 8. Foresight 9. Awareness 10. Persuasion

Pattersons 7 Virtuous Constructs of Servant Leadership (2003)

Page & Wongs 7 Factors of Servant Leadership (2003) Empowering and Developing Others

Humility Agapao Love Service

Vulnerability/Humility Serving Others

Open, Participatory Leadership

Vision

Visionary Leadership

Altruism Trust

Courageous Leadership (Integrity/Authenticity) Inspiring Leadership

Three Important Quotes on Servant Leadership: According to Greenleaf (1977), servant leaders want to be led by servant leaders. He stated, Those who choose to follow this principle (servant leadership) will not casually accept the authority of existing institutions. Rather, they will freely respond only to individuals who are chosen as leaders because they are proven and trusted as servants Laub (1999) took servant leadership beyond a simple definition of leadership style when he stated, Servant leadership is more than a style of leadership. It is a different way of thinking about the purpose of leadership, the true role of a leader, and the potential of those being led (p. 30). Laub also stated, Servant leadership is an understanding and practice of leadership that places the good of those led over the self-interest of the leader (p. 81). Power is created when individuals perceive that their leaders are honorable, so they trust them, are inspired by them, believe deeply in the goals communicated by them, and desire to be led. Stephen Covey, Principle-Centered Leadership

References Covey, S. R. (1990). Principle-centered leadership. New York: Fireside. Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. New York: Paulist Press. Laub, J. A. (1999). Assessing the servant organization: Development of the servant organizational leadership assessment (sola) instrument. Dissertation Abstracts International, 60 (02), 308A. (UMI No. 9921922) Page, D., & Wong, T. P. (2000). A conceptual framework for measuring servant leadership. In S. Adjibolosoo (Ed.), The human factor in shaping the course of history and development (pp. 1-28). Oxford: University Press of America. Page, D., & Wong, T.P. (2003). Servant leadership: An opponent-process model and the revised servant leadership profile. Servant Leadership Roundtable. Regent University School of Leadership Studies, Virginia Beach, VA. Patterson, K. A. (2003). Servant leadership: A theoretical model. Servant Leadership Roundtable. Regent University School of Leadership Studies, Virginia Beach, VA. Spears, L. C. (1996). Reflections on Robert K. Greenleaf and servant leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 17, 33-35.