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What Is Servant Leadership? A Philosophy for People-First Leadership

This article was from CIO and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive Content Marketplace . Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com .

Servant leadership is a leadership style that prioritizes the growth, well-being, and empowerment of employees. It aims to foster an inclusive environment that enables everyone in the organization to thrive as their authentic self. Whereas traditional leadership focuses on the success of the company or organization, servant leadership puts employees first to grow the organization through their commitment and engagement. When implemented correctly, servant leadership can help foster trust, accountability, growth, and inclusion in the workplace.

Proponents say that by improving the emotional health of employees servant leadership empowers employees to express themselves more freely in the workplace. Employees then turn around and give the same nurturing to their coworkers, creating a welcoming environment that enables and encourages growth and quality work. A major aspect of servant leadership is acceptance of others; by creating an environment where everyone feels accepted, it helps create a "psychological ethical climate" that allows employees to be authentic and not fear judgment from leadership for being themselves. It encourages a forgiving and understanding attitude that allows employees to make mistakes, learn from their mistakes, and channel that into personal and professional growth in the organization.

Servant leadership theory

The theory of servant leadership was started by Robert K. Greenleaf, who popularized the term in a 1970s essay titled "The Servant as Leader." After reading the book Journey to the East , Greenleaf was inspired by the main character, Leo, a servant who disappears from work. After his disappearance, the productivity and effectiveness of the rest of the workers falls apart, revealing that Leo was in fact a leader all along. This led Greenleaf to believe that servant leadership is effective in its ability to allow workers to relate to leaders and vice versa, creating more trust and autonomy for workers. Greenleaf first put this theory to test while working as an executive at AT&T, and it's gained traction over the years as an effective leadership style.

Greenleaf initially proposed an "I serve" mentality for servant leadership and based it on the two main premises of "I serve because I am the leader," and "I am the leader because I serve." The first premise is focused on altruism, a selfless concern for others, while the second premise hinges on a person's ambition to become a leader.

Servant leadership model

Greenleaf's original premise for servant leadership was relatively vague compared to other leadership approaches and models, which has led to several interpretations of his original idea to either expand on the concept of servant leadership or help offer more specific guidelines to what servant leadership looks like in practice.

Larry Spears, former president of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, in " Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective Caring Leaders " has outlined the qualities that a servant leader needs to have to be impactful. These characteristics include empathy, listening, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and building community.

Two researchers, Barbuto and Wheeler , evolved Spears's 10 characteristics into a framework called "the natural desire to serve others," which combines Spears's 10 characteristics into five dimensions of servant leadership that includes altruistic calling, emotional healing, wisdom, persuasive mapping, and organizational stewardship. Under each category there are four to five characteristics that pertain to servant leadership.

Joe Iarocci, author of Servant Leadership in the Workplace , defines three key priorities (developing people, building a trusting team, achieving results), three key principles (serve first, persuasion, empowerment), and three key practices (listening, delegating, connecting followers to mission) to outline what servant leadership looks like in the workplace.

Russel and Stone, two researchers, developed nine " functional attributes of servant leadership ," which includes vision, honesty, integrity, trust, service, modeling, pioneering, appreciation of others, and empowerment. They also outlined 11 "accompanying attributes," which includes communication, credibility, competence, stewardship, visibility, influence, persuasion, listening, encouragement, teaching, and delegation.

Servant leadership characteristics

According to Greenleaf, the most important characteristic of being a servant leader is to make it your priority to serve rather than to lead. Servant leaders are more interested in serving the needs of employees and helping them grow in the organization and are less interested in focusing on profits and simply leading people along by telling them what to do. Greenleaf didn't outline exactly what character traits make for a strong servant leader, but researchers James Sipe and Don Frick have studied his work and outlined seven pillars of servant leadership that fall within the boundaries of Greenleaf's original theory: 

• Person of character: A servant leader is someone who maintains integrity, makes decisions based on ethics and principles, displays humility and serves to a higher purpose in the organization.
• Puts people first: A servant leader demonstrates care and concern for others and helps employees meet their goals and grow within the organization.
• Skilled communicator: Communication skills are integral to servant leadership, and you will need to ensure you can effectively listen to and speak with your employees, while also inviting feedback.
• Compassionate collaborator: To be a strong servant leader, you'll need to consistently work with others and work to strengthen relationships, support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and navigate conflict in the workplace.
• Has foresight: As a servant leader, you will need to keep an eye on the future and anticipate anything that might impact the organization. You'll also need to have a strong vision for your organization and be the type of person who can take decisive action when needed.
• Systems thinker: Servant leaders need to be comfortable navigating complex environments and able to adapt to change. This type of leadership requires strategic thinking and the ability to effectively lead change in the organization.
• Leads with moral authority: As a servant leader, it's important to establish trust and confidence in your workforce by establishing quality standards, accepting, and delegating responsibility and fostering a culture that allows for accountability. 

Examples of servant leadership

In the technology industry, servant leadership is most often seen in agile development environments on Scrum teams. On a Scrum team, the Scrum Master isn't necessarily a leader; instead they're a team member who works closely with other agile workers and takes charge on defining requirements, mapping sprint plans, and resolving any roadblocks along the way.

Famous servant leaders in the corporate world include Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor Co.; Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube; Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever; Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks; and Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; among many others. These are just a few people who are billed as strong examples of servant leadership in the corporate world. These leaders show qualities that include being risk-adverse, employee-focused, and driven by success over profits.     

Servant leadership training

The Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership offers several courses on servant leadership. The Foundations of Servant Leadership covers the fundamentals of Greenleaf's philosophy and how to apply those principles in the workplace. The Key Practices of Servant Leadership covers strategies for effective servant leadership and how to apply those in real-life settings. The Implementing Servant Leadership course focuses on strategies and practices that will help you effectively implement servant leadership in an organization. Courses are completed online using a collaborative wiki and group discussions; each course costs $450.

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• What is Servant Leadership?

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.” -Robert K. Greenleaf

Servant Leadership is a non-traditional leadership philosophy, embedded in a set of behaviors and practices that place the primary emphasis on the well-being of those being served.

The Servant as Leader

While servant leadership is a timeless concept, the phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that essay, Greenleaf said:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

“The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?“

A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

The Institution as Servant

Robert Greenleaf recognized that organizations as well as individuals could be servant-leaders. Indeed, he had great faith that servant-leader organizations could change the world. In his second major essay, The Institution as Servant, Greenleaf articulated what is often called the “credo.” There he said:

“This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions – often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt. If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them.”

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What Is Servant Leadership?

The concept of servant leadership goes back millennia, but the term itself was first used by Robert Greenleaf in his 1970 essay, “The Servant as Leader.” This leadership philosophy has skyrocketed in popularity since then, with numerous books published on the topic and increased attention being bestowed on it in the media and popular culture.

We sat down with Rebecca Herman , Graduate Professor of Leadership at Purdue Global and an organizational culture expert, to learn more about servant leadership and its benefits.

What Is a Servant Leader?

“There are many ways to define it,” Herman says, “but my personal favorite goes back to Robert Greenleaf's definition: ‘The servant leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first.’”

