Leadership is an important aspect of any organization. Businesses and teams function better in the presence of an effective leader. There have been several theories of leadership that have taken shape over many ages. Many leaders have created history through their significant contributions in the world. Different leaders have different styles of working. In fact different situations demand different leadership styles (Voegtlin, Patzer, and Scherer, 2012). Over a period of time, leadership has evolved and changed form. This essay highlights upon servant leadership style that focuses on team work and community building.
Leadership is essential for the growth and development of any organization. Efficient leadership ensures that team members are guided and have clear goals. Motivation of team members and ensuring that they are well-coordinated is also the responsibility of the leader (Van Dierendonck, and Patterson, 2015). An effective leader works towards improving the work culture of the team. Team communication flow, delegation of authority and responsibility as well as flow of information within the team is defined by the team leader.
A leader is important for the team because a leader can be that go-to person for all the team members in case of discrepancies, issues or conflicts. This would also sustain the discipline, coordination and decorum of the team. The overall performance of the team is largely a reflection of the leadership strategies adopted by the team leader (Kaplan, 2012). In fact, personal growth and learning of individual team members are also predominantly dependent upon the team leader’s efficacy. Therefore it is a critical aspect of every organization. This is why the senior management of businesses work towards creating strong leaders who can lead other team members.
The concept of leadership was first evolved and utilized in defence services of the world. During the times of war, leaders were elected who would lead the province to war. Such leaders had to be autocratic in nature. Their job was to give orders and instruct their team members regarding their future course of action. Over a period of time, this leadership style was adopted in business organizations. Such a leadership style had its own set of advantages. For example, time was efficiently utilized and decision making was much quicker (Raelin, 2011). Teams also did not face many conflicts as individual opinions were not considered important. However, the problem with such a leadership was that it helped in the growth of one leader whereas other members of the team had restricted learning and bounded innovation.
Gradually, this leadership style evolved and leaders adopted a more participative approach towards their teams. In the present days, leaders work towards enhancing the levels of participation from team members and enhance coordination among all stakeholders of the team. This leadership style distributes responsibility among all team members, decisions are made after mutual discussions and creativity is fostered through encouragement (Chen, Zhu, and Zhou 2015). A democratic and participative leadership style also works towards enhancing a sense of ownership that team members have towards the organization (Bush, 2012). Such leaderships result in increased coordination and improved performance of the organization at large.
The term servant leadership was first coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970. The idea behind this leadership style is that a leader is a servant first (Choudhary et. al., 2013). The feeling to serve others comes naturally and aims at the leaders putting conscious efforts to serve their respective teams. Servant leaders focuses on the growth and development of the team, organization and community that envelops them. The major difference between traditional leadership and servant leadership is the willingness of traditional leaders to exercise their power on their team members as opposed to the willingness of servant leaders to serve their team members and ensure their growth (Liden et. al., 2014).
Servant leadership is being largely adopted by various leaders across the globe owing to its immensely positive longer term impact on the organization. Servant leaders are respected and trusted by the virtue of their attitude and behaviour towards their team rather than their positional designation. There are various advantages to this form of leadership which are discussed as below.
A servant leader would work towards enhancing the level of coordination and team work in the organization. Since the servant leader is not inclined towards exercising power and giving instructions, the entire team works in coordination and participates in order to device a course of action (Reed et. al., 2011). This leads to improved communication among all team members and helps them achieve their goals through mutual understanding and team work. Servant leadership also opens doors to team communication and helps increasing the frequency as well as the transparency of the communication that is held within the team among all stakeholders. In the longer run, this creates and fosters positive interrelationships among team members.
Autocratic leadership enabled quick decision making and fewer conflicts among team members. But at the same time, all the instructions traversed from the leader to the rest of the team making it almost impossible for team members to foster any form of creativity or enable personal learning (Black, 2013). Team members working under servant leadership are actively involved in the team discussions and decisions making it plausible for them to enhance their own learning and development. This makes them more eligible for professional growth. Due to improved communication strategies adopted by the servant leader, members of the team find it easier to communicate with others and address their issues or problems thereby enabling improved learning.
