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In her doctoral dissertation,Dr. Kathleen Patterson (2003) presented a theory of organizational leadership called servant leadership. Dr. Patterson's theory was an extension of servant leadership first presented by Dr. Robert Greenleaf in 1977. Each explained that servant leaders serve with special attention on their followers, whereby the needs of followers are primary and objectives of the organization are secondary. They believed that if organizational leaders paid special attention to the needs of their followers, their followers would give extraordinary efforts to fulfill the vision and objectives of the organization.

From her research, Patterson uncovered a combination of seven virtues or characteristics that she found indicative of those who demonstrated servant leadership. Patterson suggested that this follower-centered leadership...

1. Demonstrates agapao love;

2. Acts with humility;

3. Is altruistic;

4. Is visionary for the follower;

5. Is trusting;

6. Empowers followers;

7. And, is serving. (Dennis & Bocarnea; Waddell).

Agapao Love

Agapao love is the cornerstone of the servant leader/follower relationship. According to some language experts, the Greek term agapao refers to "a moral love" that compels a person "to do the right thing at the right time for the right reason" (p. 5). More specifically, " agapao [love] means to love in a social or moral sense, embracing the judgment and deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty, and propriety" This type of love causes leaders to consider each person as not simply a means to end, but as a complete person: one with needs, wants, and desires

In reference to agapao love's relationship with servant leadership, Patterson (2003) found that a gapao love is consistent with servant leadership to the extent that servant leaders must have such great love for their followers that they are willing to learn the giftings and talents of each one of the followers. The leader that leads with agapao love has a focus on the employee first, then on the talents of the employee, and lastly on how this benefits the organization

Books on Servant Leadership

Humility

Sandage and Wiens (2001) defined "humility" as "the ability to keep one's accomplishments and talents in perspective." Essentially this means that those who practice humility maintain a sober view of themselves. They think neither too highly nor too lowly about themselves and practice self-acceptance without being self-centered. Swindoll (1981) agreed with this view of humility and argued that humility is not to be equated with a poor self-esteem, but rather a healthy ego. As such, humility is not groveling in the dirt as one with a low self-worth, but having a right view of one's self and others. Hunter (2004) explains the paradox of humility in leadership by saying humble leaders realize they came into the world with nothing and will leave with nothing (Waddell, 2006). Furthermore Waddell explains

People mistakenly associate being humble with being overly modest, passive, or self-effacing. To the contrary, humble leaders can be very bold when it comes to their sense of values, morality, and doing the right thing. They view their leadership as an awesome responsibility that affords them a position of trust and stewardship to take care of the people entrusted to them. (p. 3).

As applied to servant leadership, humility guides the servant leader to lead from an authentic desire to help others and search for ways to serve others by staying in touch with subordinates within the organization (Swindoll). Moreover, those leaders who practice humility are (a) willing listeners; (b) accept accountability to those they serve; and (c) openly accept criticism and advice (Patterson, 2003; Harrison, 2002; Blanchard, 2000).

Altruism

Altruism is the act of lending a helping hand to others without any need of pay back or appreciation in return. It is a giving of one's self to another just because they are fellow human beings. In a sense, altruism is the action that results from the heart fueled with agapao love. As a characteristic of servant leadership, altruism propels an organizational leader to do what is best for the follower just because he is a fellow member of humanity.

Vision

Vision is normally associated with the organization and not the individual. However, Patterson observed that i n servant leadership theory, vision refers to the idea that the leader looks forward and sees the person as a viable and worthy person, believes in the future state for each individual, and seeks to assist each one in reaching that state.

Trust

Trust is the fifth trait included in Patterson's (2003) seven virtues of servant leadership. Story (2000) believed trust was an essential characteristic of servant leadership (Dennis & Bocarnea, 2005).

Hauser and House (2000) defined trust as "confidence or reliance on another team member" in terms of their morality and competence while Nyhan (2000) described trust as the level of confidence one individual has in another person's competence and his or her willingness to act in a fair, ethical, and predictable manner (Dennis & Bocarnea; Waddell, 2006).

Melrose (1995) acknowledged that trust's definition yielded a two-way street, stating that servant leaders instill trust in their followers by being trustworthy. While at the same time, servant leaders help their followers toward self-actualization by trusting them (Dimitrova & Bocarnea, 2010; Waddell, 2006).

Dimitrova and Bocarnea observed that Patterson's model shows trust occurring at the same time as vision. In commenting on trust and vision working together, Winston (2003) wrote that this helps present the process of how the leader engages with the follower to establish the vision with the follower and to establish/place trust in the follower with regard to organizational element. Winston also noted that in these two variables of vision and trust, there is no cost benefit analysis to determine if the follower's vision is worth doing. (Dimitrova & Bocarnea, p. 28).

Essential to the establishment of trust are the qualities integrity and honesty displayed by the servant leader to their followers (Russell, 2001). When the servant leader does what they said they would do, they lay a foundation of trust which leads to credibility of the servant leader and the organization. In this way "the trust bond nurtures teamwork, confidence, self-esteem, and self-actualization" (Patterson, 2003, pp. 22-23). In Patterson's scheme, the combination of vision for the follower and the instilled trust lead to empowerment (Dimitrova & Bocarnea, 2010).

