Servant Leadership 1
Servant Leadership Assignment
Kelsey Nesnick
Liberty University
CJUS-610
Servant Leadership 2
Abstract
For a company to succeed, one of the most crucial components is leadership. A leader whose
style of leadership yields outcomes is crucial for a company to succeed. Different leadership
philosophies have been used in different businesses. For the benefit of the business, most
leadership philosophies encourage their followers to perform at a greater level. Servant
leadership, on the other hand, places greater emphasis on the welfare of the workforce, whereas
other leadership approaches prioritize the objectives of the company. Servant leadership
emphasizes interpersonal acceptance, humility, and genuineness, which is the main distinction
between it and the great majority of other leadership approaches. In addition to implementing a
servant leadership development plan for a police organization that ends with a Christian
worldview, this study will look at the key characteristics of leadership and servant leadership.
Servant Leadership 3
Introduction
The notion of leadership has changed over time due to altering needs and circumstances.
Moreover, there are numerous types of leadership that can be used in various workplaces. The
definition of leadership according to Ortmeier & Meese (2010, p. 41) is as follows: "a trait, the
focus of group process, the art of inducing compliance, an exercise of influence, a kind of
behavior or act, a form of persuasion, a power relationship, an instrument for goal attainment, an
effective interaction, a differential role, and an origin of structure." The rapid changes in the
global economic landscape of the twenty-first century have made the globe more complex. This
new development calls for new dynamics and the ability of leaders to handle structural issues.
Since creativity is linked to organizational growth, effectiveness, innovation, and even survival,
it is imperative that leaders in organizations possess this capacity (Williams, Randolph-Seng,
Hayek, Haden, & Atinc, 2017). Creativity is also regarded as the most significant economic
resource of the twenty-first century. Increased cognitive flexibility, curiosity, and presence are
all benefits of intrinsic motivation, which is a crucial precursor to creativity. By providing tools
and fostering an environment that supports job autonomy, risk-taking, and goal setting, leaders in
businesses can rekindle intrinsic motivation and creativity (Williams et al., 2017). Serving others
comes first and is the leadership approach that eventually produces these results.
According to Franco (2020), servant leadership is characterized by an emphasis on
"service" and prioritizing the requirements of employees. This kind of leadership has the power
to influence workers by providing for their needs and assisting them in developing a sense of
service and behavior. Employees can learn the qualities of service and develop into more
service-oriented individuals by watching servant leaders as role models and receiving proper
training. When servant leaders help others, they do so with a genuine altruism that prioritizes the
Servant Leadership 4
needs of others before their own and even the organization (Franco, 2020). While most
leadership styles are more concerned with the performance and organizational goals, servant
leadership places a greater emphasis on the welfare of the workforce. Servant leadership
emphasizes humility, genuineness, and acceptance of others, which sets it apart from most other
leadership philosophies. In their discussion of the results of a meta-analytic study, Liao, Lee, and
Johnson (2021) demonstrate how servant leadership, in addition to transformative, genuine, and
ethical leadership, predicts a variety of organizationally important outcomes. We find that
compared to other leadership philosophies, servant leadership holds greater promise as a stand-
alone strategy. Organizations work hard to support managers in applying servant leadership on a
daily basis. It is critical for businesses to find strategies to enhance and grow servant leadership
in order to accomplish this goal (Liao et al., 2021). Servant leadership motivates followers to
become more moral and sociable as well as to achieve positive results by leading managers from
a self-interested attitude to a service orientation (Briere, Roy, & Meier, 2020).
Leadership Traits
Nations, communities, and organizations can be shaped by their leaders. In order to steer
people and make the vital decisions that keep the globe turning, leaders are required. The
dynamic characteristics of modern businesses have forced leaders to adopt new leadership
philosophies in an effort to increase output (Olanrewaju & Okorie, 2019). Important traits of a
successful leader are the ability to work independently without supervision, make important
choices, and listen intently and comprehend what is being said. According to Olanrewju et al.
(2020), leadership can be defined as a framework of individual influence on a group of
individuals with the intention of achieving personal or organizational goals. Level 5 Leadership
is defined as "an individual who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will,
Servant Leadership 5
and they are self-effacing individuals who display the fierce resolve to do whatever needs to be
done to make a company great" by Collins (2010, p. 21). The phases of disciplined people,
disciplined ideas, and disciplined action comprise the framework he goes on to explain—which
is required for a business to progress from good to great (Collins, 2001).
