Reflections on servant leadership

Servant leadership is a skill or way of acting that everyone needs in their daily lives. It is not just a way of leading businesses but more a philosophy that guides your actions and thinking behind positioning yourself in relation to others - in the society, in families, as a parent, in communities or work related relationships and teams. For me, servant leadership is turning the focus from yourself to others. Instead of thinking "what's in it for me"you start to think "what can I do to support others". The path each of us need to take in order to serve as a leader does not happen through books or theories, even though they might generate some new thinking or initiate a change process. You need to experience and live through difficulties to spark the thinking - why should I care, why should I change my behavior, how am I acting as a leader, how do others see me, what does the world need, what can I do - that is if you aren't already born a servant leader, very few of us are. 

To me, there are a couple of essential qualities to a servant leader. First and foremost you know yourself and have learned how to hear your inner voice - there is no need for you to polish your own position in relation to others. You are authentic and not afraid to be yourself or show vulnerability in front of others. People will know if you are fake, you need to practice as you preach. Second, servant leadership is not tied to a position. Possessing a leader title will not make you a servant leader. Third, servant leader sees the big picture and shows direction and is able to make tough decisions and prioritize based on those long term targets, not necessarily optimizing short term bonuses (sometimes it might be though that these go hand in hand). Fourth, servant leader cares. If it is unacceptable behavior, someone being mistreated or not heard, or business decisions in the grey area, servant leader will not neglect it or think it as indifferent.

Sound simple, right? But the difficulty is, that there's no guidelines, manuals, 1-2-3 courses or instructions on how to be a servant leader. It's more a mindset, a philosophy. And therefore it's essential to first understand if you want to become one or not - and to do that, you need to first understand yourself, who you are and where you're going and how you want to live your life. I do also believe a servant leader is never ready. As being a servant leader is a way to live your life, it evolves over time and hopefully one becomes even better in serving. It's not easy, we've been taught management practices during studies and we have worked in companies where people optimize their own agendas and work in hierarchies. It's hard to unlearn all the stuff that has been learned during years and decades both a school and in workplaces. Businesses also evolve, more rapidly than ever before. We need more and more people who are able to lead digital age companies, who think outside-in instead of inside-out, who show the direction, who are self-aware, authentic and willing to learn, who care and are willing to serve others - we need more servant leaders. The difficulty is, that there are still only a few companies who truly think like this: "We have to be willing to let people go who are not servant leaders, even if they get good results. Keeping them would be a reflection on our leadership - and would compromise our servant leadership culture." Sue Netherton, Vice President of people training and development, in book "Servant leadership in action". However, all the lately trends in work life such as the great resignation and rapid growth of freelancing, indicate that leadership needs to change and without great servant leaders, companies won't be able to attract or keep talents in the future.