Empowerment

Bass (1990) and Veronesi (2001) noted that there is no servant leadership without sharing of power and that empowering people to be involved in the planning and decision-making of the organization is at the heart of servant leadership (Patterson, 2003; Dennis & Bocarnea, 2005; Dimitrova & Bocarnea, 2010). Empowerment is entrusting power to others and involves (a) effective listening, (b) making people feel significant, (c) emphasizing teamwork; and (d) valuing love and equality (Patterson; Kezar, 2002; Russell & Stone, 2002). Farling, Stone, and Winston (1999) and Covey (2002) suggest a leader serves as a role model for empowering others and that a servant leader empowers followers in accordance with acting on their values. Moreover, Winston (2003) posited

that in the process of empowering, the servant leader is willing to give up control and power so that the follower can be effective and successful in the accomplishment of the tasks at hand, but that such 'freedom' is not carte-blanche and anarchist in design, but progressive in nature, with the follower being empowered in small amounts, allowing him or her to learn and grow to the point of being capable and willing to handle larger levels of empowerment.

Service

At the core of servant leadership is the trait that is inherent in the label servanthood or service (Russell & Stone, 2002; Dennis & Bocarnea, 2005; Waddell, 2006). From their respective research, Patterson, 2003, Dimitrova and Bocarnea (2010), and Dennis and Bocarnea found that "the act of serving includes a mission of responsibility to others and that people are accountable to those they serve, whether they serve customers or subordinates (Wis, 2002; Greenleaf, 1996). Furthermore, Winston (2003) noted that the servant leader sees his or her role to the follower as one of providing the follower with what is needed for the follower to accomplish his/her task (Dimitrova & Bocarnea, 2010). After reviewing the literature, Kimura (2007), following Patterson (2003) and Swindoll (1981), observed that service requires the leaders'

1. giving of time, energy, compassion, and one's belongings;

2. personal involvement in followers' lives;

3. authenticity in what they do;

4. and, serving as a role model in behavior and style that sets the foundation the servant-led organizational culture (p. 7; Lytle, Horn, & Mokwa, 1998).

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Servant Leadership: Seven Characteristics of Follower-Centered Leaders

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In her doctoral dissertation,Dr. Kathleen Patterson (2003) presented a theory of organizational leadership called servant leadership. Dr. Patterson's theory was an extension of servant leadership first presented by Dr. Robert Greenleaf in 1977. Each explained that servant leaders serve with special attention on their followers, whereby the needs of followers are primary and objectives of the organization are secondary.

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The ten major characteristics of servant leadership are listening, empathy, healing relationships, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to human resources development, and commitment to building a community. Read on to find out more.

What is Servant Leadership?

Robert K. Greenleaf first coined the phrase "Servant Leadership" in his essay "The Servant as Leader" (1970). His servant leadership theory found support from many management writers such as Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Peter Senge, and others.

Greenleaf distinguishes between two contrasting leadership styles: a servant aspiring to serve and taking up leadership as a result and a leader wanting power to acquire material possessions. He denotes the first as the servant leadership style. Servant leaders are servants first who consciously choose to lead as a way to serve the development of others. They act as humble stewards of their organization and achieve results by giving priority attention to the needs of their colleagues and those they serve.

Listening

The basic traits of a good leader are good communication and decision making skills. The servant leadership theory goes beyond this and adds listening skills to the basic success traits.

The servant leader listens receptively to what is said, and also to what is unsaid, through intuition developed by periods of reflection and analysis. They respond to a problem by:

1. Listening to followers.

2. Identifying the need or will of the group.

3. Lending clarity to such needs.

Empathy

The second of the major characteristics of servant leadership is empathy. Empathy is the capacity to know what the other person is experiencing from an emotional plane within the frame of reference of that other person. It is, in other words, to put one's self in another's shoes.

Servant leaders accept and recognize people for their special and unique traits, understand their requirements and maintain empathy towards them even if they cannot accept their acts. The servant leader listens with empathy, and assumes the good intentions of co-workers and colleagues even while disagreeing.

Healing Relationships

It is human nature to encounter emotional pain during interpersonal relationships, be it at work or elsewhere. The servant leader tries to understand the cause for such broken spirits and helps people overcome such blots. This facilitates healing relationships and contributes to organizational transformation through better team integration.

Awareness

Leaders who are self-aware and have awareness of general matters have a better understanding of issues related to ethics, power and values, and this helps them view situations and make decisions from a more holistic perspective.

Unlike the traditional leadership style that considers awareness as a source of power and providing solace, or the transformational leadership style that attracts subordinates through a high level of awareness and ethical conduct, the servant leadership style uses awareness to fulfill the needs of others and to persuade subordinates.

Commitment to Human Resources Development

Servant leaders are committed to the overall growth of people under them and other issues related to human resources. They believe that people have intrinsic value beyond their tangible contributions as workers.

The servant leader assumes responsibility of not just developing the subordinate to fulfill organizational goals, but also nurture the personal and professional growth of team members by taking a personal interest in their ideas and suggestions, encouraging their involvement in decision making and through other similar interventions.

Commitment to Building Community

In the pre-industrialized world, the local community usually shaped an individual's outlook and personality. Industrialization has led to large institutions replacing the local community as the shaper of an individual's life. The servant leader understands this fact and identifies means to build a community among the team, members and other employees of the organization.

The servant leadership style is a relatively new approach to leadership, and the characteristics of servant leadership provide new insights to leadership theory and treat leadership from a hitherto unexplored perspective.

References

Image Credit: srqpix/flickr.com

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Ten Major Characteristics of Servant Leadership

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Servant leaders act as stewards of the organization, and lead by giving priority to organizational goals and the needs of colleagues. Of the ten major characteristics of servant leadership, we start out discussing the first five: listening, empathy, healing relationships, awareness, and persuasion.

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