Have you ever wondered what the most effective leadership style is?
In many styles of leadership, it’s all about accumulating and exercising power. Leaders often feel like they have to step over others to promote themselves and move up the ladder. But there’s one style of leadership that’s quite different from the rest: servant leadership.
Servant leadership is different because it’s about serving those you lead. You gain influence by putting others first and by helping them to develop and perform to their highest potential.
But…is it effective?
Well, according to a study by John Schaubroeck, Simon S. K Lam and Ann Chunyan Peng, it is. When servant leaders put their team members first, they build trust. Team members start to believe that the leader genuinely cares and is concerned about their welfare, so the team becomes a safe place for individual risk taking. This improves each team members’ engagement at work because it means that they believe they can participate openly and actively without fear of being humiliated or criticized for their ideas and observations.
Under a servant leader, team members are also more willing to challenge the status quo (which leads to better decision making). And they’re motivated to perform well as a way of reciprocating fair treatment by the leader.
In other words…they become more productive.
The study mentioned that a leader’s skills in communicating a compelling vision, initiating change, developing clear structure and encouraging high performance are also important. Yet a servant leadership style actually had twice the effect on team performance in comparison.
So if servant leadership is so effective, why don’t we see more of it around?
Well, some assume servant leadership is just for pushover, people-pleasing leaders. But the truth is servant leaders aren’t weak. It actually takes more guts and strength to hold your team accountable to a high standard at the same time as you encourage, coach and build relationships with them to help them perform to their best ability.
Others assume that servant leadership is just too much work. While it does take effort, so does any type of leadership. Actually, I would argue that it’s more exhausting to have to constantly reassert your leadership position. It’s true that servant leadership has to be earned because trust is earned, but the results are worth the effort. After all, if your team can’t trust you, they won’t deliver the type of performance that will grow your business.
When you think about it, servant leadership is not something you do; it’s something you become. Continually readjust your focus and don’t get too caught up in your title or position. Instead, look for the small changes you can make each day to help build trust as you coach your team to reach their highest potential.