1.1 A Servant Leadership Philosophy

A summary of Spears & Lawrence’s (2002) ten key characteristics of Servant Leaders follows. All ten have a great degree of relevance and relationship to excellence in program-planning:

1. Listening: Servant Leaders listen intently to others and seek to identify and clarify the will of a group when faced with making decisions. Additionally, Servant Leaders demonstrate a deep commitment to getting in touch with one’s “inner voice” (p.5) and ensure there is adequate time to not only listen but also reflect on what was heard.
2. Empathy: Servant Leaders strive to understand and empathize with others and believe that people need to be accepted and recognized for their special and unique spirits. The most successful Servant Leaders are those who have become skilled empathetic listeners.
3. Healing: One of the greatest strengths of a servant-leadership approach is its ability to heal oneself and others. Many people have broken spirits and have suffered a variety of emotional hurts. Servant-leaders recognize that they have an opportunity to “help make whole” those with whom they come in contact.
4. Awareness: General awareness, especially self-awareness, helps strengthen the servant-leader. Awareness also aids one in understanding issues that involve ethics and values. In making a commitment to fostering awareness, you never know what you are going to find!
5. Persuasion: Servant-leaders rely on persuasion, not positional power, to help make decisions in an organization. Servant-leaders are effective at building consensus (agreement) within groups. The servant-leader seeks to convince others of an idea or activity rather than coerce (force) compliance.
6. Conceptualization: Servant-leaders tend to nurture their abilities to “dream great dreams”. This means thinking beyond day-to-day realities and leaning into what is possible…becoming a visionary. “Servant-leaders are called to seek a healthy balance between conceptual thinking and a day-to-day focused approach” (p.7)
7. Foresight: Closely related to conceptualization, Servant-leaders have the ability to foresee the likely outcome of a situation. Foresight enables the Servant-leader to understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present and the likely consequence of a decision for the future. Servant-leaders have keenly intuitive minds!
8. Stewardship: In simplest terms, stewardship is the act of taking care of someone or something. Servant-leaders are concerned with acting in trust for the greater good of society. Stewardship “…assumes first and foremost a commitment to serving the needs of others” (p.8).
9. Commitment to the Growth of People: Servant-leaders believe that people – all people – have intrinsic value. As such, the Servant-leader is deeply committed to the growth of each and every individual” (p.9) within their follow-ship. The Servant-leader recognizes the tremendous responsibility to do everything within their power to nurture a person’s personal, professional and spiritual growth.
10. Building Community: Servant-leaders recognize that many people feel disconnected or in some way apart from, rather than a part of, their communities. They, therefore, seek to identify some means for building a sense of community and belonging among the group members they work with and the institutions they work for.