Servant Leadership is clearly emerging as a modern trend in leadership and I've received several questions about how this applies to the corporate world.  Here are a few thoughts - by no means complete.

For a long time, the mantra in the corporate world, at least in corporate America, has been:  Take care of the shareholders first, take care of the products or services next, and finally, if anything is left over, take care of the people (employees, team members, etc).

Supposed that order were to be completely reversed:  Take care of the people (employees & team members), take care of the products & services, and finally, take care of the shareholders.  What would happen?

I think that if we really followed the servant leadership principals for our team members and employees, they would be much more motivated to voluntarily take care of our products and services.  If the quality of products and services improved tremendously, it would seem that the customer response would improve - they would buy more - and, in turn, the shareholders and investors would be very satisfied.

Because of all the outsourcing, many employees feel like they are not really part of an organization.  They have no feelings of loyalty toward their company, because there is no loyalty shown toward them.  This may be an extreme view, but it is expressed by many of the people I talk with at most of the corporations I have the opportunity to visit.

Yes, there are medical programs, 401K's, training and other benefits, but the bottom line is that in many companies today, the predominant feeling is that no one really cares about the employees as individuals.

As leaders of a company, organization or team, one of the best things we can do today is create the feeling of reciprocity between the organization and the individuals.  We all know that there is no more guarantee of life long employment with a company, but at least we can fulfill part of our responsibility as leaders by making the individual contributors understand how they are part of the team any how their contributions are valuable.

If that happens, I think, in the end, the shareholders would experience the gain, as well.

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Are you, or perhaps someone you know, preparing to take the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification examination offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI)? 

If you are, you will want to check out www.fastpmprep.com.  They are offering an incredible audio workshop to help you prepare for this rigorous certification exam.

I was recently introduced to this program - it is very impressive and they have a great track record of helping people successfully complete the exam.

It's been several years since I took this exam, and I wish this program had been available back then.  I've been so impressed with this program that I've acquired a copy for myself just as a way of review to keep current.

There is quiet a bit of leadership material on the PMP certification exam, and this program does a great job at addressing all the leadership issues PMI wants project managers to know.

Please pass this on to anyone you know working for this professional certification; it will really help them out.

www.fastpmprep.com

One of the essential leadership traits is the ability to develop people. This is becoming more important as a current trend in leadership. But, are we really focusing on the right issues to develop the people we are responsible for?

In true servant leadership, the focus is on what’s best for the people we are leading, so their personal development becomes a primary concern. Several weeks ago I did a post on how Maslow’s Hierarchy relates to servant leadership. People desire to move to those upper two levels in the hierarchy where esteem, respect and self-actualization develop.

Typical corporate management is not really concerned with growth and development at that level; it’s more concerned wiith getting people trained up to do their job. Conflicts arise because people are coerced into doing work they find unpleasant, unsatisfying, and unrewarding.

There’s some amazing work being done showing that people grow most by using and expanding their strengths. But, think about performance reviews in a typical company setting. Most of the time is spent discussing an individual’s weakness and how they can improve in that area. Very little time is spent discussing their strengths and how to really excel in those. We actually have people focusing on and working in their naturally weakest areas where they get no particular pleasure or satisfying experience.

My wife recently asked me to watch an episode of Oprah with her. Oprah’s guest was Marcus Buckingham who is an expert in this area and has written several books about finding and using your strengths. You can view a free eight-part mini-course with Mr. Buckingham where he teaches about finding and using your strengths.
(http://www2.oprah.com/money/career/marcus/marcus_workshop_main.jhtml)

The message is that everyone has unique strengths and weaknesses. The biggest growth and most satisfaction comes from expanding our strengths and not from trying to transform weak areas into strengths. I’ve heard that before, but it did not sink in until I listened to Marcus Buckingham.

How does this apply to servant leadership? Mr. Buckingham’s program is directed at individuals and teaches them how to take control of their life and career by knowing and using their strengths. It seems to me that a leader, who is truly interested in serving the people around him or her, especially in a work environment, should really get to understand this concept. What could happen if leaders developed their teams around each team members’ strengths? 

I believe, using this approach, we can accelerate the growth and development of people on our teams and help the team reach significantly greater levels of accomplishment. It’s a win-win for everyone!

