Servant Leader Roles
Cathie Leimbach • August 6, 2024
Leaders who serve their organization and its people are breaking away from the mold of the autocratic and controlling boss. They are engaging and empowering others to build trust and enhance both satisfaction and productivity in the workplace.
Let's look at five roles of these servant leaders:
- Visionaries: Servant leaders articulate a clear vision that inspires and aligns the team. By sharing the organization's mission and goals, they provide direction and purpose, motivating employees to work towards a common objective.
- Business Architects: They design and structure the organization to ensure that processes, resources, and systems support the team's efforts. This involves strategic planning and creating an environment where innovation and efficiency thrive.
- Catalysts: Servant leaders act as catalysts for change by encouraging new ideas and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. They empower employees to take initiative and drive positive transformation within the organization.
- Coaches: They invest time in mentoring and developing their team members. By providing guidance, feedback, and opportunities for growth, they help individuals enhance their skills and advance their careers.
- Humans: Above all, servant leaders demonstrate empathy and genuine concern for their employees' well-being. They build strong relationships, showing that they value and care about each person's contributions and overall happiness.
Through these five roles, servant leaders create a thriving, dynamic, and supportive workplace where both organizations and individuals flourish.
A growth mindset means believing you can get smarter and develop new skills through hard work and practice. People with a growth mindset see challenges as opportunities to grow. On the other hand, a fixed mindset means thinking your talents and abilities cannot change much, no matter how hard you try. People with a growth mindset are more likely to exercise self-discipline to learn new behaviors. This helps us adapt to new opportunities. When we push ourselves to try different approaches, we open doors that would otherwise remain closed. This takes courage and commitment, especially at first when new ways of doing things feel uncomfortable or difficult. Our brains have amazing potential to change throughout our lives. When we repeatedly practice new skills or ways of thinking, our brain creates new pathways that make these actions easier over time. What once felt impossible can gradually become second nature. The hard part is sticking with new behaviors long enough for them to become normal. This is where self-discipline comes in . By consistently practicing different approaches, what once required enormous effort eventually feels natural. This ability to adapt keeps us growing, helps us keep up with our changing world, and unlocks possibilities we might never have imagined.
In today's busy workplace, asking good questions can make you better at your job. Open-ended questions—ones that need more than just "yes" or "no" answers—help you learn more and have better conversations with others. Research shows these questions really work. Gallup found that managers who use open-ended questions have 27% less employee turnover and 18% better productivity. These questions make team members feel safe to share their ideas. Harvard Business Review says that when bosses ask at least four open-ended questions in meetings, teams come up with 42% more creative solutions. By asking instead of telling, leaders get more ideas from everyone. McKinsey discovered that managers who are good at asking open-ended questions find 34% more opportunities for process improvement. These questions help spot problems and challenge old ways of thinking. These benefits go beyond just team conversations. The Journal of Applied Psychology found that salespeople who use open-ended questions with customers make 23% more sales. By better understanding what customers need, they can offer better solutions. Learning to ask open-ended questions isn't just about talking better—it's a skill that helps you succeed in all parts of work. Click here for more information.