How can servant leadership improve organizational culture?

Stephen R. Covey's "Speed of Trust" teaches us that trust isn't just about feeling good; it actually speeds things up and improves results. When trust is high, everything from communication to collaboration happens faster and costs less. Servant leaders, by being genuine and valuing their team, set the stage for this trust. Covey mentions that when people trust each other, they take risks, share ideas, and work together seamlessly. This isn't just about being nice; it's about making teams more efficient and successful. So, building trust isn't just a moral choice—it's a smart business move. By prioritizing trust, leaders create a place where everyone feels safe, respected, and ready to do their best work.

LEADERS shall prioritize serving their teams 👨👨👦👦create a positive work environment where employees feel valued and motivated. This approach encourages open📢communication and mutual respect, promoting a supportive atmosphere. Servant leaders empower their staff, enabling them to reach their full 👍potential and contribute meaningfully. Moreover, servant 👨💼leadership promotes a strong ethical foundation, encouraging fairness and integrity within the organization. By emphasizing the well-being and growth of employees, servant 🏅leadership builds a culture of trust, innovation, and shared success, ultimately leading to a thriving and harmonious workplace🌏.

Servant Leaders believe that trust and inspiration are the grounds to doing great work as a team. They let go of the PUSH approach (Command, top-down, prescriptive) and seek to inspire greatness. Central to this approach is the concept of INTENTION. Servant leaders purposefully craft an intention for everything they do, and engineer their actions to meet that intention. Through hardship for example, they may set the intention to instill pride within their team, to empower them to exhibit resilience. With that clear intention, they carefully structure their comms, meeting agendas and behaviours to achieve greater pride and sense of belonging. Every action becomes deliberate. Great leaders do not move forward blindly, they are purposeful.

Servant leadership is about putting your people first Culture is about how your people feel every day, can they be themselves, do they feel seen & heard, do they feel like they belong In theory this is a simple concept The problem comes when leaders aren’t clear on their role in culture.. -When leaders don’t know what kind of leader they want to be -When leaders don’t understand their role in developing others -When leaders don’t listen or create an environment of fairness -When leaders don’t tackle poor behaviours But, When leaders put others first, when they care about their people, demonstrate emotional intelligence & humility, this all falls into place These are the leaders people want to work with, & who they learn from

An example is "Zappos", an online shoe and clothing retailer, is known for its commitment to creating a culture of happiness. Former CEO Tony Hsieh was a strong advocate of servant leadership. They invest in employee development, even offering a program where new employees are offered money to leave if they don't align with the company culture. This approach has led to high employee satisfaction and a strong customer-centric culture.

Understanding the goals and purpose of the team on an ongoing basis helps with creating an inspirational environment. Team members might align to the larger vision when they see a clear and defined path for themselves.

Leaders who care about their employees as people and invest and support them over themselves and results demonstrate the importance of the people. This will drive alignment of purpose, encourage impact, and promote ownership and value for the people and the organization. This creates respect and builds trust.

Leaders understand the bigger picture and then work with the teams to develop a narrative that is well-understood. Once that is done the SL's work with the masses to understand their aspirations and goals and bridge the gap to meet the organizational and personal objectives.

Organization goals are easy to share and track, but if everyone is only focused on the top line goals, you risk missing out on the growth and development from the "process" to achieve these goals. Break out team goals and milestones, meet individually and help set and track personal goals. These should each impact the greater goal, but allow for more growth and building as you reach for the longer term and/or bigger goal. When you find the mix of focus on individual goals that compile to achieve a larger team/company goal you have a team that is focused and running in the same direction.

Servant leaders ignite vision and purpose by connecting work to meaning. They understand followers' skills and passions, and tailor opportunities for personal growth and mission impact. By mentoring and developing, they empower people to achieve their highest potential. Servant leaders celebrate wins, however small, and express genuine gratitude for efforts. They model selflessness by putting community over self, inspiring others to pay it forward. Followers feel their work matters when servant leaders personify and reinforce shared values consistently. A compelling purpose becomes highly motivating when accompanied by caring support. Servant leaders don't just promise a vision - they make it real through their daily actions and advocacy.

In addition, having opportunities to learn and grow prevents stagnation, fosters a culture of innovation thinking, encourages self improvement, and inspires individuals to continue to develop into leaders themselves.

A famous example is Toyota culture. Toyota leaders say that they don't hire extraordinary people. They hire ordinary people and make them extraordinary. People want to know their potential. If an organisation is helping its people to realise their potential through learning and development, they will be highly engaged with the organisation.

Gone are the days of leadership being synonymous with control and power. As a servant leader, you are a gardener responsible for creating a nourishing environment ripe for growth. Your role is not to tell the seed what to become, your role is to provide the right environment, nourishment, and access to opportunity to allow it to blossom into what it's always meant to become. You are the gardener.

I've always found the best servant leaders to be continuous students, who nurture their curiosity by asking their own team questions. All done for not only their own learning but also to showcase the growth and brilliance of their team members.

At the heart of servant leadership is the profound belief in the untapped potential of every individual. These leaders don't just manage teams; they nurture growth mindsets. By prioritizing learning, they send a clear message: stagnation is not an option; evolution is the norm. It's not just about achieving targets, but about expanding horizons. The commitment to foster continuous development doesn't only result in enhanced skill sets but also breeds loyalty. After all, when individuals feel their growth is genuinely cared for, they're more invested in the collective vision. This cultivates an environment where excellence isn't just an aspiration but a way of life. 🌱📘 #NurturingLeadership #GrowthMindset #JourneyToExcellence

It's almost impossible for anything to matter to someone who doesn't believe that they matter. We often expect people to "care" about their projects and tasks before we ensure they feel "cared for." Being a servant leader nurtures the leading indicator of every lagging indicator we say we want in our organizations: how people feel.

