Question

What does it mean to be a servant leader and does it match the leadership philosophy presented by Kouzes and Posner as described below?

Model the Way

Leaders establish principles concerning the way people (constituents, peers, colleagues, and customers alike) should be treated and the way goals should be pursued. They create standards of excellence and then set an example for others to follow. Because the prospect of complex change can overwhelm people and stifle action, they set interim goals so that people can achieve small wins as they work toward larger objectives. They unravel bureaucracy when it impedes action; they put up signposts when people are unsure of where to go or how to get there; and they create opportunities for victory.

           

Inspire a Shared Vision

Leaders passionately believe that they can make a difference. They envision the future, creating an ideal and unique image of what the organization can become. Through their magnetism and quiet persuasion, leaders enlist others in their dreams. They breathe life into their visions and get people to see exciting possibilities for the future.

Challenge the Process

Leaders search for opportunities to change the status quo. They look for innovative ways to improve the organization. In doing so, they experiment and take risks. And because leaders know that risk taking involves mistakes and failures, they accept the inevitable disappointments as learning opportunities.

Enable Others to Act

Leaders foster collaboration and build spirited teams. They actively involve others. Leaders understand that mutual respect is what sustains extraordinary efforts; they strive to create an atmosphere of trust and human dignity. They strengthen others, making each person feel capable and powerful.

Encourage the Heart

Accomplishing extraordinary things in organizations is hard work. To keep hope and determination alive, leaders recognize contributions that individuals make. In every winning team, the members need to share in the rewards of their efforts, so leaders celebrate accomplishments. They make people feel like heroes.

Answer 1

Servant Leader: “The Servant-Leader is servant first”, Robert K. Greenleaf. Simple to understand, but difficult to implement a philosophy of servant leadership provides the meaning of a servant leader. Servant leaders are the leaders who focus on the growth and well-being of the people and the communities to which they belong. They provide support to the employees to conduct the tasks as well as to achieve their personal goals. This kind of leaders delivers great results by increasing the level of commitment of employees in decision making, building stronger relationships and improving mutual trust. These leaders believe that the team is the most important. To improve team performance, these leaders adopt the empathetic approach. They listen to their employees and respond to fulfill their needs. Underperforming employees receive the attention they need. Eventually, such employees understand how they can improve their performance. Employees are trained in such a way that they do not hesitate to improve their mistakes while innovating their way of working. These leaders enrich the lives of team members, contribute to build better organizations and create a just and caring environment in the organizations.

The philosophy of Kouzes and Posner and how it matches with the philosophy of Servant Leadership:

As described in the write-up, Kouzes and Posner has the leadership approach that focuses on shared vision, inspiring and recognizing employees, challenging the current status to achieve more and better. This leadership matches with the philosophy of servant leadership. As servant leadership focuses on enriching the individuals, Kouzes and Posner leadership takes the first step towards it by enlisting individuals in their dreams of a better life and exciting future opportunities. It provides a belief to achieve the goals. One can achieve the goals if he improves himself and processes to achieve the goals. Employees improve when they ensure that their mistakes are considered as a part of learning and improving the process. Kouzes and Posner make this possible by challenging the process leadership philosophy. Empathy plays a vital role in motivating employees and develop mutual trust. This much-needed philosophy is reflected in Kouzes and Posner leadership thought when the company says enable others to act. The company focuses that each individual can contribute and do extraordinary if there is an atmosphere of trust and human dignity. For that organization focuses to involve employees by mutual respect, strengthening them and making them believe that they are capable. Continuously motivating the employees to perform, but failing to recognize their efforts demoralize employees to go the extra mile. To ensure that every employee feels like a hero when he accomplishes the tasks, Kouzes and Posner leadership says to encourage the heart. It focuses to celebrate the accomplishments and keeping the hope and determination alive in the organization.

The philosophy of Kouzes and Posner resembles servant leadership in all aspects. From motivating employees to being empathetic towards employees’ problems, each aspect focuses to make the organization better by implementing the servant leadership thought. Here Kouzes and Posner works to make an individual’s life better, positive and inspiring for others. By doing so the organization aims to achieve success.

Hope this will help.