Executive capabilities are the term used to describe the five levels of leadership, with
Level 5 being the highest level. This leadership ladder starts with the "Highly Capable
Individual," a leader who uses ability, skills, knowledge, and good work habits to contribute
positively to the organization. The second level of leadership is characterized by the
"Contributing Team Member" leader, who effectively collaborates with others in a group
environment and adds their unique qualities to the accomplishment of collective goals. The third
level of leadership is referred to as the "Competent Manager," who arranges their personnel and
resources to move in an effective and efficient manner toward their predetermined goals. After
the second and third tiers of leadership, an organizational plateau is common. The "Effective
Leader" is at level four; they inspire greater performance standards by igniting a strong
commitment to and aggressive pursuit of a distinct and appealing goal. The leader at level five,
referred to as the "Executive," is able to mold greatness by combining a contradictory blend of
professional determination and personal humility (Collins, 2010). Servant leadership and level 5
leadership are very similar, however level 5 leaders serve the organization as a whole rather than
just people.
Project management, problem-solving, dealing with change, and communication are the
main characteristics of a leader. A common commitment among level 5 leaders is to put
procedures in place that will help identify and get ready for the success of the next generation of
leaders. According to Wexler, Wycoff, and Fischer (2007), leaders may contribute to the success
Servant Leadership 6
of their firm by giving managers the authority to make critical choices, setting up leadership
academies, and funding staff members for outside management and leadership development. The
management of people is a crucial stage for leaders. "The executives who ignited the shifts from
good to great did not drive the bus to its destination and then wait for passengers to board." No,
they worked out where to drive it after getting the wrong people off the bus and the right people
on it (Collins, 2010, p. 41). This emphasizes how crucial it is for leaders to properly assemble
their team before taking a particular course of action.
The most crucial quality a leader may have been the ability to communicate effectively.
A path for the organization's expectations is created through constructive, transparent
communication. According to Collins (2010) on page 88, "creating a culture where people have a
tremendous opportunity to be heard and ultimately for the truth to be heard" is a fundamental
responsibility in elevating a firm from good to outstanding. Leadership qualities are also covered
by Ortmeier & Meese (2010, p. 55): a leader must be innovative, develops, people-oriented,
trustworthy, possess a long-term view, questions what and why, and is constantly looking ahead.
Additionally, Wexler et al. (2007) talk about the need of humility and command presence as
leadership qualities in police organizations. Level 5 leaders have a propensity to maintain modest
profiles and avoid being featured in the national media. Numerous police chiefs in obscure
departments around the nation possess the attributes of a Level 5 leader. The use of force and the
demand for justice in police interactions with the public are two issues that will always be
scrutinized by the public and those who choose careers in policing. (Wexler et al., 2007) For this
reason, in police organizations, having a commanding presence is a crucial leadership quality. A
chief is supposed to step up and make a major public statement during defining moments,
including as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, moral dilemmas in the department, the death of an
Servant Leadership 7
officer, and kidnappings. But if the chief doesn't work out, there's a potential that the
community's confidence in the officers would be damaged.
Traits of a Servant Leader
As any other leader, servant leaders are driven, ambitious, and proactive, but their drive is
focused differently than that of other leadership philosophies.D(Gandolfi, Stone, and Deno,D2017).
Servant leadership differs from other leadership philosophies in that it prioritizes the follower.
On the other hand, the majority of leadership approaches prioritize the mission and then equip
followers to carry it out. When a leader can prioritize the needs of their followers over their own
interests, they are exhibiting servant leadership, which is a sign of discipline and humility.
Servant leaders work to support the growth and success of their followers in order to fulfill the
mission of the organization. "Servant leadership is based on the idea that when followers reach
their full potential, this will positively impact the organization's potential or, to put it another
way, organizational performance" (Gandolfi et al., 2017, p. 353). The only leadership approach
that specifically lists humility as a requirement for effective implementation is servant
leadership. Extreme personal humility combined with intense professional will is what Collins
(2001) describes as the Level 5 leader. Collins defines the greatest degree of leadership
capabilities as "the context of what servant leadership fits almost seamlessly with," according to
Gandolfi et al. (2017, p. 356).
