The 5 Qualities of a Servant Leader.
What is a servant leader.
A servant leader is defined as someone who works to develop his or her people and is focused on what they can do for others. Simply put they put people before themselves.
Servant leadership
One of the greatest servant leaders whoever walked this earth was Jesus Christ.
Jesus said “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20: 26-28
Throughout the gospels we see Jesus teaching, healing, performing miracles, spending time in prayer etc. Even to His Death, He became the ultimate sacrifice and paid for our sins so we can have eternal life. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
Is Everyone a Leader?
Everyone is leading someone.
Whether you are leading in your family, school, church, organization or community.
I personally believe that everyone has the potential to be a good leader through learning, developing and practicing leadership skills.
But a successful leader, however, must have a servant's heart.
Types of Leadership Styles.
There are four main types of leadership styles
Autocratic or Authoritarian leadership.
An autocratic leader makes all the decision without consulting his team. He believes that because of his authority he alone can decide what is best in a given situation.
Democratic or Participative leadership.
A democratic leader consults with his team and welcomes their participation to formulate any plans and policies. He encourages participation in decision-making.
The Laissez-faire or Free-rein leadership.
The laissez-faire type of leader plays only a minor role. He passes on the responsibilities and decision-making to his team. He allows the team to establish their own goals and work on problems.
Transformational leadership.
The transformational leader strengthens the morale and performance of the team through a variety of mechanisms. They are abe to lift themselves and team members to higher levels of achievement.
5 Qualities of a Servant Leader.
- Authentic
When persons see that you are genuinely interested in them they tend to trust and respect you.
Therefore when team members are asked to do a task they tend to go above and beyond what is required of them.
When we are true to ourselves we also true to others.
2. Compassionate
They is a saying people don’t care how much you know until they know how must you care.
Having knowledge is good but we must show love and respect to those we are leading. Where the leader can show compassion to a team member they should step in and do it.
3.Humility
Use the authority you have been given with grace. You must listen and learn from those you are leading and remain teachable. It shows you value their worth.
4.Discipline
Being discipline helps you have good stewardship with your time, talent, and money.
It helps the leader to set goals and objectives and achieve them.
The leader should also be disciplined with what they eat, they workout time and their spiritual disciplines. As this will affect how successful you would be in life.
5.Focus
The leader needs to stick to the task at hand despite whatever opposition they are facing.
As long as you are leading you will have opposition. You will feel weary and at times you will feel like giving up. That why it’s important to know your purpose and set your goals and objectives to help you stay focus.
Keep going until you achieve your goals.
A Real Leader is the Servant of all
“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”—John 13:13–17
Conclusion:
Ken Blanchard said "Servant leadership is easy for people with high self-esteem. Such people have no problem giving credit to others. They have no problem listening to other people for ideas. They have no problem in building other people up. "
A servant leader must use the authority they have been given with grace and humility.
Most of all they must serve others with love.
