Great Leaders Serve with Vision and Implementation

Today there seems to be general agreement that leaders have two basic roles in business: vision and implementation.

In the visionary role, leaders are the definers of direction. They must communicate the mission, values and beliefs the organization aspires to for its people and communicate what the organization stands for and how organizational values encompass the individual values of its members.

Once people are clear on where they are going, and effective leader’s role switches to the task of implementation. How do you make the dream happen? This is where servant leadership comes into play. The traditional way of managing people is to direct, control and supervise their activities and to play the role of judge, critic and evaluator of their efforts. In a traditional organization managers are thought of as responsible and their people are taught to be responsive to their boss.

Today when people see you as a ;judge and critic, they spend most of their time trying to please you rather than accomplishing the organization’s goals and moving in the direction of the desired vision. “Boss watching” becomes a popular sport and people get promoted on their upward influencing skills. That role doesn’t do much for accomplishing a clear vision.

The servant leader feels that once the direction is clear, his or her role is to help people achieve their goals. The servant leader seeks to help people win through teaching and coaching individuals so that they can do their best. You need to listen to your people, praise the, support them and redirect they when they deviate from their goals.

The servant leader tries to find out what his or her people need to be successful. He or she is interested in making a difference in the lives of their people and, in the process, impacting the organization. The servant leader must do anything necessary to help his or her people win and accomplish their goals. If for any reason a leader’s efforts don’t make a difference (for example, if the person is in a position that doesn’t match his skills), they, in a kind, humane way, try to redirect the person’s efforts where his talents may be better used.

Managers who view themselves as the center of the universe and think everything needs to rotate around them are really covering up not OK feelings about themselves. When you don’t feel good about yourself, you have two choices. You can either hide and hope nobody notices you or you can overcompensate and go out and try to control your environment.

Servant leadership is easy for people with high self-esteem. Such people have no problem giving credit to others. They have no problem listening to other people for ideas. They have no problem in building other people up. They don’t think that building other people up is going to be threatening in any way. People with high self-esteem can buy into the old Eastern philosophy that says a leader is effective whose people say they have done the job themselves.

To me, servant leadership is a good way to describe the coaching role that managers are expected to play today to help their people win. Judging and evaluating people erodes their self-esteem; servant leadership builds self-esteem and encourages individual growth while obtaining the organization’s objectives.

Servant leadership is something that people need. We need to support and help individuals in the organization to win. The days of the manager being judge, jury and critic rather than cheerleader, facilitator and listener are over. The concept of servant leadership is a wonderful way of symbolizing what the manager of today–and of the future–is going to have to be in order to be successful.