In the past, servant leadership was believed to be a Christian leadership style that had an
impact on numerous cultures globally. The teachings of Jesus Christ are one of the most well-
known and effective examples of servant leadership in history. Jesus was the first to apply the
idea of servant leadership to common human endeavors. Rather than being a management tactic,
servant leadership is a way of life that starts with a genuine desire to help others. In the
Servant Leadership 8
organizations they examined, Franco et al. (2020) found nine traits associated with servant
leadership: empowerment, assisting subordinates in developing and succeeding, prioritizing
subordinates, moral behavior, altruistic calling, wisdom or vision, organizational stewardship,
family atmosphere, and identification with the leader.
The quality of empowerment is enabling and supporting people to assume responsibility,
enabling them to resolve challenging circumstances in their own unique ways. Encouraging
subordinates to flourish has a direct bearing on their sincere desire to further their careers and
ambitions, as well as giving them the chance to learn new abilities. Prioritizing subordinates over
organizational factors aggressively concentrates on their followers and makes them their top
priority. Another characteristic of servant leadership is their open, equitable, and sincere actions
and interactions with others; these behaviors are ethical. This is significant because when their
leader exhibits the same moral conduct, values, and attitudes that they are expected to, followers
are more inclined to act morally as well.
Servant leaders derive their principles from a spiritual foundation and their altruistic
calling. In general, unselfish love and hope/faith are categorized as servant leaders' vision,
values, and attitudes. Understanding the surroundings and anticipating the effects of decisions
are considered to be the qualities of wisdom and vision. Along with being ready to assign tasks,
supportive of leadership potential, and attentive to concerns raised by others, servant leaders
should also be ready to grant authority. The quality of organizational stewardship is the ability of
leaders to set up and carry out departmental initiatives that will enable the organization to create
and make a beneficial contribution to society. One of the hallmarks of servant leadership is the
establishment of a family-like environment, where the welfare of subordinates comes before the
company. One essential element of servant leadership is identification with a leader. This enables
Servant Leadership 9
subordinates to relate to their leader on an identity level, which increases success across the
board for the organization. Workers can feel more at ease about the efficiency of their workplace
when they recognize that their leadership is "one of them."
Servant Leadership Development Plan
Because servant leadership is incompatible with generating profits, some experts contend
that it conflicts with the concept of efficiency. According to them, achieving corporate and
public objectives would be more difficult if subordinates were the main focus instead of
customers. Research, however, indicates that servant leadership has the potential to generate
servant leaders, who may then provide the ideal leadership approach for government
organizations. When it comes to servant leadership in a business, the advantages are numerous.
According to research, there is concrete, empirical, and philosophical support for the idea that
servant leadership is not only beneficial and desirable in any kind of organizational structure, but
also meets certain essential requirements for being a workable model (Gandolfi et al., 2017).
Over time, it has been demonstrated that servant leadership is associated with a number
of performance-related outcomes. In an investigation on the impact of servant leadership on
emotional behavior, Lu, Zhang, and Jia (2019) found that while deep acting (inner feelings) is
positively correlated with servant leadership, surface acting (facial expressions) is negatively
impacted. The findings demonstrated that affective trust, as opposed to cognitive trust, is how
servant leadership promotes emotional labor more than cognitive trust. A sense of support at
work and job satisfaction are two crucial components of workers' well-being. According to
Zhang, Zheng, Zhang, Xu, Liu, & Chen (2019), supportive leadership styles, like servant
leadership, give staff members enough resources and assistance to meet needs and demands of
their jobs. Furthermore, newer studies on servant leadership demonstrate that it can spark
Servant Leadership 10
innovation, high standards of work performance, and excellent customer service practices when
servant leaders establish trust in their followers through high-quality exchange relationships
(Williams, Seng, Hayek, Haden, & Atinc). Due to their knowledge of the organization, its
objectives, and the work at hand, servant leaders are able to effectively support, guide, and
provide resources to others (Chiniara & Bentein, 2018). As a result, they possess and exhibit
conceptual talents. The core principles of servant leadership, according to Chiniara et al. (2018),
are compassion and service to others. These values also extend to followers' desire to be polite
and helpful to one another, unintentionally strengthening team cohesion. This improves the task
performance of the team as well as the citizen behavior of the service company. According to a
study by Lee, Lyubovnikova, Tian, and Knight (2020), organizations would benefit from turning
their present leaders into servant leaders as servant leadership has predictive validity above other
leadership techniques. Creating or fostering a culture that favorably fosters the growth of trust,
justice, and excellent leader-follower relationships is another benefit of implementing servant
leadership in a company.
