Even though it’s important that leaders exemplify the traits a good leader needs to be effective and guide employees to success, leaders should also be seen as servants and helpers to their teams. Servant leadership is a concept that can improve how leaders connect with their employees and how their employees perform. Learn more about the idea and how it should be implemented to its full capacity.
Bridging the Gap
Leaders should not only be found at the head of the pack, but within the pack as well. What this means is that leaders should be wherever they’re needed, whether it’s front and center or in the middle of the battlefield providing troops with aid. Before taking care of their own needs, leaders first take care of the needs of others, recognizing that doing so benefits the unit as a whole.
Fostering Trust
No matter how much experience a leader has, team members are more likely to trust and follow a leader if he or she embodies characteristics and qualities that promote a sense of trust. Such qualities include being authentic, relatable and free of ego. Once the seed of trust has been planted, practicing these qualities and characteristics is the water that helps the seed to grow into a stable and healthy tree of trust that’s sure to last for years to come.
Listening More Than Speaking
Employee engagement is also improved when a leader listens more than she or he speaks. Listening helps leaders to better understand just what it is the team wants to accomplish in order that their objectives can help support that desire. Leaders should also take out time to truly study and reflect on what they hear so they can become the leaders their teams need rather than the leaders they want to be, which may be at odds with what’s best for the team.
Self-Care
Leaders should be servants to themselves as well as their employees and teams. What this means is that leaders should take out time to take care of themselves outside of the workplace. Self-care allows leaders to operate at peak efficiency, and it also makes for a better work-life balance. Matters outside of the workplace that are neglected often have a way of encroaching on work performance, which can trickle down into team performance.
Creating Something Sustainable
When a leader starts to embrace the servant aspect of her or his role, it sets the stage for building something that’s sustainable and will remain with the company long after the leader and team move on. The company will become one known for its fair and impartial leaders, ones who are willing to help employees just as much as they are willing to lead them in the right direction. This can be a key factor in bringing in new employees, ones who can help build a company and make it better than ever before.
If you are a leader or are thinking about taking up a leadership position in your place of employment, be sure you embrace the core concepts of servant leadership. Doing so is sure to make you more of an asset and a better leader than you ever imagined yourself to be.
