Applying Servant Leadership in Practice
Servant leadership theory was first articulated by Robert Greenleaf who stated that the leader’s primary mission is to serve _____ natural feeling that one wants to serve first Dennis, Kinzler-Norheim, & Bocarnea (2010). When Servant-leadership is needed in practice to build and improve on organizations performance through creating a caring and motivating the employees.
Fundamental Principles of Servant Leadership.
Servant leadership principles were developed by Robert Greenleaf and they include: 1. Listening; is an important skill in leadership for effective communication. 2. Empathizing with others is accepting them with their competencies (Strengths and weaknesses). 3. Healing: servant leader should heal self and others. “There is something subtle communicated to one who is being served and led if, implicit in the compact between the servant-leader and led is the understanding that the search for wholeness is something that they have.” Greenleaf, R. (2014). Awareness; is the physiological mindset influences ability to develop relations when leading. 5. Persuasion; Servant-leaders put aside their authority powers that need entails coercion but instead convince others. 6. Conceptualization involves thinking outside the box daily. 7. Foresight; learning lessons from the past and ability to predict problems/success. 8. Stewardship; According to Greenleaf (2014) leaders play significant roles in holding their institutions in trust for the greater good of society 9. Commitment to the Growth of People; especially the employees by both internal and external. 10. Building the Community through empowering the employees in the organization. –
Qualities of servant leadership that support inter-professional communication in providing patient care:
Qualities of a leader include 1. Communication skills; A Servant-leader ensures flow communication with team members through active listening especially matters concerning patient care. Communication aids in continuity of care. Listening also gives time to internalize information, get more ideas. 2. Emotional Intelligence; is the ability to control ones emotions and the emotions of others Beauvais (2018).Creating self-awareness enables control of self-emotions and create a trustworthy and caring relational with other professionals in providing care.
Conclusion
Leaders influences employees in all aspects concerning the organization. Poor leadership causes defense against poor performance by the employees hence servant-leaders should serve with focus on the employees and organization.
References
Beauvais, A. M. (Ed.). (2018). Leadership and Management Competence in Nursing Practice: Competencies, Skills, Decision-Making. Springer Publishing Company.
Dennis, R. S., Kinzler-Norheim, L., & Bocarnea, M. (2010). Servant leadership theory. In Servant leadership (pp. 169-179). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Greenleaf, R. (2014). Ten principles of servant leadership. Retrieved from. https://pmiheartland.org/