Given that law enforcement employment can be among the most physically and
intellectually taxing occupations, it makes sense. Enforcing the law in the communities that
criminal justice officers monitor while upholding the highest moral and ethical standards is
crucial. One method used by law enforcement to achieve this objective and preserve good ties
between the police and the community is community policing. Because servant leadership is
comparable to community policing, police organizations would benefit from it. The success of
community policing is reliant on the leadership, management, and supervision styles that enable
the community and law enforcement organizations to collaborate in the co-production of public
safety and order, according to Williams 2018.DIn order to effectively manage their leadership,
Servant Leadership 11
police organizations' leadership must interact with communities, political figures, and staff
members.
The higher and intermediate management of a police department would need to be the
first to adopt servant leadership. First and foremost, they would need to gain the confidence of
other officers. Staff members would admire and trust officers who exhibited servant leadership
qualities like humility, inspiration, empathy, reliability, and loyalty. Following this, front-line
police might begin to exhibit traits of servant leadership. As previously mentioned, servant
leadership produces servant leaders. To bring about a culture shift in the workplace, a department
whose officers are empowered to take skilled initiative and are enthusiastic about achieving
achievements motivated by mission is necessary. In a department with servant leadership, the
officers' welfare and development would come first. Incorporating the concept of servant
leadership into law enforcement has the potential to facilitate and surmount obstacles and
predicaments linked to past and/or present detrimental leadership approaches (Russell, Broome
& Russell, 2018). Officers could benefit from efficient diversity training to have a deeper
understanding of the various cultures among the communities they serve. An organization can
see a positive shift when its leader prioritizes the needs of others before their own. This is
especially true in police departments. A police department would aim to engage with the
community and host activities for residents in order to improve ties between the police and the
community under servant leadership. Kim (2020) asserts that in order to foster servant leadership
in bureaucratic companies, organizational structure must be distributed, empowering
opportunities must be expedited, and power and authority must be shared between leaders and
followers. A strict workplace culture can be changed to one that is more relationship-oriented
through servant leadership.
Servant Leadership 12
The advantages of servant leadership implementation for a police organization include
favorable effects on the organization, officers, and the community it serves. Reduction of
posttraumatic stress disorder and negative psychological impacts related to present police
leadership techniques is one of the main advantages for the organization. The advantages of
servant leadership for officers include increased general strength, capability, and compatibility
with their communities. Police who come to work with a desire to serve, rather than a mission to
command-and-control crime, improve relationships with the community. In police organizations,
a common organizational challenge for servant leadership is the lack of willingness among
leaders to swallow their egos and provide for their subordinates. Not only that, but very few
leaders have any background in servant leadership. It takes a strong person to practice servant
leadership; they must set aside their own interests and focus on meeting the needs of their
followers. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of police department executives that are unwilling to
modify their style of leadership.
Conclusion
While there are benefits to all leadership philosophies, servant leadership is the most
suitable and effective when used correctly. Being a Christian is really about being a servant
leader. Christ begins the book of Matthew by going over the fundamentals of being a servant
leader. According to what Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:33–42, people who follow Him are
expected to be not just truthful in both speech and deed, but also to go above and beyond out of a
sense of duty to support our fellow humans. In Matthew 20:26–28, Christ elaborates on the idea
that being a servant comes before being great. When Jesus states, "just as the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many," it is all explained in
verse 28. This mandate includes serving non-believers in addition to fellow Christians. People
Servant Leadership 13
will be able to see the light of Christ via our words, but more significantly, through our actions.
The ultimate goal is to lead them to Christ. We are called to serve in the same way that Christ
was.
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