I was invited by my pastor to participate in a Bible.com Study last week on Servant Leadership called “Kingdom Leadership in Your Workplace,” and I LOVED seeing this perspective. Whatever your particular faith or beliefs, I believe we can all agree if we are focusing on being better leaders, and in my case, being a servant leader, the quote below will resonate.
In the study, this quote stood out to me:
“Servant leaders value the development of people around them; they build their communities, act authentically, and share power.” [Oxford comma added by me because that’s the right thing to do.]
When we think about our behavior in our organizations, are we showing up in this way?
Value the development of people around you: Are you focusing your resources and efforts for professional development on yourself, or are you sharing with your team? Do you support professional growth and development, or are you secretly intimidated by the growth of one or more of your team members? Examine yourself and share the wealth.
Build your community: Are you building your team? How are you supporting your organization? Do you give back? Are you a member of your state or local chapter? Twitter chats? LinkedIn posts? There are tons of volunteer leadership positions available through online, local, state, and national professional association chapters – SHRM and otherwise. I’m in HR, so I became a volunteer leader on the board of my local SHRM chapter, GCHRA. I’m also now a co-moderator of #JobHuntChat where I help facilitate the conversation between those “in search” and those helping those “in search.”
Act authentically: Are you being your true authentic self? If not, what is holding you back? Is it safe to be authentic in your workplace? Do you make it safe for others? If not, what is holding you back? Are you behaving as the leader you always wanted? What can you do tomorrow that will bring you closer to bringing your authentic self to situations?
Share power: We are entrusted with our teams for a reason. It is our esteemed privilege to serve our teams and our people. We do them a great disservice by not empowering them to one day lead their own teams. Empower your people. Share information. Communicate often. Do not be an information miser. Foster a culture of accountability within your team to empower them.
Are you a servant leader?
Commentaires