Servant leader assessment: Warrick Dunn
Warrick Dunn is a pro-NFL player who has won many awards with a lot of reputation to his name. He was raised by a single mother who worked as a police officer and a security guard to raise enough money to take care of her family. She was killed in an attempted robbery that left Warrick Dunn to take care of his younger siblings. However, the death of his mother did not deter him from becoming the best that he could be. He worked his way up to honor the dream of his mother – the American dream of home-ownership. He went way ahead to start Homes for the Holidays, a charity that has benefited many children and families (Warrick Dunn Charities, 2016). The success of Warrick Dunn Charities is attributed to Greenleaf’s principles of servant leadership that the philanthropist employs to motivate, influence, and lead others.
Servant leadership is not just a management style, but a way of life that focuses on the desire to serve first (Parris & Peachey, 2013). According to Robert Greenleaf, the developer of modern servant leadership, “the servant-leader is a servant first… it begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first” (Greenleaf Center, 2016, par. 1). Some of the relevant principles of servant-leadership include the trust to employees where the staff is allowed to influence change, accountability to the mission of the organization, and that the leader should regard the needs of the servants above his/her desires (McCann, Graves & Cox, 2014). However, the leader should demonstrate essential leadership attributes and inclination to influence the followers to adopt virtuous attitudes through love, compassion, humility, self-service, trustworthiness, and fairness (Sipe & Frick, 2015).
The mission for Warrick Dunn Charities aims to provide hope and healing to communities through innovative programming inspired by the Dunn’s life journey. Warrick Dunn inspires his organization to emulate his behavior by regarding the needs of others above their desires. For instance, Warrick Dunn Charities through the Hearts for community service scholarship awards “help those that help others” (Warrick Dunn Charities, 2016). The program targets students that have dedicated their lives to serve their community. According to Liden, Wayne, Liao, and Meuser (2013), a serving culture an organization improves job performance, enhances individual morale, increases creativity and customer service behavior. Thus, Warren Dunn Charities has been able to combat hunger and poverty and improve the quality of life of thousands of families through it elaborate culture.
All in all, servant-leadership cuts across many organizations and is also essential in nursing practice. Going forward, I would like to employ the principles of servant-leadership in my practice to enhance the quality of health care and to improve patient outcome through dedication and the commitment to serve first. I desire to exhibit the virtuous attitude of unconditional compassion and benevolence which will enable me to focus on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which I belong (Sipe & Frick, 2015). These attributes are essential pillars of servant-leadership in the healthcare profession that enhance leadership behaviors and influence patient satisfaction (McCann, Graves & Cox, 2014).
References
Greenleaf Centre, (2016). What is servant leadership? Retrieved form, https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/
Liden, R., Wayne, S., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. (2013). Servant Leadership and Serving Culture: Influence on Individual and Unit Performance. Academy Of Management Journal, 57(5), 1434-1452. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.0034
McCann, J., Graves, D., & Cox, L. (2014). Servant Leadership, Employee Satisfaction, and Organizational Performance in Rural Community Hospitals. International Journal Of Business And Management, 9(10). http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v9n10p28
Parris, D. L., & Peachey, J. (2013). A systematic literature review of servant leadership theory in organizational contexts. Journal of Business Ethics, 113(3), 377–393. http://doi.dx.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1322-6
Sipe, J. W., & Frick, D. M. (2015). Seven pillars of servant leadership: Practicing the wisdom of leading by serving.
The Warrick Dunn Charities, (2017). Retrieved from, https://wdc.org/about-us/
