Servant leader

Servant Leader

Introduction

Servant Leadership towards interdisciplinary collaboration

Active8-Planet Servant Leadership is based on a new model of leadership in which the so-called leader is foremost of service to the entire team [add link to teamwork wiki] and to all individual team members.

• A servant leader puts each individual in the team at the centre of their thinking and their actions, and allows all team members to grow as a person, become healthier, wiser, freer, more independent. Perhaps, in the long run, team members might even feel inspired to develop in such a way that they also want to become such leaders in the future (Planeteers).
• A servant leader encourages a sense of unity and of a shared responsibility and decision-making. All this within a clear set of values that are collectively gathered and supported by everyone in the team, regardless of hierarchy in terms of age, position, gender,  etc.
• A servant leader guards the collaborative process within each team and ensures that members stay focused and connected to each other and the ultimate goal. 
• A servant leader creates space for all voices in the team, especially if these represent minority perspectives and/or are embodied by people who are not necessarily trained in voicing their perspective in an interdisciplinary team.
• A servant leader allows room for discontent and conflict and ensures that these will be addressed through frank and open discussions, with the goal of attempting to reach a shared decision.

Figure 1: Showing an optional composition of a 7+1 team. Note the balance between students and non-students.

The role of servant leader in intervision

The Servant Leader may notice a need for intervision among different members in the team. In their role as Servant Leader, they can address this need and help the members to plan a suitable intervision session. See intervision [add link to Intervision wiki] for more information about intervision and how to set up a successful intervision session.

The difference between a Servant leader and a leader

Our predominant idea of a leader is of someone who sits at the wheel, accelerates and brakes. In the case of Servant leadership - to stay with the car metaphor - a leader is not the driver but rather the car mechanic. Servant leaders ensure a smooth and enjoyable journey. They provide frequent check-ups and give some instruction on how to handle the car. In sum, servant leaders are somewhat distant rather than dominant. As process facilitators however they ensure pleasant and successful team work.

Exercises

Self-reflection as a tool for learning 

[source: https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/5-self-reflection-exercises]

Executive coach Jennifer Porter explains that “reflection gives the brain an opportunity to pause amidst the chaos, untangle and sort through observations and experiences, consider multiple possible interpretations, and create meaning. This meaning becomes learning, which can then inform future mindsets and actions.” 

Through reflection practice, you can rewrite old stories that don’t serve you, examine the “why” of what happened, and explore “what’s next.” Thinking about your past can help you find out what’s holding you back and get it out of the way, or find the insights you need to stay on target toward a big goal. 

5 guided self-reflection exercises 

To get you started, here are some prompts you can use the next time you sit down to do some careful reflection. Set aside at least 15 minutes for any one of these and afterward, take action based on what you’ve learned.  

To reflect on a project or process, ask yourself:

• What have I learned about how my organization works?
• What barriers did I overcome? 
• What will I do differently next time?
• What do I know now that I didn’t know then? How did I acquire that knowledge?
• What do I need to do today in order to make this learning concrete?  

To reflect on “where you are,” ask yourself:

• What’s important to me?
• How has what’s important to me changed in the past year? Five years? 
• How am I aligning my actions with what’s important to me?
• What’s difficult about it?
• What actions can I take today in order to find more alignment? 

To reflect on a mistake (a rash decision you made, an offensive thing you said, a clear oversight in your judgement), ask yourself:

• From the perspective of three other people, what happened here? How might I have been perceived by those people?
• What will I do differently next time? Whose help do I need to make that happen? 
• What’s the new entry I’ll now add to my failure resume?
• With whom do I need to share my learning in order to maintain strong relationships in the future? 

To reflect on an article you’ve read, a quote that speaks to you, or a talk you attended, ask yourself:

• Why are the ideas I’ve learned here so compelling to me? 
• How am I currently living out the ideas expressed here? 
• What might I do differently? 
• What might it feel like to make this my personal mantra? 
• What actions do I want to take next? 

To reflect when you’re feeling disengaged, antsy, uninspired, or just “blah,” ask yourself:

• What are all of the things I’m feeling right now?
• What’s going on in life that might be creating these feelings?
• How do these feelings impact me?
• Do I want to let this continue? Why or why not?  
• What kind of support do I need? 
• What are the next three steps I’ll take to move through (not around) these feelings?  

Finally, if you’re engaging in a group reflection, you can schedule a productive “post mortem” activity or call up a few quick but powerful reflection questions to recap a completed project. 

The bottom line

You might ask “What’s the point of all of this omphaloskepsis?” (look it up). Here it is: If we want to become more productive, impactful, and fulfilled, we need to understand what makes us productive, impactful, and fulfilled in the first place, and do more of that and less of the other stuff. Pretty simple, really.

References

For some more cues on Servant leadership: 

“What is a Servant Leader? (as illustrated by Gollum from Lord of the Rings)” https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JBacPpctUErIld_2ILEO4DtilmZ2mNoy

“Ten characteristics of servant leadership” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL4-mr3-hyc