Servant Leadership and Empowerment

A good place to continue or begin the development of servant leadership practice in self, organization or community is to look at the matter of empowerment. Empowerment is understood to be the act of giving somebody power or authority and, or giving somebody a greater sense of confidence or self-esteem (Encarta Online Dictionary).

Hanney (2009) stated that “Servant Leaders respect the capabilities of their followers and enable them to exercise abilities, share power and do their best” (p.63).

Russell (2001) affirmed that one of the core values of servant leadership is the importance of each individual in the organization and thus servant leaders are able to help followers achieve a high level of accomplishment.

Stalke (2006) declared empowerment is the fruit of applying the value of servant leadership in our organizations.

Paradoxically the servant leader actually increases his power within an organization as the followers know their best interests are in the mind of the leader. Hanney stated, “Thus the leader gains power by increasing his or her servant qualities such as empowerment and service rather than the traditional view that power sharing will diminish his or her ability to influence others” (p. 63). The Relationship Model™ of governance, leadership and management builds its foundation on affirmation, involvement and servant leadership noting SL lifts us up by our source of authority rather than being oppressed by rules or fear (Stalke, 2006).

The servant leader lays down his legitimate power and in the process gains what French and Raven (1959) call referent power, the ability to appeal to follower’s feelings and emotions of personal acceptance and personal approval. French and Raven believed that referent power was superior over the other kinds of power in their taxonomy that also included, (a) coercive power, (b) reward power, (c) legitimate power, and (d) expert power. Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee (2002) supported the theory that personal relationship was the foundation of effective leadership. Servant Leadership is the best leadership theory for building strong personal leadership.

I enjoy following leaders in organizations when I know they are interested in my needs and more importantly willing to make sacrifices for the good of the organization. Once while visiting a holistic ministry in Brazil my two leaders felt the need to stay in the Hilton, the best hotel in Sao Paolo while I slept on the pastor’s floor. I was able to get a good night’s sleep and kept my credibility with the pastor who was making tremendous sacrifices to serve the down and outers. My leaders were oblivious to the credibility they had lost by putting themselves above others.

Terresa’s experience in cross-cultural leadership saw the potential of empowerment in its absence - ’I was a leader in a north∕south partnership in West Africa. Partnership in this instance meant leaders from Canada and Ghana worked together to engage and mobilize civil society around education reform. In this cross-cultural context, Ghanaian leaders uncertain of how the campaign would turn out and with a history of working with foreign leaders handed their leadership rien back to the Canadians. The Canadian leaders focused on mission outcome picked up the leadership reins and charged forward. A perfect opportunity to empower others was missed to the detriment of all involved, particularly the intended beneficiaries: Ghanaians’.

The servant leader finds that by giving up power of position he gains power of relationship and thus becomes more effective. That is a strong motive for enacting SL in one’s life and organization. As servant leadership is enacted, change will also come to cultures, one servant leader at a time.

Who are you empowering? Whose empowering you?

Our next post moves us to a new topic: Leaders and Culture. Follow us.

By Tim McIntosh with contribution from Terresa Augustine LinkedIn

References:
French, J., & Raven, B. H. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies of social power (pp. 150-167). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research. Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Hanney, M. (2009). The cross-cultural leader: The application of servant leadership in the international context. Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies. 1, 59-69. Russell, R.F. (2001). The role of values in servant leadership. Leadership & Organizational Development Journal 22(20), 76-83. Stalke. L., Kelm, P. Loughlin, J. (2006). Not-for-profit governance matters. Canada: GovernanceMatters.com.