The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership further defines servant leadership as “a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world.”

What does this mean? It means that a servant leader focuses on the growth and well-being of employees and other stakeholders in their organization. Servant leaders seek to help the people they serve grow as individuals.

“If they are growing, then they desire to perform and achieve,” Herman says. “They have more capability to accomplish things, and therefore they're really serving in return, and it becomes a cycle of positive service and performance, which I believe makes servant leadership exceptional.”

How Does Servant Leadership Differ From Traditional Leadership?

Traditional leadership, Herman notes, focuses on such things as strategy, goals, financial performance, and customer satisfaction. “Those things aren’t bad, of course,” she says. “Those are things we expect leaders to do. We want our CEO to focus on things that are going to bring us profit.

“But servant leaders go further. They focus on providing their employees with development opportunities. Employees today want to feel they have a job where they can succeed. They want an opportunity to be coached and mentored by someone. And since servant leaders put people first, they get to know them on a different level. They help them to develop, they give them opportunities because they empower them versus micromanage them.”

What’s Driving the Growth of Servant Leadership?

“We live in a very fast-paced technological world,” Herman says. “We are inundated with information at such increasingly large levels that it's almost impossible to keep up with. We're people first, and our basic human needs are needing to be met.

“Servant leaders understand how to build a workplace culture where teams and community are valued. And people want that real feeling of community in the workplace because they don't have it in their lives.”

Herman says our present culture can be disconnecting.

“We are incredibly virtual today,” she says. “We have virtual jobs, serve on virtual teams, and get to know people virtually on social media. We text more than we speak on the phone or face-to-face. Even dating is done on an app—you have the option of swiping left or right to determine if you may want to meet someone. People are craving real relationships and real connections. Plus, this goes back to that whole idea that we all really want to feel we've contributed to the world, that we want work that has true meaning.”

The Benefits of Servant Leadership

Increased employee loyalty and a beloved company culture are benefits of this style of leadership. Productivity and problem-solving are also bolstered with servant leadership.

“Servant-led employees don't fear that if they take a risk and try to do the right thing, they could get punished,” Herman says. “I think that makes them perform at more of a risk-taking level, as long as they're doing it based on the goals, the mission, and the core values of the organization.

“And that ultimately leads to how that business performs,” she says. “If every person is performing at their best, imagine what the organization is going to be like. People who receive coaching and personal development are equipped to be empowered to make decisions to serve their customers. Empowered employees are more engaged, and this increases job satisfaction, which increases retention. You want great people to stay a part of your organization.”

Well-Known Servant-Led Companies

Some of the best-performing companies are well-versed in this style of leadership. Herman named the following companies with servant leaders at the helm:

• Southwest Airlines
• Whole Foods
• TDIndustries
• Men's Wearhouse

“When we think of these organizations, we often think about how outstanding their customer service is,” she says. “It really isn't accidental, because they're servant-led companies, so their servant-led employees want to make sure the customer is always cared for.

“These are not just the best companies to work for, they're also very high-performing companies—some of the most profitable and successful in the business world.”

And there’s a reason these are familiar companies with familiar stories being told. Servant leaders are very values-based and mission-driven, so they share stories frequently. That is an additional benefit for a servant-led company looking to build or sustain a brand.

Do You Aspire to Be a Servant Leader?

Making a decision to become a servant leader is making a decision to succeed and to lead your company to success.

“You need to know that it's going to become who you are more than what you do,” Herman says. “This is great because it bleeds into your personal relationships and who you are in your community.

“Being a servant leader is amazing, but it's a huge commitment because you're really going to have to take very intentional actions to be a servant leader. It's really about truly walking that talk every day, and modeling that behavior.”

Herman says that the greatest leaders have a desire to serve the greater good—and that they may encounter pushback.

“There will be people who will say that you're a little crazy,” she says. “They're going to say that it doesn't work if you want to call yourself a servant leader. But you have to be willing to defend that and stand up for it. Be prepared because you will face a lot of resistance.”

Herman compares servant leadership in the workplace to the ultimate servant leadership in the home.

“I don't want to say that leadership is like parenting, but parents are really servant leaders in many ways,” she says. “And I don't know many parents that would be considered soft or weak. They want to have the best for their kids. That's why they discipline. That's why they try to help them be the best they can be.

“Being a servant leader will change you, and it will change those around you. It can be a little frightening, but the results are worth it.”

Learn More About Being a Servant Leader

Herman recommends these books to read more about servant leadership:

• On Becoming a Servant Leader by Robert Greenleaf and Peter Drucker
• The Servant Leader: How to Build a Creative Team, Develop Great Morale, and Improve Bottom-Line Performance by James A. Autry
• The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business, and Community by Ken Jennings and John Stahl-Wert
• Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership: Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving by James W. Sipe and Don M. Frick
• The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership by James C. Hunter

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Servant Leadership: How to Transform Your Leadership Style

In times like ours, in which fostering engagement, enhancing staff wellbeing, and preventing staff burnout are high on the agenda of many leaders and organizations, we have much to gain from revisiting the principles of this model.

Let us examine its core features, psychological benefits, and how servant leadership can serve us on our mission of being outstanding leaders.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Leadership Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or others adopt positive leadership practices and help organizations thrive.

This Article Contains

• What Is Servant Leadership? Definition & Examples

Servant Leadership Theory by Robert Greenleaf

Traditional leadership vs. servant leadership, what does servant leadership look like in practice, 5 excellent servant leadership quotes, 4 suggested leadership books, positive leadership tools from positivepsychology.com, a take-home message, frequently asked questions, what is servant leadership definition & examples.

Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy that prioritizes serving others and fostering their growth. It is, in that sense, a non-egoistic approach to transformational leadership ; the servant leader really puts their staff and organization above their own status and ego needs.

Service leadership aims to satisfy the needs of self, others, and systems in ethical and prosocial ways. It rests on leadership competence, character, and care (Shek et al., 2023).

Servant leaders actively listen to, empathize with, and seek to empower their team members. They aim to create an environment where trust, collaboration, and personal development are the utmost priorities.

Servant leadership emphasizes morality and integrity and seeks to support emotional, relational, and ethical growth in followers. These leaders are committed to investing in personal relationships with employees. They seek to increase trust, loyalty, and commitment.

“Key qualities of servant leaders are humility, ensuring followers’ development, listening, sharing in decision-making, behaving ethically and promoting a sense of community. The idea is that when followers’ needs and well-being are prioritized, they are able to achieve their goals, and this flows upward so that the leader’s and the organizational goals are met in turn.”

Canavesi & Minelli, 2022, p. 414

When we think of powerful servant leaders, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela may come to mind. All served their communities with tremendous humility, compassion, and dignity.

We may also think of military personnel who serve in the literal sense, although the military is of course a highly hierarchical domain, and servant leadership in civilian organizations is based on different models.

An example of servant leadership in action in the business world is that of Herb Kelleher, the cofounder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines. Kelleher prioritized his employees’ wellbeing, believing firmly that happy employees would lead to satisfied customers and, as a consequence, to business success.

As he put it, “Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that” (Hyken, 2018, para. 4).