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A characteristic of this important leadership trend, servant leadership, is that the leader keeps the focus is on the development of the individuals and team he or she is leading. As the relationships and trust develops, team members will sometimes adopt behavioral characteristics or their leader. This is called "behavior modeling". 

Many characteristics of a leader's behavior are subject to modeling, including: style of speaking using particular terms and phrases, style of writing, physical gestures and attitudes.

People will retain their own individuality, but there will be overtones of the leader present. There is usually nothing wrong with this type modeling and, in fact, it can be very positive. Last time I mentioned that there could be a dark side to behavior modeling, something the servant leader needs to be very cautious about. I’ve personally witnessed this occur. Here it is: 

As the leader becomes more successful and more team members begin to model various characteristics of their leader, there can be a tendency for the leader’s ego to get a little swollen. It can be a very heady thing for to experience people doing things just like you would have done or speaking is the same style as you, using similar words and phrases. The leader must be careful to keep their ego in check or the focus can quickly become on the leader instead of on the team and individual members.  

Unfortunately, some leaders learn to cleverly manipulate individuals’ behavior toward their own personal advancement. When these manipulations are finally recognized, people become resentful, often feeling trapped and even embarrassed that they fell for this ruse. Trust rapidly erodes and ultimately the team and relationships collapse. 

The concept of servant leadership sounds easy, but our egos can easily get in our way. 

Leadership traits and leadership trends for the 21st century are totally integrated - different sides of the same coin. The traits of servant leadership are critical to develop the trend.

Transparency and trust helps develop relationships and creates an environment for behavior modeling to occur.  But, how does behavior modeling relate to servant leadership?

Behavior modeling begins when a team member or individual starts to emulate their leader or mentor.  What does this look like?  Modeling can take the form of simply reflecting the same philosophy and approach their leader/mentor is using all the way to taking on similar physical mannerisms, characteristics and actions the leader displays.

Servant leadership is an attitude as well as a behavior.  You must think as well as act differently.  Remember, it’s not about the leader. It is about the leader assisting others to advance, to develop into greater people and to do greater works. In the long run, this is better for the organization, but it starts with a focus on people.

Servant leadership can spread rapidly through an organization, which is a very good thing.  As team members notice their leader is doing something different than they have experienced, they might not be able to describe exactly what’s different, but they like it and it’s working.

People will start to adopt the attitude of a servant leader.  They notice there is a different philosophy and a different "talk" coming from their mentor.  They see that there is a slightly different way their leader approaches problems and develops solutions.  They observe their leaders business conduct.  As the relationship grows and trust builds they will start communicating and acting with this new attitude, and that’s how the spirit of servant leadership begins to spread.

When a leader observes his or her team members starting to communicate outward with this new approach and attitude and notices changes in team members business conduct, then they can be sure that the roots of servant leadership are starting to take hold.

This is a very critical juncture in leadership development.  If the leader looses focus on the individual and the concept of servant leadership, a dark side driven purely by ego can emerge, which will kill all that has been gained.  I’ll focus on this aspect next time.

I’d like to invite you to leave a comment below.  Please click through to "Ask Stan" and leave a question if you have something specific you would like to have addressed.

Your thoughts and feedback are always appreciated.
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Because today is Easter Sunday, I thought I’d make a special post about Jesus Christ as a servant leader.

I don’t mean to offend anyone by not discussing leaders of other religions.  But, I am Catholic and today is Easter!

If you study and understand the concepts of servant leadership and the writings in the bible, you’ll see that Jesus was truly the model servant leader.  Jesus demonstrated all the characteristics of servant leadership that we’ve been exploring; relationship building, trust, behavior modeling, strength, etc.

In the book "The Advantage of Leadership", Gary Newell does a masterful job of explaining Jesus’ role as servant leadership as seen through the eyes of one of the twelve disciples.  The chapter is written as a story of what could have been lifted from a diary or journal of the disciple.  I’d encourage you to read this - it's a wonderful work that helps give you the true perspective of servant leadership.

Gary Newell is one of the co-authors of the book "The Advantage of Leadership" as well as the founder and president of Outreach America, Inc, the Veritas Sports Academy, Inc., and The Veritas Institute of Mentoring; all of which are dedicated to helping young people and adults reach their highest leadership potential.

