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If the Shoe Fits: Servant Leadership

by Miki Saxon

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read allIf the Shoe Fits posts here

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mJim Heskett, Baker Foundation Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School is my favorite brain at HBS Working Knowledge (if you don’t already subscribe, you should).

His postings are designed to stimulate discussion from a diverse and intelligent audience.

Most recently he asked why, since “servant leadership” has proved to be highly productive and valuable to both the organization and the person practicing it, it wasn’t seen more frequently.

(Many people like to infuse “servant leadership” with a religious theme, but that isn’t its source.)

Although Heskett was focused on CEOs, the conversation applies to everybody in a so-called leadership position, i.e., bosses.

Reading through some of the 116 comments, number 11, from Phillip Clark, Clark & Associates, caught my eye—probably because it perfectly summed up my own crotchety thoughts; he even ends his comment with one of my favorite lines.

Rather than write my own version, I thought I’d share his in its entirety.

Ego and Stupidity to put it bluntly stands in the way of having more servant leadership in the workplace. Normally, I am not so blunt but after 50 years in the workforce I am becoming old and crotchety about this discussion.

Let’s look at the issue. The “I’m more important than you” leadership usually limits performance and innovation because everything goes through a single control point the leader. The leader has to be always informed, has to give permission, always has “the best ideas” and focuses only on performance goals that make him, not necessarily the company, look good. That creates a huge bottleneck on the performance of the leader’s employees.

A servant leader, focused on getting the most from his or her employees, empowers and trains their employees to do their job, without the “mother may I” albatross hanging around their neck. The servant leader sends the employees working on the project to meetings and links them with resources to do their job. That way the employees can do their job without having to go through the single choke point “the leader”. This type of leader is not loaded with meetings because his or her staff are doing the job. It no longer is about ego but performance. What really is an eye opener is seeing the servant leaders influence explode throughout an organization since they seem to be everywhere. When really it is their influence being expressed by their entire staff at multiple points in the organization at the same time. Bottom line…hire right, support effectively, expect performance….and you will get it.

As a leader…do not become the choke point in your organization. How can you tell? Are you going to too many meetings where you have to follow-up and pass information to others? Are you overworked with too many interruptions from employees? Are you demanding deadlines to meet goals instead of having work appear on your desk completed? Are your employees happy and getting promoted? If not, take a close look in the mirror.

Which kind of leader are you?

Image credit: HikingArtist

One Response to “If the Shoe Fits: Servant Leadership”
  1. MAPping Company Success Says:

    […] A couple of weeks ago we took a look at Jim Heskett’s HBS discussion about why servant leadership isn’t very prevalent, considering how effective it is; this week he sums those reasons up. […]

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