Servant Leadership

This topic has been turning over in my mind for several days.   Last week I was invited into a group for Servant Leadership. I’m not sure yet if they accepted me.  Nor am I clear on the qualifications.  I’m tempted to believe, as Groucho Marx once said, that “I wouldn’t want to join any club that would have someone like me as a member.”   Nevertheless, I do style myself as a servant leader, believing that the only one truly suited to lead is one who does it for the good of those he or she is leading.

Holy Thursday this past week, and as it has been every other time Christians commemorate the Last Supper of our Lord, the story is told of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.  The Gospel of St. John alone tells this story, although certainly others have references to servant leadership as a concept Jesus taught.  With so many things to emphasize in the remembrance of that night,   it is the washing of the feet and the re-dedication of the leadership of the church that is the message to be taken home.

It’s an awkward thing to either have your feet washed, or to wash the feet of another, as this particular church asked those in attendance.  It’s not something common to the 21^st century, really, to touch a stranger in any way.  In this part of the world, this time of year we all have shoes and socks, and most bathe every day.  I have traveled where sandals are more common, to places where it’s either mud season or dust season, and I can imagine those times when a basin of water and a jug at the door would have seemed like a good idea.  But it’s far removed from contemporary, day to day experience in America.

But as a leader, I understand the duty to serve.   Every day people are challenging my team, with work they need to do, work they wish our team would not do, with questions, with policies, with different interpretations.   And there will be the escalation to me – the manager – needing to tell someone to do something, or not do something, that they need to spend some time away from their family, or that their pay raise will be delayed.  It’s my job to do all that.   It’s my job to serve my company, its management and stockholders, to make sure my people do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.

It’s my duty to serve my people as well – to speak up when what’s being asked of them is not reasonable, to manage my budget the best I can to insure that not only do we take care of today but don’t get ourselves in a mess for tomorrow.  I need to make sure they have the time they need in this crazy world to have some semblance of a relationship with their spouses and their families.  I need to insure they take time not only to do what needs to get done today, but are aware of their needs and have their opportunities to prepare themselves for what tomorrow demands.  I need to represent back to all those others I serve the thousand things my people do that they do not see, yet rely on every day to accomplish their own tasks.  When they fail I have to take my share of the responsibility, and make sure we all do our best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

I have had managers and leaders who understood this – who did it instinctively.  People would crawl over broken glass for these leaders.    We would soar, and go far out of our comfort zone if we knew our leader had our back.   The very same team, however, for another leader, was very capable of covering its backside and doing only what it knew to be safe .   People know if you are serving them, even if what you ask is difficult.   People also know when you are using them only to cover for your own deficiencies.    In those lonely moments, when there is no easy way, the servant leader somehow finds a way to get the job done, if it can be without destroying the people doing it, or finds a way to change the job so that it is doable.  And if his team is going to take the consequences, the servant leader receives them at the same time, as the people reap the rewards when they deserve them, whether or not the leader receives any credit.

Servant leadership is an uncomfortable place, even if you are comfortable acting as that leader.  Your reward must often come from within, as you will be perceived as not aggressive enough, not willing to “stretch”.   Rewards of the soul and spirit are seldom short term rewards – though they can be very good for your business.  Integrity and courage are words that are in vogue for businesses to seek, even if they are unprepared to deal with the actual examples.  Servant leaders, however, can look themselves in the mirror, and over the course of a career know they did the right thing.  Your people and your leaders are watching. So is whatever faith and spirit you serve.

Act accordingly.

*Today's picture is the author standing before The Gates of Hell at the Musee Rhodin in Paris. Credit to Mme. Lezarde for her superb camera work.