This book can be found at www.TheAdvantageOfLeadership.com/book

Happy Easter!

Stan
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Since exploring servant leadership as an emerging leadership trend, we’ve found that relationships between the leader and individuals or the team are important.

Relationships are developed overtime as trust toward the leader develops.

Trust develops partly through transparency and promise keeping.

Maslow has taught us that individuals need to, and want to, advance to higher levels in the hierarchy of development, but to move up the pyramid, the needs of the lower levels must met.

Part of being a servant leader is to be committed to the growth of the individuals on your team. A servant leader assists people in their movement up the pyramid of hierarchical values.

How does this happen? You can’t tell people what to do-you must demonstrate what to do by your actions.  If people trust you, not only will they follow you, they will do what you are doing to become successful. They will model your behavior if it leads them to fulfillment and success.

Conversely, if they are experiencing difficulties, they will stop modeling your behavior and, eventually, trust will erode.

Think about how young children, toddlers, learn to do things. They watch mom and dad or an older sibling and they try to do the same thing. We show them what to do and they learn by modeling and repetition.  They become excited as they develop more skills, which encourages them to try more things.  If there is trust, minor problems and setbacks will not stop them from trying again.

But, if they repetedly and regularly get hurt or scared in the process, they will stop trying.  To much pain.

The same is true with teens and adults. If people have respect for someone in a leadership position, trust and a relationship will develop over time. If the leader appears to be successful in what they are doing, people around will model what is helping the leader to advance.

If you’re truly a servant leader, this is great news. Do the right thing, let others watch you in action and witness the results. Then help them along the path as they do what you’ve done.

There can be a manipulative, dark side to behavior modeling, which we’ll take a look at next time.

I’d like to invite you to leave a comment below. Please click through to "Ask Stan" and leave a question if you have something specific you would like to have addressed.

Your comments and feedback are always appreciated.

E-Mail Stan Levanduski

In my post yesterday, I mentioned a really great leadership book by Stephen M R Covey, "The Speed of Trust". 

I just found out about a superb bookreview.  You can link to it here:

http://bookreviewsummaries.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/the-speed-of-trust-by-stephen-mr-covey/

Watch for another post soon!

Thanks for your comments and feedback!

Stan

E-Mail Stan here

We’ve been exploring one of the emerging, important leadership trends in 2008, Servant Leadership. The idea is not new, but the significance is just being understood.

One of the most significant leadership traits, especially for team leadership, is being able to build and maintain strong relationships. How is this accomplished?

The most important attribute that a leader needs to develop between him or her self, the individuals and the team is TRUST.  It’s more important than communication skills or even technical ability.

People will not be lead by someone they do not trust, not for very long, anyway. Someone may have the title of "leader", but unless the team trusts them, both individually and as a group, then it’s only a title and a block on an organization chart-purely positional and not very effective. This is what allows "natural leaders" to emerge from within a group.  Someone the team trusts emerges from within and has more effective power than the appointed leader.

So, how is trust developed? It happens over time, not overnight. It happens by demonstrating that you are trustworthy, not  by simply saying, "trust me". People and teams will usually allow a new leader a grace period of trust and during that short  window of opportunity the leaders trustworthiness must be demonstrated and the trust actually earned.

What’s the best way to earn trust? Two ways:
     ·Do what you say you’re going to do, and
     ·Total transparency.
People experience your trust by observing what you actually do, not what you say you’re going to do.

Why transparency?

People need to see all the actions leading up to a result, not just a result. They need to watch how you do things, how you make things happen, how you communicate. They need to experience how you deal with success and how you respond when things don’t go so well. If some action did not work as planned, then reveal it, and what you plan to do about it. Total open and honest communications and visibility to your actions is vital.

Nearly everyone has had the experience of a leader actually producing the goods-delivering results. Initially the team is pleased, excited that there is someone working for them. After a while, they find out there was some degree of subterfuge or deception, some ruse involved. If that occurs, all trust is abandon. Consider the recent circumstance with the former governor of New York.

We trust what we experience repeatedly.  A friend of mine has a great model to explain this. Suppose your friend has a dog and that dog is always friendly and loves to see you and loves that you pet him. You trust that the dog actions will always be friendly.