Kelleher created a corporate culture that became known for employees who took themselves lightly, but their jobs seriously.

We can also recall Agile Scrum masters, whose key function is simply to serve their teams as effectively as possible. Depending on the situation at hand, Scrum masters use their soft skills to act as servant leaders, facilitators, coaches, managers, mentors, teachers, impediment removers, and change agents.

Robert K. Greenleaf is often regarded as the pioneer of servant leadership. In 1970, he published an essay on the topic, and in 1977, he published an influential book called Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness .

In this book, he outlines a comprehensive model that encapsulates the core principles of servant leadership. Greenleaf’s (1977) theory emphasizes the following key components:

• Listening Servant leaders listen actively to their team members and seek to understand their perspectives and needs.
• Empathy They demonstrate empathy by caring deeply about the wellbeing of their employees.
• Healing Servant leaders aim to facilitate both healing and personal growth in their team members, at a professional and personal level.
• Self-awareness They are highly aware of their impact on others and the world around them.
• Persuasion Instead of relying on authority, servant leaders use the art of persuasion to guide their team members toward shared goals.
• Conceptualization They have the ability to paint vivid pictures and communicate compelling visions of a better future to their team.
• Foresight Servant leaders are future oriented and always consider the long-term consequences of their decisions and actions.
• Stewardship They take responsibility for the wellbeing of their teams and the wellbeing of their organization as a whole.
• Commitment to the growth of others Servant leaders are passionately dedicated to helping others grow and reach their full potential.

Greenleaf also emphasized that organizations as well as individuals could be servant-leaders. He believed that servant-leader-organizations had the potential to change the world.

In his second major essay, The Institution as Servant , Greenleaf (as cited in Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, n.d., para. 6) wrote:

“This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions – often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt.”

“If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them.”

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Servant leadership differs from traditional leadership in various ways. In traditional leadership, power, control, status, and authority are often paramount. Servant leaders, by contrast, focus on nurturing trust, collaboration, and personal growth. By shifting the focus from the leader to the team, servant leaders create psychologically safe environments of empowerment and shared responsibility (Spears, 1995).

We can say that servant leadership entails a particular style of leadership that rests on clearly defined theoretical principles. However, it also requires particular traits and qualities in a leader, above all humility and altruism, as well as kindness and compassion. Servant leaders also need to master specific skills, such as active listening and building trust.

Servant leadership has been linked to various positive individual and collective outcomes (Eva et al., 2019). Servant leadership, for example, helps with fostering staff engagement (Howell & Shields, 2017; Zhou et al., 2022).

It also supports proactive and citizenship behavior, job satisfaction , and performance. Several companies, “including some of those ranked by Forbes as among the ‘best 100 to work for,’ such as Marriott, Starbucks, SAS, and Zappos.com, foster an organizational climate based on service, ethics, and healthy work relationships that significantly contribute to organizational success” (Canavesi & Minelli, 2022, p. 414).

In practice, servant leaders do the following: (Greenleaf, 1977; Sendjaya et al. 2008):

• Listen actively to understand their team’s core needs
• Empower and encourage team members to make decisions
• Lead by example, demonstrating integrity and humility
• Prioritize the wellbeing, personal growth, and healing of their team
• Foster a culture of trust, collaboration, and innovation
• Create value for their communities

Liden et al. (2015) created a seven-item composite measure of servant leadership, a shorter version of their previous 28-item Servant Leadership Questionnaire (Liden, 2008).

It covers seven different dimensions identified in servant leadership (see Canavesi and Minelli, 2022, p. 416):

• Emotional healing
• Creating value for the community
• Conceptual skills
• Helping subordinates grow and succeed
• Putting subordinates first
• Behaving ethically

So then, how can you become a powerful servant leader in practice?

Knowing what servant leadership should look like and having completed the leadership questionnaire to get a measure of your current abilities, reflect on the following focus areas.

Listen actively to ensure employee wellbeing

Be committed to and involved in your team’s wellbeing . This includes taking a genuine interest in your employees’ personal lives and lending an ear when they experience personal problems. It involves connecting deeply and authentically to other people, not just seeing them as replaceable “human resources.”

Serve the community and create value

Ask yourself, “How am I serving the wider community of which I am a part? How could I serve it even better?” Consider the traits of a positive community .

Be a great communicator

The task of a servant leader is also to mediate between people, teams, and wider organizational goals and to communicate clearly and honestly when there is conflict or tension. Here is an article providing guidance: How to Improve Communication Skills .

Empower and trust

A servant leader trusts their employees and equips them with autonomy and responsibility. They also support them to use both wisely. In other words, a servant leader combines challenges with support and builds trust .

Support and encourage

Helps employees grow by supporting their personal and professional development, believing in them, and encouraging them to reach their full potential.

Be a role model

A servant leader models all the behaviors they want to bring out in their teams. They behave with integrity and honesty and own up to failures in an authentic way when they occur.

In that way, a servant leader creates trust. This also includes being vulnerable.

Inspire and motivate

Finally, a servant leader needs to inspire, motivate, paint a powerful picture, and share a compelling vision with their employees.

All of this involves the ability to mentalize, to imagine the world from other people’s points of view. What do your employees care about? What motivates them? What do they fear? What do they truly need to grow?

For more inspiration on how to become a great service leader, you may enjoy the following two videos.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi

“Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.”

Attributed to Simon Sinek

“It is not the genius at the top giving directions that makes people great. It is great people that make the guy at the top look like a genius.”

Simon Sinek, 2014, p. 21

“Every single employee is someone’s son or someone’s daughter. Like a parent, a leader of a company is responsible for their precious lives.”

Simon Sinek, 2014, p. 19

“The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.”

Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, n.d., para. 2

If you seek inspiration for how to become a powerful servant leader, there are outstanding books out there that can help you develop the core skills you need. These books cover the theory of servant leadership and also contain numerous practical examples from servant leadership in action.

1. Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness – Robert K. Greenleaf

This is the classic book on servant leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf, who coined the term.

Greenleaf outlines a transformative approach to leadership that puts serving others, including employees, customers, and community, first.

Listening, connecting, and deeply committing to building a positive organizational culture are central to Greenleaf’s approach. You will learn how to lead by example, generate trust, and create an environment in which your employees can truly thrive.

Find the book on Amazon .

2. The Institution as Servant – Robert Greenleaf

This book features a long essay by Robert Greenleaf, in which the author extends the idea of service leadership to institutions.

Institutions and organizations, too, Greenleaf argues, should operate with a servant leadership mindset. They should remember their social purpose and aim to increase the wellbeing of their communities and stakeholders.

Like leaders, institutions have an obligation to contribute to the greater good. The success of a service leadership institution is measured by not only the usual metrics of success, but also how it positively affects society. They focus on long-term sustainability, rather than just on short-term profit and gains.

3. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t – Simon Sinek

In Leaders Eat Last , the international bestselling author Simon Sinek investigates great leaders who don’t just sacrifice their place at the table but often their own comfort and even their lives for those in their care.

They range from Marine Corps officers to the heads of big business and government. They all share that they put aside their own interests to protect their teams. For them, leadership is not a rank but a responsibility.

