Servant Leader
I am in the middle of discussions with a group of managers about servant leadership. One of these managers has had a hard time gaining control of the group that he manages. He has tried a lot of things but the one thing he has never attempted in the 2+ years he has been in place is the go after the heart of the people in his office. Going after the heart...a foreign concept to him.

He sat in my office on Friday and was completely defeated. He has tried everything he can think of but nothing is working. He said he wanted to hear what I thought servant leadership meant (because I had mentioned that to him) and then he would tell me what he thought it meant. I said, "Go ahead and tell me what you think it means". He said, "When I hear servant leader, I think you are telling me that I will have 13 bosses and it will be my job to please them all even when their interests are very different."

I told him that servant leadership to me meant that he comes to work every single day looking for ways to help the people that work for him be the very best they can be. It means he leads with "what is it you need me to do to help make you better?" It means that he sits and listens to his people. Rather than chit chatting about golf, the weather or what you did this weekend, he turns the conversation on his people and gets them to open up. "What are you worried about, what are you excited about, what is it I can do to clear the path for you on an issue, where do you want to be in 3-5-7 years, what are your dreams, what do you aspire to become?"

If a manager asked these kind of questions and really listened, he would take the first step toward the heart of the people entrusted to him. As for 13 bosses - in a way, he is correct. The boss is only as good as the people working for him. If the people feel like the man has no interest in their heart, there is a permanent divide in the relationship. Then, when things get tough, the people won't go to bat for the manager. "He doesn't truly care about me, I'm not sticking my neck to help him." Yet, the servant leader who truly "gets" this and truly moves toward his people's heart will begin to develop a core trust between him and his people. Once a leader adopts this model and proves his intentions are selfless - the trust is built and his people would walk through plate glass for him.

Servant leader means dying to self in some ways and using the power bestowed to you to leverage for the benefit of others. I asked this man, "Imagine your boss. What if he adopted this behavior? What if he said, "you know what, i'm starting all over and I am going to come to work every day trying to make the 20 managers that report to me into the very best managers in the business. If I can make just one of them so very good that he takes my job, then I will have succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. My job is to work with them, fight with them, train them, expose them to other great managers, share each others' successes, learn from each other's failings and let them know above all else, I deeply care about them as a human being."

"What if the divisional manager treated you that way? How different would you feel about your job next week if he shared this with you on Monday morning? You don't seem like you have much passion for what you do now - what if your boss had a passion for helping you become a truly excellent manager? How would that change the way you feel about your job?"

He looked at me and said, "I get it - I get what you are saying."

Rather than coming to work every day trying to keep my boss happy and his boss happy - what if I instead turned all my focus to making the people that work for me happy? Instead of looking up the chain of command, what if I turned my attention and starting looking down the chain of command?

That, to me, is servant leadership. Being willing to give every single ounce of energy I have to make someone else better - especially all those entrusted to us. Not making me better, not getting my next promotion but helping making someone else better. That is a servant and our Lord Jesus set the mark for us. Praise Him!

Soar!