I attended the symposium “Servant
Leadership” online on February 5th, 2022. Dr. Gauna gave us a speech about his
life story “From Cleaner to Leader”. He shared his unique journey from a school custodian to the
Superintendent. He addressed how principles of servant leadership have helped
him become who he is today, and how they can help us.The concept of “servant leadership” challenged my
understanding of the leadership. I learned the benefit of the servant
leadership and how to become a servant leader.
What does "servant leadership" mean?
The phrase “servant leadership” came
from Robert K. Greenleaf (1978)’s essay “The servant-leader is servant first…
It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.”
Dr. Gauna shared his inspirational life story of how he became a superintendent
from a campus monitor and custodian. He emphasized the importance of being humble
as a leader. He quoted from John Maxwell: “Leaders become great not because of
their power but because of their ability to empower others.” However, in my
culture, leaders have the authority to lead the followers. It is an eye-opening
experience for me to think and act in a totally different way. Servant leaders are a revolutionary
bunch—they take the traditional power leadership model and turn it completely
upside down (Tarallo, 2018). This made me reflect on how the principal empowers
me to serve the WASC group in my school instead of commanding me to do things.
When looking back at my community of practice, I learned to co-facilitate the
group instead of telling my teammates what to do. This is a great practice to
be an effective future administrator. From my experience, I agree with Dr.
Gauna’s argument “to be a servant leader” by listening to the needs from staff,
students, parents, and stakeholders.
What are the two types of leaders?
Greenleaf (1978) described two types of
leaders: servant first and leader-first. A person who is leader first chases
the personal power and gains. Meanwhile, the servant first leader puts other
people’s success first. Dr. Gauna provided several Biblical references of
servant leader, for instance, John 13, verse 1 states: Jesus’s basic motivation
was His love for his followers. John 13, verse 5 to 12: Jesus voluntarily
becomes a servant to His followers. I agree with Dr. Gauna that Jesus is our
role model of putting others before oneself and committing to help others be
successful. This guided me to ponder what I should do to become a servant
leader.
How should I become a servant leader?
Firstly, I need to learn active
listening skills. Dr. Gauna mentioned the servant leader must be deeply
committed to listening to others and listening to one’s inner voice. Reflecting
on what is heard is critical. In order to serve the staff, students, and
parents, I need to know their needs by listening to their verbal or non-verbal
cues to identify the areas that they need support. I will pay full attention to
what they express, understand what they say, ask questions, reflect on their
speaking, and respond to them. l. I believe when I am an attentive listener, it
shows my respect to the speaker. It may help to create a mutually respectful
environment. I anticipate the active listening skill can bring a positive
impact to my leadership.
Secondly, I should develop empathy as a
future administrator. Dr. Gauna stated the servant leader strives to understand
other people and empathize with others. I have been thinking an empathetic
leader gives people a weak impression. However, Dr. Gauna argued that the
ability to empathize is a powerful skill with the example of Mother Teresa who
cared for and helped a lot of poor people. She showed great empathy to socially
disadvantaged groups, founded Missionaries of Charity in India, and dedicated
her life to improving others’ lives. She showed me how gentle empathy can
powerfully help others. How should I be an empathic leader? For example, how to
react to the staff who are absent to the staff
meeting. Instead of warning them with the contract regulations, I would
ask how I can help them sincerely and email them the agenda and summary of the
meeting. I think this can foster a caring and comfortable working environment.
Thirdly, Dr. Gauna mentioned the servant
leadership skill of healing “healing oneself and relationships that need work
and creating an environment where healing can occur for those they come in
contact with.” Khan (2017) states that
"healing is the quality of being able to resolve issues and conflict.
Servant leadership requires you to have healing qualities. This must first be
applied to yourself before it can be applied to your followers.” We need such leaders not only because we are
in a global pandemic, but also because we continue to face crises that have
harmed our academic institutions and people we serve (Caño, 2021). Now I
realized the essence of healing in building servant leadership is to help
others to solve problems and help them to be better. In addition, I also need
to learn more is about how to develop other people as a future administrator. I
need to spend time getting to know each staff member, student, parent, and allocate time and resources to help them
grow. Gomez (2021) suggests tools like organizational training, development programs, and growth and
transformation coaching can help.
Conclusion:
Even though the concept of servant
leadership challenges my traditional understanding of being a leader, I learned
some benefits of it: since the servant leader cares about the group, each
individual is motivated to contribute the best to the team in a caring
environment. The servant leader’s collaborative decision-making encourages
teammates’ engagement. The group is more productive when each team member’s
perspective is valued. I am willing to learn how to be committed to serving
others with humility, sincere concern, a generous, forgiving, and giving heart.
I am willing to relate to others and sacrifice personally for the well-being of others, and I
am willing to constantly work on their beliefs, thoughts, and servant
leadership skills. I will
keep Dr. Gauna’s saying “There is nothing more powerful than a humble person
with a warrior spirit who is driven by a bigger purpose.” continue to inspire
me in the journey of becoming a servant leader.
Resources
Caño, A. (2021). Today's Academic
Leaders Must Be Healers. Inside Higher Ed.
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/08/12/how-be-healing-leader-during-these-difficult-times-opinion
Gomez, A.l. (2021). What are the pros
and cons of servant leadership?
https://www.betterup.com/blog/servant-leadership-what-makes-it-different
Greenleaf, R.K. (1970). The Servant as
Leader. Westfield, IN: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
Khan, A. (2017). The Ten Tenets of a
Servant Leader.
https://www.360pmo.com/ten-characteristic-servant-leader/
Tarallo, M. (2018). The Art of Servant
Leadership.
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