4. The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business – Patrick M. Lencioni

New York Times bestselling author Patrick Lencioni argues that the key difference between successful companies and mediocre ones has everything to do with how healthy they are.

He argues that an organization is healthy when it is whole, consistent, and complete and when its management, operations, and culture are unified.

Leaders can find precious lessons in this book about how to be truly of service to their organizations and teams.

Positive psychology offers valuable tools that align seamlessly with the servant leadership philosophy. Here at PositivePsychology.com, we provide resources like strengths assessments, gratitude exercises, self-awareness worksheets, and emotional intelligence tools that can help leaders cultivate a positive and supportive work environment.

You may find these articles on related topics of interest:

• What Is the Coaching Leadership Style? by Jeremy Sutton
• What Is the Authentic Leadership Style? by Nicole Celestine
• Positive Leadership: 30 Must-Have Traits and Skills by Courtney Ackerman

A core servant leader skill is active listening. Enjoy downloading our free active listening worksheet  to hone this skill.

You may also find our Back Writing Exercise useful for strengthening your team’s cohesion and care for each other.

As a team, you may also benefit from bringing Ikigai into your workplace.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others develop positive leadership skills, this collection contains 17 validated positive leadership exercises . Use them to equip leaders with the skills needed to cultivate a culture of positivity and resilience.

17 Exercises To Build Positive Leaders

Use these 17 Positive Leadership Exercises [PDF] to help others inspire, motivate, and guide employees in ways that enrich workplace performance and satisfaction. Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

Servant leadership is a transformative leadership approach that empowers individuals and organizations to grow.

If you wish to become a powerful servant leader, you can begin by embracing principles like active listening, empathy, and a serious commitment to the development of others. Your key priority should be creating a thriving organizational culture in which compassion and empowerment are key.

Servant leadership is based on the ancient virtues of humility, temperance, and altruism. It is a form of leadership that rests on character strengths and genuine care for others. It is therefore important to model these virtues in your organization and to see service leadership as a daily developmental practice.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Leadership Exercises for free .

Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy that prioritizes serving others, active listening, and empowering team members. It emphasizes the wellbeing and personal growth of those who are being led, rather than the leader’s need for status and power.

Servant leadership is vital as it fosters trust, collaboration, and engagement within teams and organizations. It leads to higher job satisfaction, improved performance, and a more positive work environment in which employees can truly thrive.

The four main principles of servant leadership, as outlined by Robert K. Greenleaf (1977), are listening, empathy, healing, and self-awareness. These principles form the foundation of servant leadership philosophy.

• Canavesi, A., & Minelli, E. (2022). Servant leadership: a Systematic literature review and network analysis. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal , 34 , 267–289.
• Eva, N., Robin, M., Sendjaya, S., van Dierendonck, D., & Liden, R. C. (2019). Servant leadership: A systematic review and call for future research, The Leadership Quarterly , 30 (1), 111–132.
• Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness . Paulist Press.
• Howell, E. E., & Shields, J. E. (2017). Servant leadership and employee engagement: Does the leadership style of the supervisor matter? Advances in Developing Human Resources , 19 (3), 299–315.
• Hyken, S. (2018, March 18). How Southwest Airlines Keeps the Romance Alive With Its Customers . Forbes. Retrieved September 24, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2018/03/18/how-southwest-keeps-the-romance-alive-with-its-customers/.
• Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., & Henderson, D. (2008). Servant leadership: Development of a multidimensional measure and multi-level assessment. The Leadership Quarterly , 19 (2), 161–177.
• Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Meuser, J. D., Hu, J., Wu. J., & Liao, C. (2015). Servant leadership: Validation of a short form of the SL-28. Leadership Quarterly , 26 (2), 254.
• Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. (n.d.) What is servant leadership? Retrieved September 24, 2023, from https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/.
• Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J. C., & Santora, J. C. (2008). Defining and measuring servant leadership behavior in organizations. Journal of Management Studies , 45 (2), 402–424.
• Shek, D. T. L., Zhu, X., Dou, D., & Tan, L. (2023). Self-leadership as an attribute of service leadership: Its relationship to well-being among university students in Hong Kong. Frontiers in Psychology , 14 .
• Sinek, S. (2014). Leaders eat last: Why some teams pull together and others don’t . Penguin.
• Spears, L. C. (1995). Reflections on Robert K. Greenleaf and servant-leadership. The Leadership Quarterly , 6 (2), 315–319.
• Zhou, G., Gul, R., & Tufail, M. (2022). Does servant leadership stimulate work engagement? The moderating role of trust in the leader. Frontiers in Psychology , 13 .

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Servant Leadership: An Introduction

• First Online: 19 March 2019

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• Gregory S. Sullivan 5  

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment ((PSTWSP))

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This chapter is an introduction to the work of Robert K. Greenleaf, his seminal 1970 essay, Servant as Leader , and to some of the interpretations by leading Greenleaf authorities of his original works. The goal is to provide an understanding of how Greenleaf developed his ideas and they evolved. Interpretations of Greenleaf’s work are provided by two former CEOs of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, Larry Spears and Kent Keith. Their insights enable the reader to gain an understanding of the attributes and behaviors of a servant leader. This chapter also discusses the growth of servant leadership as a dyadic (leader–follower) construct to a multilevel approach where a culture of serving can be developed. Finally, this chapter briefly addresses the growth and interest in servant leadership, particularly in the athletic domain.

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Autry, J. A. (2001). The servant leader: How to build a creative team, develop great morale, and improve bottom-line performance . Roseville, CA: Prima.

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Greenleaf, R. K. (1970). The servant as leader . Cambridge, MA: Center for Applied Studies.

Greenleaf, R. K. (1972). The institution as servant . Indianapolis, IN: Greenleaf Center.

Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership . Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.

Keith, K. M. (2015). The case for servant leadership . Westfield, IN: Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.

Parris, D. L., & Peachey, J. W. (2013). A systematic literature review of servant leadership theory in organizational contexts. Journal of Business Ethics, 113 (3), 377–393.

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Prosser, S. (2010). Servant leadership: More philosophy, less theory . Westfield, IN: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.

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Sendjaya, S. (2015). Free air, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16196-9 .

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Spears, L. C. (2010). Servant leadership and Robert K. Greenleaf’s legacy. In D. van Dierendonck & K. Patterson (Eds.), Servant leadership: Developments in theory and research (pp. 11–24). Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Sullivan, G.S. (2019). Servant Leadership: An Introduction. In: Servant Leadership in Sport. Palgrave Studies in Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11248-6_2

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Article • 10 min read

Servant Leadership

Putting your team first, and yourself second.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better. – Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur.

Everyone on Samit's team knows that he's "there for them." He checks in with them often to see how they are, and he helps them develop the skills they need to advance their careers, even if this means that they may move on.

Samit also makes an effort to see situations from others' perspectives. He makes decisions with the team's best interests in mind, and ensures that everyone has the resources and knowledge they need to meet their objectives.

As a result of this, his team is one of the most successful in the department, with low staff turnover and high engagement.

Samit is an example of a "servant leader." In this article, we'll explore what servant leadership is, and the advantages it can bring you as a leader. We'll also look at situations where it isn't appropriate.