When a group of people are encouraged to participate in group decisions, they can think out of box as opposed to when they are given instructions that must be followed as deemed by the leader. Therefore a servant leadership style which is highly participative in nature tends to foster creativity and innovation among team members by providing them with opportunities to use their creative bent of mind and come up with new ideas. The high level of coordination devised by the servant leader also ensures that all team members encourage each other to share their opinions and hence foster their creativity (Peterson et. al., 2012). Creativity within team members need fuel to grow and this is exactly what servant leadership offers to its team members. An effective leader will ensure that new ideas are encouraged in an effective manner. Such an attitude of the leader also instils innovation within the team culture.
A team culture in the most basic form is defined by the values and beliefs that are held by team members and the team as a whole. Different teams within the same organization can manifest different cultures and the culture that any particular team adopts largely depends upon the team leader. A team’s culture severely impacts the flow of communication, working environment, sharing of ideas and team members’ motivation to work in the team. Servant leadership tends to create a positive working atmosphere for all team members making it easier for them to communicate with each other and establish a culture of openness and trust. One of the biggest advantages of servant leadership is the increased level of employee engagement within the team (Van, 2011). As they are more participative, their level of engagement within the team also enhances which adds on to the positive culture of the team.
An autocratic leadership is often succeeded by another leader who the predecessor believes shares the same values and beliefs as them. On the other hand, under servant leadership, the participation and contribution of every team member is transparent and clear in front of the entire team. This makes it easy for the leaders to find their successors in a transparent and fair manner (Schneider & George, 2011). Leaders cannot be unfair or partial because the performance of every team member is explicitly clear. Open discussions also make it easier for leaders to identify future leaders based on team member’s opinions, ideas, creativity and team working spirit. In an autocratic environment, it becomes impossible to identify leadership abilities of team members and hence difficult to fairly identify a leader.
Servant leadership works when the leader has an attitude of serving the team and focussing on the greater good of the community. Such a leader tends to participate with the team towards accomplishing organizational goals rather than delegating work to others. This allows the leader to lead by example which is a highly motivating form of leadership. When team members view their leader working hard towards accomplishing goals then they also tend to put their best foot forward. Servant leadership invokes participation among team members and allows them to work together in mutual coordination (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013). When team members are allowed to participation and given opportunities to demonstrate their creativity and innovation then they tend to be more loyal towards the team and have an increased sense of ownership. This sense of ownership goes a long way in ensuring that employees work hard and take responsibility of team goals.
Servant leadership style is being widely adopted by various organizations. However, there are certain disadvantages to servant leadership that can be taken care of if managed effectively. At the foremost front, since servant leadership involves team participation, decision making can often take a much longer time as opposed to autocratic leadership (Waterman, 2011). Secondly, such a leadership style can fail miserably if the leader lacks assertiveness. If the leader has an attitude of serving the team and continues to participate in the groundwork then there is a huge possibility that the team disregards the leader as a true leader for the team. This will lead to further complications and failure in accomplishing coordination among the team.
It is important to note that a participative leadership and servant leadership often lead to an increased number of conflicts and misunderstandings within the team. In such a case, the leader has to take responsibility to manage those conflicts efficiently and ensure coordination within the team.
Conclusion
Servant leadership is a leadership style that tends to serve the group and the community. It is largely different from traditional forms of leadership which was predominantly autocratic in nature (Finley, 2012). The change in leadership has remarkably changed how teams function. There are several advantages to Servant leadership. Firstly, this leadership style establishes a positive working culture and allows the leader to lead by example. Secondly, this leadership enhances coordination among team members and increases transparency with regards to communication and performance. This also makes it easier to fairly decide upon future leadership of the team. At an individual level too, servant leadership helps team members learn and develop a lot more than traditional form leadership. This is because they are given ample opportunities to participate in team discussions and present their opinions. This in turn also leads to an increased sense of ownership which is fruitful and productive for the organization in the longer run (Gotsis & Grimani, 2016).
There are fewer cons to this form of leadership as well which includes slower decision making an increased number of conflicts. However, these issues can be managed in an effective manner. If these issues are taken care of by the leaders of the team then servant leadership is not only sure to increase team’s productivity but can also lead to improved employee engagement, retention and satisfaction.
References
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