What do you do if your Servant Leadership career lacks networking and connection-building strategies?

An example of starting locally for me was connecting with my local temporary agencies and building meaningful relationships through providing opportunities to support them in their efforts to staff their employees and provide the agency with opportunities to work with my colleagues and company. I have also connected with my alma mater and provided guidance to students who are interested in learning about my career path and why I chose the field I’m in. Working with these younger students allows for servant leadership because there is nothing to gain but service to others.

Utilizing an online platform is key for servant leadership as it allows you to have access to a variety of other servant leaders you would otherwise not have access to. For example, LinkedIn is an online platform that provides opportunities to connect with members of your current organization, including members of their online community and members from your local communities and previous organizations. Having online access and a presence like this is critical because not only can you create a unique online presence you can connect directly with your friends and colleagues.

If you're truly a Servant Leader, you will sacrifice your best people to help them secure their next level role(s). Consider whether your best performer should be encouraged to move into something more challenging; maybe even in direct competition with you.

In my experience, this is the number one reason in how to provide servant leadership. Connecting with people, your colleagues and your community is easy, especially online when it’s just clicking a “connect” button. But the moment you discover through interest in your network and ask thought provoking questions, questions with intent and provide support, encouragement and information that’s when and only when a connection and relationship has been established. Nurturing a relationship takes time. It has to be genuine and meaningful. It also must come from a place of giving and not receiving, but truly trying to add value.

Humans are social beings; we are naturally inclined to have meaningful relationships. This should go without saying, but human connections are not set it and forget it events. They need to be actively nurtured, or they will wither, like plants. This means that you must make time to interact and listen. As a good example, think of early dating. It's exciting as you learn about one another, sharing hopes and aspirations. After a while, a good relationship helps you innately understand likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. This makes for a healthy bond. Now think of a friendship that faded over time. When you run into them at the store, the conversation is quick, superficial, and sometimes awkward.