What Is Servant Leadership?

Robert K. Greenleaf first coined the phrase "servant leadership" in his 1970 essay, " The Servant as a Leader ." However, it's an approach that people have used for centuries.

As a servant leader, you're a "servant first" – you focus on the needs of others, especially team members, before you consider your own. You acknowledge other people's perspectives, give them the support they need to meet their work and personal goals, involve them in decisions where appropriate, and build a sense of community within your team. This leads to higher engagement, more trust, and stronger relationships with team members and other stakeholders. It can also lead to increased innovation .

Servant leadership is not a leadership style or technique as such. Rather it's a way of behaving that you adopt over the longer term. It complements democratic leadership styles, and it has similarities with Transformational Leadership – which is often the most effective style to use in business situations – and Level 5 Leadership – which is where leaders demonstrate humility in the way they work.

However, servant leadership is problematic in hierarchical, autocratic cultures where managers and leaders are expected to make all the decisions. Here, servant leaders may struggle to earn respect.

Remember that servant leadership is about focusing on other people's needs – not their feelings. Don't avoid making unpopular decisions or giving team members negative feedback when it's needed.

Also, do not rely on it exclusively – use it alongside styles like Transformational Leadership, where you develop an inspiring vision of the future, motivate people to deliver this, manage its implementation, and build an ever-stronger team.

How to Become a Servant Leader

According to Larry C. Spears, former president of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, these are the 10 most important characteristics of servant leaders:

• Persuasion.
• Conceptualization.
• Stewardship.
• Commitment to the growth of people.
• Building community.

From "Character and Servant Leadership: 10 Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders" by Larry C. Spears, published in "The Journal of Virtues and Leadership," Vol. 1, Issue 1. Reproduced with permission.

Once you've decided to prioritize other people's needs over your own in the long term, you can work on developing your skills in each area. Let's look at how you can do this.

1. Listening

You'll serve people better when you make a deep commitment to listening intently to them and understanding what they're saying. To improve your listening skills , give people your full attention, take notice of their body language, avoid interrupting them before they've finished speaking, and give feedback on what they say.

Servant leaders strive to understand other people's intentions and perspectives. You can be more empathetic by putting aside your viewpoint temporarily, valuing others' perspectives, and approaching situations with an open mind.

This characteristic relates to the emotional health and "wholeness" of people, and involves supporting them both physically and mentally.

First, make sure that your people have the knowledge, support and resources they need to do their jobs effectively, and that they have a healthy workplace . Then take steps to help them be happy and engaged in their roles.

You could also use a tool such as the Triple Bottom Line to think about how your organization can make a positive impact on the people you lead and the customers you serve.

4. Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the ability to look at yourself, think deeply about your emotions and behavior, and consider how they affect the people around you and align with your values .

You can become more self-aware by knowing your strengths and weaknesses , and asking for other people's feedback on them. Also, learn to manage your emotions , so that you consider how your actions and behavior might affect others.

5. Persuasion

Servant leaders use persuasion, rather than their authority, to encourage people to take action. They also aim to build consensus in groups , so that everyone supports decisions.

There are many tools and models that you can use to be more persuasive, without damaging relationships or taking advantage of others. You should also build your expert power – when people perceive you as an expert, they are more likely to listen to you when you want to persuade or inspire them.

6. Conceptualization

This characteristic relates to your ability to "dream great dreams," so that you look beyond day-to-day realities to the bigger picture.

If you're a senior leader in your company, work through and develop a robust organizational strategy . Then, whatever level you're at, create mission and vision statements for your team, and make it clear how people's roles tie in with your team's and organization's long-term objectives. Also, develop long-term focus so that you stay motivated to achieve your more distant goals, without getting distracted.

7. Foresight

Foresight is when you can predict what's likely to happen in the future by learning from past experiences, identifying what's happening now, and understanding the consequences of your decisions.

You can use tools such as SWOT Analysis and PEST Analysis to think about your current situation and environment, while Scenario Analysis helps you understand how the future could play out. Use the ORAPAPA checklist when you make a decision, to learn from experience and make sure that you've considered all the angles.

Also, learn to trust your intuition – if your instinct is telling you that something is wrong, listen to it!

8. Stewardship

Stewardship is about taking responsibility for the actions and performance of your team, and being accountable for the role team members play in your organization.

Whether you're a formal leader or not, you have a responsibility for the things that happen in your company. Take time to think about your own values, as well as those of your organization, so that you know what you will and won't stand for. Also, lead by example by demonstrating the values and behaviors that you want to see in others, and have the confidence to stand up to people when they act in a way that isn't aligned with them.

9. Commitment to the Growth of People

Servant leaders are committed to the personal and professional development of everyone on their teams.

To develop your people , make sure that you use Training Needs Assessments to understand their developmental needs and give them the skills they need to do their jobs effectively. Also, find out what their personal goals are, and see if you can give them projects or additional responsibilities that will help them achieve these.

10. Building Community

The last characteristic is to do with building a sense of community within your organization.

You can do this by providing opportunities for people to interact with one another across the company. For instance, you could organize social events such as team lunches and barbecues, design your workspace to encourage people to chat informally away from their desks, and dedicate the first few minutes of meetings to non-work-related conversations.

Encourage people to take responsibility for their work, and remind them how what they do contributes to the success and overall objectives of the organization.

See our article on Leadership Styles to explore popular leadership approaches and the advantages and disadvantages of each one.

And see this Expert Interview for a valuable discussion on the misconceptions and realities of servant leadership.

You are a servant leader when you focus on the needs of others before you consider your own. It's a longer-term approach to leadership, rather than a technique that you can adopt in specific situations. Therefore, you can use it with other leadership styles such as Transformational Leadership.

You can become a servant leader by working on these 10 characteristics:

Servant leaders are likely to have more engaged employees and enjoy better relationships with team members and other stakeholders than leaders who don't put the interests of others before their own.

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Featured Reads

• Leadership |
• Servant leadership: How to lead by serv ...

Servant leadership: How to lead by serving your team

Servant leadership is a leadership model developed by Robert K. Greenleaf. Servant leaders display characteristics such as strong listening skills, empathy, self-awareness, and the desire to create a healthy work environment. Read our tips on becoming a servant-first leader and find out what the pros and cons of this leadership style are.

Kurt Lewin (authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire), Daniel Goleman (emotional leadership theory), and Bernard M. Bass (transformational leadership) are all well-known leadership researchers. Perhaps a lesser known but nonetheless interesting approach to leadership was developed by Robert K. Greenleaf in the 1970s: servant leadership.

What is servant leadership?

Servant leadership is a leadership approach that puts serving others above all other priorities. Rather than managing for results, a servant leader focuses on creating an environment in which their team can thrive and get their highest-impact work done.

Robert K. Greenleaf distinguished between two different types of leaders: servant-first and leader-first.

A leader-first leader will be more likely to focus on being direct and achieving personal and professional goals . Their main focus will be to grow their own career through their team’s performance and output.

A servant-first leader surrenders most of their authority and puts their team first. It’s a selfless type of leadership that focuses on the well-being and long-term growth of team members.

