Servant Leadership: A Calling to Serve Daniel W. Wheeler, Professor Ag, Leadership and Communication

Why Do We Need Servant Leaders? Commitment to serve – it’s more than about the leader Means are important as well as ends Ethical considerations are critical Way to a better, more caring society Follower’s needs are important

Origin of Servant Leadership 10 Characteristics identified by Greenleaf (1970): Listening Empathy Healing Awareness Persuasion Conceptualization Foresight Stewardship Growth Community Building

Further Refinements to Servant Leadership Greenleaf factors reduced to five factors (Barbuto and Wheeler 2005) Altruistic Calling Emotional Healing Persuasive Mapping Wisdom Organizational Stewardship

Altruistic Calling Deep rooted desire to make a positive difference in others’ lives Generosity of the spirit Put others’ interests ahead of their own Go beyond the call of duty to meet others’ needs Ultimate goal is to serve

Emotional Healing Skill in fostering spiritual recovery from hardship or trauma Highly empathetic and great listeners Adept at the healing process Create an environment in which is safe for employees to voice issues People that followers turn to in times of crisis

Wisdom Combination of awareness of surroundings and anticipation of consequences Pick up cues from the environment Observant and anticipatory across various functions and settings Ideal of the perfect and the practical

Persuasive Mapping Influencing others with sound reason and mental frameworks Ability to conceptualize greater possibilities Encourage others to dream great futures Very persuasive offering compelling reasons to get others to do things

Organizational Stewardship Preparing an organization to leave a positive legacy to society Ethic of taking responsibility for the well- being of the community Giving back and making things better than they were found Believe that the organization play a moral role in society

Uniqueness of Servant Leadership Sense of calling and desire to serve (not captured by trappings of leadership) Concern with followers dealing with broken dreams and transitions Commitment to and need to make contributions to the community as well as the organizationj

What has been your experience with Servant Leadership Who do you see who are Servant Leaders? Have you worked with a Servant Leader? What was it like? How do you see yourself in terms of Servant Leadership? What would help you be a Servant Leader?

How do we develop Servant Leaders? Aspects that can be taught: listening, empathy, persuasion, conceptualization ??? Aspects that are questionable to develop: calling, healing, and stewardship Areas of particular interest: wisdom and persuasive mapping

An Exercise about Altruistic Calling What is something you feel deeply about in terms of serving others? How did it develop? How do you experience it? What could make it even stronger? What happens if it is not reinforced?