A Bit More on Servant Leadership

A bit more on Servant Leadership

¡Hola, fellow educational leaders! :-)

After reading Angelo Letizia's "Radical Servant Leadership: A New Practice of Public Education Leadership in the Post-Industria Age" (2014), where he calls academics to arms against what Chomsky has called the "neoliberal assault on universities", I was intrigued by the idea of exerting an active leadership based on service, empathy, communication, and the common good:
"A radical servant leader will use his or her power and position to fight for teachers, faculty and really public education in general. Radical servant leadership derives from servant leadership. A servant leader leads by serving, by putting the welfare and wellbeing of his or her followers above his or her own interests (Greenleaf, 2002; Northouse, 2013). Radical servant leaders must make not only the welfare of followers but the justice of followers the number one priority" (Letizia, 2014, p.176).

Thus, in times when neoliberal capitalism has shown that its purpose has been creating further inequality, widening the gap between the rich and the poor, and concentrating the world's wealth in the hands of just a few (the wealthiest 1% of the world's population controls the 50% of the world's wealth), new leadership focusing on justice, equality and public service seems to be the only way to reclaim the academia as a space for democratic debate, freedom of thought, and alternatives to the ideological bulldozer of profit and consumerism.

As radical servant leadership derives from Greenleaf's servant leadership. Although originally designed for the business world of CEO's and management, I still find them transferable in their spirit on to education, and distance education, as they seek to enhance collaboration, communication and teamwork in order to get the best of all participants working towards the same goals.

I looked up the main tennets proposed by Greenleaf himself. I will take the liberty of including them here as they appear on: https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.a4pt.org/resource/dynamic/forums/20141118_213556_12077.pdf

1. Listening - Traditionally, leaders have been valued for their communication and decision making skills. Servantleaders must reinforce these important skills by making a deep commitment to listening intently to others. Servant-leaders seek to identify and clarify the will of a group. They seek to listen receptively to what is being said (and not said). Listening also encompasses getting in touch with one's inner voice, and seeking to understand what one's body, spirit, and mind are communicating.
   
   
2. Empathy - Servant-leaders strive to understand and empathize with others. People need to be accepted and recognized for their special and unique spirit. One must assume the good intentions of coworkers and not reject them as people, even when forced to reject their behavior or performance. 
   
   
3. Healing - Learning to heal is a powerful force for transformation and integration. One of the great strengths of servant-leadership is the potential for healing one's self and others. In "The Servant as Leader", Greenleaf writes, "There is something subtle communicated to one who is being served and led if, implicit in the compact between the servant-leader and led is the understanding that the search for wholeness is something that they have."
   
   
4. Awareness - General awareness, and especially self-awareness, strengthens the servant-leader. Making a commitment to foster awareness can be scary--one never knows that one may discover! As Greenleaf observed, "Awareness is not a giver of solace - it's just the opposite. It disturbed. They are not seekers of solace. They have their own inner security." 
   
   
5. Persuasion - Servant-leaders rely on persuasion, rather than positional authority in making decisions. Servantleaders seek to convince others, rather than coerce compliance. This particular element offers one of the clearest distinctions between the traditional authoritarian model and that of servant-leadership. The servantleader is effective at building consensus within groups. 
   
   
6. Conceptualization - Servant-leaders seek to nurture their abilities to "dream great dreams." The ability to look at a problem (or an organization) from a conceptualizing perspective means that one must think beyond day-to-day realities. Servant-leaders must seek a delicate balance between conceptualization and day-to-day focus.
7. Foresight - Foresight is a characteristic that enables servant-leaders to understand lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequence of a decision in the future. It is deeply rooted in the intuitive mind. 
   
   
8. Stewardship - Robert Greenleaf's view of all institutions was one in which CEO's, staff, directors, and trustees all play significance roles in holding their institutions in trust for the great good of society.
9. Commitment to the Growth of People - Servant-leaders believe that people have an intrinsic value beyond their tangible contributions as workers. As such, servant-leaders are deeply committed to a personal, professional, and spiritual growth of each and every individual within the organization. 
   
   
10. Building Community - Servant-leaders are aware that the shift from local communities to large institutions as the primary shaper of human lives has changed our perceptions and has caused a feeling of loss. Servantleaders seek to identify a means for building community among those who work within a given institution.

In the document linked above, you will also find

“What 100 Years of Research Tells Us about Effective Leadership”, by Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. (2009)

“7 Things Successful Leaders Do Differently”, by Paula Davis-Laack, J.D., M.A.P.P. (2012) and

“The Best Advice on Being a Business Leader” by Paul B. Thornton

J.