Leader Interview: Servant Leadership

Leader Interview
Karen Gifford
Gonzaga University

Leader Interview
Introduction
“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first” (Greenleaf, 1977, p. 27). For the servant-leader, the needs of others will be the primary driver rather than meeting the needs of the individual themselves. In this paper, incorporating a leader interview, the student will highlight the interviewee’s responses to servant-leadership concepts and their impressions and experiences as a servant-leader.
Background
The interviewee that was chosen for this paper was Kathy Krueger, high school counselor for the student’s son at Seattle Preparatory School. Seattle Preparatory
In practicing service first, we will foster relationships of trust, helping people, and developing cooperation among others. Our most important resource will be our people, as a servant leader in training it builds a strong community in our workplace, which leads to happier staff and stronger relationships among team members. As a leader it is less about directing and leading but more about supporting, empowering, and growing others. In the course of this assignment and interviewing Ms. Kruger, it created a moment to pause and be humble by those around us that are the unsung heroes that touch our lives every day without the appreciation of the impact it has on us. People like Ms. Kruger provide a shelter of hope and knowing she continues to influence the lives of others has been an inspiration. “Servant leadership is about You and I becoming fully human individually and collectively; in the fullest sense this means that the fruits of serving is the enhancement of the collective WE” (Horsman, 2013, p. 21).
References
Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness (25th ed.). New York: Paulist Press.
Hesse, H. (1956). The journey to the East. (H. Ross Trans.) New York: Noonday
What has your work at Seattle Prep taught you about Servant Leadership?
As lay teachers and counselors we are companions in the ministry of the Jesuits. As there are fewer Jesuits in secondary education our new teachers participate in workshops at the province level to learn what it means to teach in a Jesuit school. Teachers learn the Ignatian pedagogy as a way of being a servant leader in the classroom. The process includes context, experience, reflection, action and evaluation.
10. How do you define power, and what do you consider its correct use?
In the Jesuit model power resides in indifference. Real power is when we have an openness to looking a variety of viewpoints and solutions. Real power revolves in the process of empowering other people, whether it is empowering our students or co-workers.
11. How does Seattle Prep as an organization and entity embrace servant leadership and use it within in their structure of decision making? We have a new administrative team so I can’t evaluate very well. There are four administrators at this time and it feels a little top down to me this year. It feels less collaborative than what I have experienced in the