Although the words “leader” and “servant” may seem paradoxical, leaders who serve their team by encouraging growth, offering a sense of purpose, and presenting a clear vision create an environment in which team members feel welcomed and supported.

Servant leadership vs. traditional leadership

So how does servant leadership compare to more traditional leadership styles?

The biggest difference between traditional and servant leaders is where their motivation lies. While traditional leaders care mostly about their own advancement, servant leaders want to see their whole team grow and succeed. 

A traditional leader will measure success through results and prioritize shareholders over their customers and teammates. A servant leader puts their team first, customers second, and shareholders last. While this may not be the fastest way to success, it can be more sustainable. 

Finally, a traditional leader will use their authoritative rank to stand above others, which reflects in their communication style as well. Servant leaders view leadership as an opportunity to serve others, so they’ll focus on listening and understanding their teammates versus speaking to and commanding things from them.

Regardless of what communication style you use, your team can benefit from clear communication and dedicated 1:1 time. Make sure you’re giving team members a space to build trust and be heard, no matter which leadership style you practice. 

Origin of servant leadership

The idea of servant leadership came to Robert K. Greenleaf, a retired AT&T executive, after reading Hermann Hesse’s novel Journey to the East . The storyline is simple: A group of men head out on a mythical journey accompanied by their servant Leo who sustains the group with his song and spirit. After Leo disappears, the group falls apart and the journey is abandoned. Years later, the narrator of the story finds out that Leo was in fact the head of the order that had sponsored the journey. He wasn’t just a servant—he was the guiding spirit, their great leader.

As romantic as this may sound, Greenleaf saw parallels to the corporate world.

In 1970, he used the inspiration of Hesse’s story to write an essay that coined a new style of leadership: “The Servant as Leader.” Greenleaf believed : “The servant-leader is servant first [...] Becoming a servant-leader begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.” 

In 1964, he founded the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership to advance the awareness, understanding, and practice of this leadership style by organizations and individuals.

Characteristics of servant leadership

Former president and CEO of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, Larry C. Spears , defined the 10 characteristics of effective, caring leaders . They’re based on Greenleaf’s essays and writings and can help you better understand how to be a servant-first leader.

[inline illustration] The first P: Product (infographic)According to Spears, you can learn and develop these 10 characteristics with practice and patience. Here’s how to get started.

1. Listening

Servant leaders prioritize active listening . Communication and decision-making skills are important aspects for all good leaders to practice, but a key characteristic of servant leadership is to listen to their team and gain a deep understanding of what they’re saying.

Robert K. Greenleaf accredited a leader’s listening skills as crucial to an innovative work environment.

Example: When a team member comes to you with a problem, listen to them and make them feel heard. This way, they’ll always feel comfortable reaching out to you.

Empathy is another skill Spears deemed important to become a servant leader. He writes: “The servant-leader strives to understand and empathize with others. People need to be accepted and recognized for their special and unique spirits.”

Example: Always assume that your team members are doing their work with the best intentions. Keep an open mind to foster creativity and courage in the workplace. 

Servant leaders recognize the negative experiences and habits their team members have developed to cope with unpleasant situations.

Greenleaf talked about “understanding the search for wholeness” as something servant leaders and led teams have in common. By prioritizing a healthy work environment and guiding teammates through their healing process, you can create a culture that strives toward this wholeness.

Example: Create an environment that serves your team by providing resources and support such as weekly 1:1 meetings, a mentorship program, or access to mental health care.

4. Awareness

A servant leader’s awareness includes self-awareness and general awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of their team. It allows servant leaders to understand ethics and values from a more integrated and holistic perspective.

Example: To increase your self-awareness , implement an honest and frequent feedback loop where your team can let you know what works for them and what doesn’t. Keep track of your personal goals and plans. You can also take psychometric tests to gain new perspectives on your personality and reflect on how others see you.

5. Persuasion

Servant leaders persuade others instead of using their authority to make decisions. Convincing their teammates of something rather than coercing compliance is one of the clearest distinctions between the servant leadership style and the authoritarian approach.

Using persuasion also helps in building consensus and a level of trust within a team.

Example: Next time your team is making a decision, try using the word “we” instead of “you” when presenting your strategy to make everyone feel more like it’s a team decision and not just you calling the shots. 

6. Conceptualization

Thinking beyond day-to-day realities requires discipline and practice. However, the ability to look at a project, team, or organization from a conceptualization perspective allows servant leaders to keep dreaming of great things. 

Example: Share dreams and aspirations with your team. Short-term goals are important, but with one eye on the horizon, you can continue to inspire your team members even on difficult days.  

7. Foresight

A servant leader is able to anticipate future events and the impact they’ll have on their team. This characteristic isn’t as magical as it may sound but rather a skill that’s developed over time through experience and intuition. 

Example: Use tools like a SWOT analysis to help you better understand past events, manage upcoming projects, and predict future outcomes. 

8. Stewardship or accountability

Stewardship is “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care.” In his book on stewardship, Peter Block urges his readers to “act in service of the long run” and in service “to those with little power.”

Inspired by Block’s words, Spears included stewardship as one of the 10 characteristics of servant leadership. It helps servant leaders acknowledge the importance of their responsibilities.

As a servant leader, the stewardship characteristic can help you uphold the trust and confidence given to you by your organization.

Example: If you make a mistake, share the story with your team. Prove that you’re holding yourself accountable, and show your team the steps you took to resolve the issue.

9. Commitment to the growth of people

When you prioritize serving others, your team receives the support and resources they need to succeed. Servant leaders are deeply committed to the growth of their team members. Whether it’s the personal or professional growth of their team members, servant leaders will do anything in their power to support them.

Example: You can show this through concrete actions like allocating funds for professional development , encouraging your team’s decisions, or assisting and supporting your team members beyond their work performance (or even employment).

10. Building community

A servant leader will bring their team together and foster an environment that feels like a community. Connecting your team members with one another will create a level of trust and companionship that will not only help teammates grow on an individual level but also shine through in their performance.

Bringing teams together in a remote world but nonetheless important and possible.

Example: In a virtual team , you can still build a strong community by regularly checking in with your teammates. Whether that’s through weekly 1:1s, virtual coffee chats, or online team-building exercises, it’s important to connect with your team members, regardless of how far away they are.

How to become a servant leader

There are six actionable tips so you can learn to lead as a servant first. 

1. Lead by example

A servant leader will always walk alongside their team members and lead by example . Teams of servant leaders notice that their managers are willing to put the same time and effort into projects as they do and appreciate it. This will encourage teams to work hard and with integrity.

However, leading by example goes beyond working hard together. Servant leaders can also encourage their team members to take time off and recharge by doing it themselves. Teams are more likely to benefit from paid time off or mental health days when their leaders do the same.

Example : As a servant leader you may offer to lend a hand with a task that’s not necessarily part of your job description to support a teammate. This will allow your team members to focus on more important initiatives without worrying that their work isn’t getting done.

2. Show your team why their job matters

Team members tend to care more about their work when they understand how it impacts the larger company goals. Helping a teammate understand that their work matters is a crucial part of being a servant leader.

