4.9 Developing Your Charismatic, Servant and Authentic Leadership Skills

Develop Your Charismatic Leadership Skills

Charismatic individuals have a “magnetic” personality that is appealing to followers. While many people assume that charisma is inborn, it is possible to improve your charisma by following these suggestions (Frese et al., 2003; Shamir et al., 1993):

• Have a vision around which people can gather. When framing requests or addressing others, instead of emphasizing short-term goals, stress the importance of the long-term vision. When giving a message, think about the overarching purpose. What is the ultimate goal? Why should people care? What are you trying to achieve?
• Tie the vision to history. In addition to stressing the ideal future, charismatic leaders bring up the history and how the shared history ties to the future.
• Watch your body language. Charismatic leaders are energetic and passionate about their ideas. This involves truly believing in your own ideas. When talking to others, you may want to look confident, look them in the eye, and express your belief in your ideas.
• Make sure that employees have confidence in themselves. You can achieve this by showing that you believe in them and trust their abilities. If they have a real reason to doubt their abilities, make sure that you help them address the underlying issue, such as through training and mentoring.
• Challenge the status quo. Charismatic leaders solve current problems by radically rethinking the way things are done and suggesting alternatives that are risky, novel, and unconventional.

Develop Your Servant Leadership Skills

Robert Greenleef put forward the idea of servant leadership in the 1970’s, an approach where leaders put others first. Despite the fact that this was a new theory mentioned in the literature, this is a timeless style of leadership recorded in religious and other histories as far back as Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), as well as other major religions such as Judaism and Buddhism (Servant Leadership Across Cultures). You are likely familiar with other servant leaders from the past such as Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King Jr.,  to name just a few. Today, we see examples of CEOs who serve as well-known leaders like Herb Kelleher, formerly of Southwest Airlines; Cheryl Bachelder, formerly of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen; and Jack Welch, formerly of General Electric. Welch provided some great advice to aspiring leaders, “before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others” (LEADx, n.d.).

Servant leadership might be considered a difficult transition for an achievement-oriented and success-driven manager who rises to high levels. Here are some tips to achieve servant leadership (Buchanan, 2007; Douglas, 2005; Ramsey, 2005).

• Don’t ask what your employees can do for you. Think of what you can do for them. Your job as a leader is to be of service to them. How can you relieve their stress? Protect them from undue pressure? Pitch in to help them? Think about creative ways of helping ease their lives.
• One of your key priorities should be to help employees reach their goals. This involves getting to know them. Learn about who they are and what their values and priorities are.
• Be humble. You are not supposed to have all the answers and dictate to others. One way of achieving this humbleness may be to do volunteer work.
• Be open with your employees. Ask them questions. Give them information so that they understand what is going on in the company.
• Find ways of helping the external community. Giving employees opportunities to be involved in community volunteer projects or even thinking and strategizing about making a positive impact on the greater community would help.

Develop Your Authentic Leadership Skills

Authentic leaders have high levels of self-awareness and their behavior is driven by their core personal values. This leadership approach recognizes the importance of self-reflection and understanding one’s life history. Address the following questions to gain a better understanding of your own core values and authentic leadership style.