By Shayla Teague, RISQ Consulting Individual and Family Benefits Consultant
While speaking with my mom the other day, I mentioned my servant leader at work. Shocked, she said “They call you a servant at your work?” I then realized that it is not a common term and figured I had better explain it.
Servant leadership is not a new concept, but it is becoming more popular. The first mention of the term itself, “servant leadership,” was in a 1970’s essay by Robert K. Greenleaf. He was born in 1904 during the peak of the Industrial Revolution and following the footsteps of his father, served as a community steward.
After a 38 year career with AT&T as the Director of Management Development Greenleaf began his career as a writer, consultant, and teacher. He saw the trend that the organizations that boomed had leaders that acted as support coaches and served the needs of their employees. In Greenleaf’s words, “The organization exists for the person as much as the person exists for the organization.”
There are 10 key principles of servant leadership and they are outlined in the website below. You can even take a self-assessment to discover where you are as a servant leader.
https://jonathansandling.com/ten-principles-servant-leadership/