A servant leader can do this by acknowledging smaller milestones but also by consistently reminding their team of the bigger picture they’re all contributing to.

Example : You can share success stories or ways in which a product or service has positively impacted customers to motivate your team and show them that their work is seen. At Asana, we connect our goals and the work to support them in one place so teams can keep track of their work and see the progress at the same time.

3. Encourage teamwork

Servant leaders know that teams are stronger when they’re putting in a combined effort. They will encourage collaboration by giving each team member space to grow, a place to shine, and a group they can rely on. Creating this sense of community will benefit the individuals and the organization.

Example : You can promote teamwork by frequently scheduling team building activities . Whether that’s through a virtual call or an in-person event, spending fun time together will strengthen your team’s relationships.

4. Help your team members grow and develop

One of the 10 characteristics of servant leadership is the commitment to help your teammates grow professionally and personally. By giving their team members plenty of opportunities to take on leadership roles during group projects, participate in education or development programs, and expand their skills, servant leaders actively contribute to their team’s professional growth.

Example : As a servant leader you can help your team grow and develop by asking for their goals. You can then create learning opportunities and milestones to support your team reaching these goals.

5. Care personally for your team

Besides supporting their team members professionally, servant leaders also take a genuine personal interest in them. The knowledge of what’s going on in their team’s personal lives helps servant leaders lead with empathy.

A teammate that’s going through a rough time personally will appreciate extra support at work and likely return with a sense of gratitude that can boost morale and benefit the team and the project down the road. Servant leaders focus on long-term goals—to care personally for the people on their team helps them create a team with a strong work ethic.

I believe someone who is empathetic, passionate, and has good social skills is more likely to be a great leader.” ”

Example : Ask about your team’s personal lives and share stories of your own to create a genuine relationship. This transparency creates a level of trust that will allow team members to share when they’re in need of extra support at work.

6. Always ask for feedback

Only a leader who is open to feedback and encourages it will be able to stay self-aware (another one of the 10 characteristics of servant leaders). Receiving criticism from their team and others in the organization allows servant leaders to constantly improve their leadership skills.

Teammates who feel empowered to provide honest feedback are also more likely to speak up about issues or roadblocks they encounter with projects, which can help to create an innovative and flexible work environment.

Example : You can end meetings or emails with a few simple questions to gather honest feedback: “Do you have any feedback for me? Are there any things that I can improve on? What’s working well for you?”

Pros and cons of servant leadership

As with any leadership style, there are advantages and disadvantages of being a servant leader. Before adopting servant leadership as your leadership style, take a look at a few other pros and cons of being a servant-first leader:

Fosters strong team culture: Servant leaders give ownership to their team  members to increase their motivation, courage, and creativity.

Creates people-focused culture: Servant leaders establish a people-focused culture by fostering deep, trusting relationships with and between their teammates. This level of trust and connection allows teams to make decisions in the best interest of the organization and everyone involved. 

Boosts team morale: A team that feels seen and valued by their leader tends to have stronger integrity and show a higher level of pride in their work. Servant leaders can boost team morale across teams and help develop future leaders by giving them opportunities to shine.

Formal authority may be lost: Because servant leaders get down on such a personal level with their teams, their formal authority is easily lost. This can become difficult when individuals take advantage of their leader’s transparency. It can also cause confusion when other leaders in the organization take a different approach.

Time intensive leadership style: Servant leadership requires a lot of time, energy, and experience. Servant leaders have to know their team members on a professional and personal level so they can support them to the fullest. 

Team members may struggle with decision making: By giving their team members opportunities to prove themselves, servant leaders also risk overestimating and overburdening their teammates. Individuals that don’t have the courage or confidence for data-driven decision making on their own yet may feel discouraged and lost in a work environment that provides them with this much executive power. 

Finally, keep in mind that the servant leadership style may not align with your corporate performance management or incentive systems, which are often focused on short-term goals. However, you can still implement the servant leadership approach by leading with authenticity, providing direction for your teammates, giving them opportunities to grow and develop their skills, and building a strong community within your team.

Serve your team by being the best leader for them

Whether you choose the servant, transformational, or laissez-faire leadership style as the right approach for yourself (or something entirely different) is ultimately up to you.

We believe that the best leaders are capable of adjusting their leadership style depending on the situation, their teammates, and the needs of particular projects. The best thing a leader can do is to identify the motivators and needs of their team to support them in a way that allows them to thrive.

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What is servant leadership and how can it empower you team?

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What is servant leadership?

10 principles of servant leadership, 7 characteristics of servant leadership, servant leadership vs. traditional leadership, what does servant leadership look like in practice, pros and cons of servant leadership.

How to become a "servant first" leader

Getting the best out of your team requires using a variety of management styles . The right style can help build trust , generate results, and motivate team members to action. 

That said, the best style of leadership depends on what your goals are and your leadership style. If you have a desire to work toward the greater good or inspire your employees to make an impact, servant leadership might be right for you. 

Let’s define servant leadership and discuss the model’s main principles and pros and cons. We’ll also dive into some examples of how this type of leadership can be used to effectively motivate and inspire your team and fits into overall leadership training . 

The servant leadership style is based on the idea that leaders prioritize serving the greater good. Leaders with this style serve their team and organization first. They don’t prioritize their own objectives.

Employees in a servant leadership environment are more likely to feel that their voices are heard. This makes them 4.6 times more likely to work to the best of their abilities . So what is servant leadership? 

The term “servant leader” was first coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970 in the essay “The Servant as Leader .”  Basically, the servant leadership style was based on the idea that leaders prioritize serving the greater good. Leaders with this style serve their team and organization first. They don’t prioritize their own objectives.

Servant leadership seeks to achieve a vision by providing strong support to employees. In turn, this allows employees to learn and grow while bringing their own expertise and vision to the table. This hinges on building influence and authority rather than using control and toxic leadership tactics .

In servant leadership, employees are empowered . But the leader doesn’t just disappear.

The servant leader focuses on:

• Setting the strategic vision for the company and communicating that down to the team level 
• Encouraging ownership and extending supported trust to the team 
• Making sure that the team has the required resources, budget, skills, and attention to make an impact
• Providing a framework within which their team can flourish (instead of prescribing them specific directions on each of their duties)
• Bottom-up empowerment , which means building their team members’ self-confidence, decision-making abilities, and collaboration skills

Robert K. Greenleaf established 10 principles of servant leadership . The former president of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, Larry C. Spears, breaks down these 10 principles as follows.

• Listening : It’s important to fully listen to members of the team without interrupting.
• Empathy : It’s important to get to know your team so that you can use empathetic leadership to help them grow.
• Healing : Members of your team may have trauma from previous toxic work experiences. Help others to create a healthy work-life balance to give them the space to heal.
• Self-awareness : A servant leader must also recognize their own strengths and weaknesses. This is to understand how they fit within the overall team.
• Persuasion : Servant leaders can use persuasion and influence instead of just power to get team members to be on the same page.
• Conceptualization : Servant leaders need to be able to use big-picture thinking. With this, they can conceptualize plans for their team and their organization.
• Foresight : It’s important to use what you and your team learn to improve in the future.
• Stewardship : Lead by example so that your team can do what you do, not just do what you say.
• Commitment to the growth of people : You need to allocate time and resources to help people and teams grow. Tools like organizational training ,  development programs , and growth and transformation coaching can help.
•   Building community : Servant leadership requires building relationships between co-workers. As a result, team members learn to trust each other and become more productive .

