Key Strengths Of A Servant Leader

I believe my leadership style compares favorably with servant leadership, in which leaders subordinate their own self-interest to prioritize their staff’s needs and goals as well as the mission of the organization (Daft, 2014). One of my strengths is in empowering my team as business owners for their assigned areas of responsibility. As business owners, they’re responsible for proposing solutions, soliciting approval from all appropriate stakeholders, obtaining necessary funding and resources, and overseeing implementation and operationalization of these solutions. I participate by guiding them through the process, providing recommendations, challenging their assumptions and proposals, and removing any obstacles to their success. Any credit for a job well done goes to the staff member who was assigned the work, regardless of how much involvement I may have had. Conversely, I take responsibility for any mistakes that may occur since they’re working under my supervision. This practice aligns with Boone and Makhani’s (2012) statement
Trompenaars and Voerman (2009) asserted that “the most important job for a servant leader is to meet the needs of the people” and “in order to make these needs clear, you have to be able to listen well” (p. 39). Likewise, in a study by Foct and Ponton (2015), all of the participants agreed that listening is a key trait of servant leadership (p. 52). Listening allows my team to have an active role in defining how they should accomplish their work and allows me to better understand how they perceive the challenges the company is facing. It also allows me to fully utilize the collective knowledge and skills of the team to develop more robust strategies that help protect the company from security threats. Most importantly, however, listening gives me insight into the motivation and morale of the team and allows me to quickly address any issues that may hinder their