[TEXT: Young African Leaders Initiative Online Training Series]
[TEXT: Mandela Washington Fellowship Institute Course]
[TEXT: Servant Leadership The Deciding Difference]
[Sandra Edmonds Crewe:] I’m Sandra Edmonds Crewe and this is Servant Leadership, The Deciding Difference.
In this lesson we will explore the five key styles of leadership:
Participative, Authoritarian, Laissez-faire, Transformational, and finally Servant.
Participative or “Democratic” leaders may make final decisions,
but include team members in the decision-making process.
Authoritarian leadership is when a designated head makes decisions without consulting team members.
Laissez-Faire leadership is when the head hands off routine tasks,
general time management and deadlines to team members.
This style is characterized by significant autonomy
and a “hands off” approach to management.
Transformational leaders are tasked with inspiring their teams rather than controlling them.
Goal setting and expectations are established by transformational leaders.
It is marked by a sense of authenticity, humility, and high emotional intelligence.
Servant leadership posits the leader in a wholly different role
and emphasizes that leadership is a group phenomenon.
There are no leaders without followers, and
leadership always involves interpersonal influence or persuasion.
Another critical distinction between servant leadership and
other management theories is the leader’s motivation.
Under servant leadership, a leader’s motivation derives from a core belief
that they are no better than those whom they lead.
Shifting practices suggest this is a better way to lead and manage organizations.
With NGOs, servant leadership fits well, as it values and embraces grass-roots input.
Robert Greenleaf, the author of the management literature surrounding the concept of servant leadership,
began his career with AT&T, one of the world’s largest communications corporations.
Greenleaf came from humble beginnings at the company, digging holes for telephone poles.
Yet he eventually rose up the ranks, becoming the director of management research at AT&T.
His job was to educate and train leaders and managers.
Through this work, Greenleaf concluded
that the most effective leaders were focused on serving others —
their colleagues, their customers, and their communities.
An effective servant-leader is conscious of whether those being served grow as persons,
are becoming healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous and more likely to become servants.
In this sense, servant leadership is therefore not about being servile or submissive.
It is about making a difference by identifying and meeting the needs of others.
Servant-leaders can address historical oppressive treatment of diverse people.
By rejecting elitism, it offers women, sexual minorities, and other marginalized groups a voice.
Here is a task I want you to begin before moving on to the next lesson.
Identify three or four leaders within your local community, your workplace,
your local or national government, or business.
I want you to include yourself.
Outline how yours and their leadership matches
with what we have examined so far of servant leadership.
How closely have you and the leaders you listed met the criteria for servant leadership?
We will return to this exercise later so keep track of your work.
Go to yali.state.gov for more information [TEXT: Test your knowledge YALI.STATE.GOV]
and resources related to this course. [TEXT: YALI Network]
[Produced by the U.S. Department of State]
[Select Photos © AP Images]