Leadership at its very foundation is about influence. Your leadership increases as you inspire people to take action toward achieving a common goal. Some leaders do this with power, position, and rules. Other leaders use their charisma, passion, and enthusiasm. Still, other leaders do this by getting there the earliest, working the hardest, and staying the latest.
The actions of a leader may vary, but all successful leaders have one thing in common – their actions are driven by their desire to serve the people they lead. There are three ways you can develop your servant leadership:
1. Develop authentic relationships with the people on your team. You cannot serve someone without truly knowing their needs, dreams, passions, and skills. Developing your servant leadership begins with really getting to know the people on your team.
2. Focus on making the people on your team better with support and training. People are your greatest asset as a leader – you can’t accomplish goals without them! Invest time, training, and encouragement to your team and you’ll see exponential growth in the impact of your team.
3. Do the hard things that only you, as the leader, can do. Have that challenging conversation with that team member. Make the tough decision that no one else can or wants to make. Apologize first when mistakes are made. By doing the hard things, you are serving your team by removing the obstacles to their success.
Look at these three recommendations – at any level of leadership, you can put them into action. If you’ve spent any time in a classroom, you’ll see that teachers do all three with their students. As your leadership roles grow and you begin to lead more people and make more decisions, continue doing these three things to serve your team and lead them to achieve and accomplish great things!