Suppose another friend also has a dog. With this dog, however, every time you’ve tried to pet it, he snarls and snaps at your hand. You know by its behavior, that it will always bite, so you respond accordingly. You may not like the dog, but you trust the dog.

But, suppose another friend’s dog is different. Sometimes he comes running to you seeking affection. Other times, the dog is temperamental and snaps at you. You never know what the dog will do when you meet, so you do not trust the dog.

Develop trust by being open, transparent, so others can see and experience what you’re doing. Do what you say you are going to. Then, deliver what you promised, or explain what happened, re-evaluate, correct the situation and move on.  Individuals and teams will respond by allowing the relationship to advance and deepen because they have observed you and have learned that your actions match your words and intentions.

Interested in exploring this further? Stephen M. R. Covey, son of Stephen R. Covey (7 Habits of Highly Successful People) has recently written the book "The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything". You’ll learn about the leverage trust creates and the incredible cost increase that occur when trust is not present. (Here’s a link if you’re interested:

http://www.amazon.com/SPEED-Trust-Thing-Changes-Everything/dp/074329730X)

I’d like to invite you to leave a comment below. Please follow the link to "Ask Stan" and leave a question if you have
something specific you would like to have addressed.

I always appreciate your comments and feedback.

E-Mail Stan Levanduski

We’ve been exploring servant leadership as one of the important leadership trends in 2008.  In my last post, Maslow’s hierarchy, developed in 1943, emerged.  What does Maslow have to do with servant leadership?  Read on:

I was first introduced to Maslow’s concepts around 1973 and have regularly been amazed at how very "right on target" he was with this theory.  Let’s take a brief look:

 The theory basically says that in order to move up the pyramid to a higher level, all the needs at the lower levels must be satisfied and fulfilled.  Before anyone can begin to really deal with their safety needs, the physiological issues must be taken care of first.  And, before anyone can begin to take on self-actualization, his or her esteem needs must be met.

Want to find out why a group or an individual can’t seem to move along?  Just determine the first level of this hierarchy where there are holes.  Help them fill the holes, and the problems will begin to resolve.

So, what does Maslow’s hierarchy have to do with servant leadership and relationships?  Everything! 

In an earlier posting, I commented that servant leadership is not about the leader.  It is all about the leader assisting their team to meet their needs and goals, and especially, to assist in their advancement.  It’s through the relationships where a leader actually determines where in the hierarchy someone is, and what they need to do to assist the person in their growth to the higher levels.

There are many parts of the world where leaders are working with the lowest, most fundamental levels of Maslow’s hierarchy.  In most of the developed nations those needs are met, almost without consideration, so people are already up at a higher level, just because of where they live.  I think in most work places, people are stuck between the third and fourth layers, the levels that deal with "belonging" and "esteem".  Many of those issues were not worked out or developed within the individuals in their early years, so they are "stuck".  Without breakthrough in those areas, teams and individuals will not reach and maintain the top most level of self-actualization.

Leaders try to move people and teams along with inspiration and processes that are aimed at the most highest level, self-actualization, but many are not ready to take on that level of development.  People can act like they are "playing the game" but they will always slip back to the lowest level of the pyramid which is complete.  Consequently, the individuals appear to be not moving along with the team.  When, in fact, they are not really mentally or emotionally capable of moving up to the higher levels and staying there

Do you want to know how to make a team really take off and advance?  Help everyone on the team to move up to that highest level of self-actualization.  At this level, individuals follow their instinctual needs to make the most of their abilities and to strive to be the best they can. They work toward fulfilling their full potential, toward becoming all that they are capable of becoming.  As an added benefit, at this level, people also instinctively work to bring others up to that same level.

As a servant leader, spend some time helping people move up toward that self-actualization level, and you’ll see real magic and teamwork take place!

Want to learn more about Maslow and the hierarchy?  Here are two great web-based resources.  Both have some excellent explanations about each layer in the pyramid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/maslow.html

Next time we’ll explore some of the issues around trust in relationships as a servant leader.

I’d like to invite you to leave a comment below.  Please click through to "Ask Stan" and leave a question if you have something specific you would like to have addressed.

I always appreciate your comments and feedback.

E-Mail Stan Levanduski