Servant leadership has a strong appeal for leaders with a bias for being good stewards of humanity. Yet, many who start down the servant leadership path quickly run afoul when applying it to their teams. Servant leadership is not about being nice or being loved, nor is it about never having to make gut-wrenching decisions like firing people. It is the combining of personal characteristics with self-discipline and the unwavering commitment to creating a workplace of efficacy and productivity. You can care about people and have an intense bias for action at the same time. After all, you’re not really serving others if you’re not helping them make and keep their performance commitments.

In order to enhance collaboration it's important for everyone in the team to feel Psychologically Safe. When a team member feels safe they don't hesitate in sharing their ideas, asking questions, bringing their best selves to work, which in turn improves the overall culture of an organisation.

Open Communication: Servant leaders promote open and honest communication. This transparency encourages dialogue, feedback, and the exchange of ideas, creating a culture of collaboration.

Some people are mistrusting, overbearing, and controlling, so they devise rules and regulations to keep everyone in check. But rules are not a substitute for common sense and doing what’s right. In fact, rules should come with a warning label — they can be detrimental to your health. The fact is, if you educate and train people, instill strong moral character and encourage them to do the right thing, inspire them to do their best and to be their best, and then get out of their way, many cumbersome rules can go by the wayside. In that case, the only two rules you’ll need are to think and to follow your conscience. Can you play by those rules?

Servant leadership promotes ethical behavior and encourages employees to serve others. Leaders who exemplify servant leadership inspire their teams to prioritize empathy, compassion, and integrity. This creates a culture where employees are encouraged to act selflessly and consider the best interests of others. Such ethical behavior builds trust, enhances teamwork, and fosters a positive work environment.

Ethics and integrity are the foundations of any successful leadership. People start respecting the leaders and engage with the organisation. Also if the organisation is contributing to social corporate responsibilities, the brand and culture of the organisation are recognised by society.

Nós líderes precisamos colocar ética e integridade à frente de tudo que fazemos e decidimos. É importante ter uma visão dos impactos que serão gerados e como podemos construir um ambiente seguro e saudável para nosso time.

Servant leadership promotes ethical behavior and decision-making. This, in turn, leads to a culture of integrity and honesty.

Servant leadership is a beacon of moral compass. It's not just about business outcomes, but the broader societal impact. When leaders exemplify integrity and prioritize ethical over easy, they pave the way for a culture that values principles over short-term gains. Such leaders understand that their reach extends beyond office walls, influencing the community at large. Their commitment to social responsibility becomes contagious, inspiring teams to operate with empathy and honor. In an era where authenticity is treasured, such leadership not only elevates organizational reputation but also fosters a legacy of genuine impact. 🌎💡 #EthicalLeadership #BeyondBusiness #LegacyOfImpact.

Here's the thing that most people forget about servant leadership. It's not about you. Instead, servant leaders recognize that without our people, we wouldn't have purpose. There may still be something to gain for ourselves as servant leaders, but it's helping others that gives us energy and purpose.

Bill Klug was my coach in Little League when I was 10, 11 and 12 years old. He was 24-26 years old when he coached me. He became my coach for life. He made his high school Varsity Baseball squad at Glendale HS when he was a senior, but he virtually never played. After a severe hand injury as he applied for a career in surgery at UCLA killed his dream, he took a job in the US Army Corps of Engineers, took the Registered Engineer Licensing Exam and became the highest ranking civilian EVER in the Corps. He loved baseball, and he loved us. And he shepherded me. Bill taught me grit, character, humility (truth, not modesty), communication, accountability and trust of others and self — and the value of contributing to team. For no reward.

Respecting your point of view, service I choose doesn’t have a darned thing to do with slavery. It is what give me the power to lead in service to a cause, in service to other people, in service to the idea of democracy, in service to my country. It gives me my choices and allows and empowers me to make the choices that lead to a higher mutual understanding. It empowers me to put myself in another person’s shoes and walk a hundred yards or a mile or two in them. It is what has given our country a chance over two centuries. While it is often missing in today’s culture, it encourages the free will to refrain from harming others in our pursuit of whatever we choose for ourselves. Responsible use of freedom is what leads us to serve.

Servant leadership is also about putting the cause and the people you serve before you. I love the line in Simon Sinek's "Leaders Eat Last" that says... "What makes a good leader is that they eschew the spotlight in favor of spending time and energy to do what they need to do to support and protect their people." And I'd probably add to that "...protect their people [and their cause]." For servant leaders, it's not about power. It's about lifting up the mission and the people and moving them forward.

One of my most fulfilling experiences was mentoring a young professional. Through consistent guidance, support, and providing opportunities, I watched him flourish and rise through the ranks. I believe this is servant leadership in action, focusing on the growth and development of individuals. Ultimately, people want more than just a paycheck from their jobs; they seek purpose. Servant leaders, by emphasizing the greater good and collective mission, instill a sense of purpose in their teams. When people see their leaders rolling up their sleeves and working for a bigger cause, they are inspired to do the same. In adopting this approach, leaders not only achieve business objectives, but also create a legacy.