Servant leadership is about empowering your team and helping create a positive work environment. But what does it actually look like? Let’s break down the seven characteristics of servant leadership.

• Teamwork : The team needs to come first. 
• Employee satisfaction : Employee satisfaction and cooperation turn the wheel. 
• Adaptability : Servant leadership varies from revenue-focused sales environments to non-profit organizations that set out to promote social good. 
• Motivation : Servant leaders provide high levels of support to employees, fueling motivation and engagement .
• Transparent communication : The team trusts a leader who can provide clarity, even in complex, changing situations . 
• Authenticity : Servant leaders need to genuinely care about individual and team development. Leadership much embrace authenticity .
• Accountability : Ownership activates commitment and purpose. Employees work toward goals they’ve set for themselves and take responsibility for the results.

“Servant first” leadership represents the opposite of the traditional leadership model . Traditional leadership is defined as a model of leadership where the leader is seen as the central point of the team. Employees are there to support the leader’s efforts to meet company goals.

In contrast, servant leadership puts the needs of others at the forefront. Under this leadership philosophy, the more you invest in serving as a "scaffold" for your employees, the more productive your team becomes.

Here are three more ways that servant leadership is different from traditional leadership:

• More inclusive: A servant leader must foster an inclusive culture in their team. Inclusive teams allow every person to build a sense of belonging . This gives them a chance to thrive.
• Focused on the team, more than the customer: Servant leaders focus on their team’s needs, but this doesn’t mean that customers don’t benefit. Servant leaders focus on the growth and well-being of the team. As such, they can create high-performing professionals who can serve customers better.
• Greater emphasis on ethics: Servant leadership has ethical implications that aren’t as prominent in traditional leadership. Servant leaders who behave in an unethical way may cause issues within their team, such as decreased motivation and growth.

Successful servant leaders have a genuine desire to serve employees. They’re also effective, charismatic decision-makers and clear when they set expectations. 

Here are some concrete examples of servant leadership. 

1. Being an example — humility, authenticity, and trust

Humility must be the foundation of your leadership. If you speak out of superiority and power, your subordinates will do what you say out of fear. Instead, your actions and words should be a credible and genuine model to follow. 

2. Showing why the work is essential — awareness and purpose

In the mechanism of a clock, each part is crucial. The same goes for any team. Each employee is essential to the team’s operation.

Making sure this message reaches employees can increase their motivation. It can also enhance their performance.

One way to do this is by talking explicitly about the downstream impact of their work. You can show them the impact both inside the company and out.

Talk less about numbers and metrics and more about the person or people who’ll use and build on what they’ve done. Always link their specific achievements to wider organizational goals. This fosters a deeper connection to the company’s mission.

Most importantly, recognize the good work they are doing. Many workers consider recognition of their achievements to be the most important aspect of a role.

3. Encouraging collaboration — community-building and commitment

As a servant leader, you’re the engine that generates a sense of community and teamwork .

Increase collaboration by encouraging employee commitment to each other. You can also encourage them to delegate responsibility . Finally, you can involve team members in decision-making processes.

For example, ask them what they’d like to do on that new project or how they think they can add value to their work. The key here is to be patient and take the time to do this. It can be so tempting in today’s busy world to just get through the day without caring for your employees and their needs — but servant leaders are different. 

4. Supporting the team's growth and development — foresight and resourcefulness

Identifying and anticipating the needs of employees is a major aspect of the servant leader’s role.

For example, when assigning project duties to each team member, make sure you provide the resources or the ability to procure them. Act from a service-first mindset, and you’ll truly empower them to accomplish their tasks.

5. Caring for the members of the team — empathy and compassion

Similarly, the servant leader will cultivate a friendly environment. In this environment, employees should feel comfortable. They shouldn’t feel threatened by expressing specific complaints or asking questions.

In this context, it seems especially important to favor empathy and understanding. For example, when your employee comes to you with a complaint about a coworker, you don’t dismiss it because you’re busy. You take the time to help them work through the conflict and ultimately resolve it. You’re compassionate. 

6. Asking for feedback — listening skills

Promote a sufficient level of relationship with the employee that favors active and close listening. A servant leader asks open-ended and follow-up questions as a matter of course, not just when something’s wrong. They’re receptive to feedback — they don’t just give it.

The servant leadership style can amp up an employee’s motivation and courage to be more creative and innovative. This is because leaders give ownership and some control to employees. Doing this can:

• Strengthen the corporate culture
• Decrease voluntary turnover
• Draw out more engagement and commitment from employees

On the other hand, getting it right takes time, energy, and skill.

Getting to really know people, their motivations, and areas of growth takes time. It takes time to translate a vision into clear objectives and priorities. It also takes time to communicate this vision clearly to the team. The results don’t happen overnight. It’s not easy.

Let’s examine the main pros and cons of this leadership style.

Pros of servant leadership

• The characteristics of success are well-defined
• Builds deeper, trust-based relationships
• Encourages greater ownership and responsibility
• Encourages innovation, curiosity, and creativity
• Develops a people-focused culture
• Delivers a significant positive impact on company performance
• A strong method for ensuring decisions are made in the best interests of the company
• By serving the employees of a company, you are serving the customer
• A high level of internal staff growth
• Develops future leaders
• Boosts morale across teams
• Leaders earn respect from team members
• Employees feel more valued and appreciated in the workplace
• Improves pride in work

Cons of servant leadership

• The concept can be difficult to communicate
• Can be more time-consuming for leaders
• Can be difficult to attain — it’s a constant journey rather than an end goal
• Requires a high level of authenticity that can be difficult to achieve
• Retraining existing leaders as servant leaders can be tough and time-consuming
• Some may perceive servant leaders as weak or ineffective
• The formal authority of the leader may be diminished
• Team members are expected to make a decision, but they might not have a strong understanding of the big picture
• Different leadership styles across teams can cause confusion
• Employees may not have the necessary confidence to take charge and drive the business forward
• The initial speed of decision-making is slower due to high team involvement
• Potential for misalignment among team
• It may be out of sync with corporate performance management and incentive systems
• Decreased motivation and resourcefulness when the leader intervenes to fix issues for the team

How to become a “servant first” leader 

Servant leadership is a transformational leadership style, but it takes some practice. Here’s where you can focus your efforts to embody servant leadership characteristics.

1. Build strong communication skills

Servant leadership theory is built around getting the most out of your team. To do that, you’re going to need to be able to communicate organizational objectives and missions clearly. This is so that they are properly equipped to make wise decisions.

Working on communication skills such as conciseness, body language , and clarity will help you achieve this.

2. Improve your listening skills

Communication isn’t all about what you say, though.

This management style is all about hearing your team members’ points of view. Practice your active listening skills to really understand their decision-making process.

3. Develop empathy

Empathy is crucial in a leadership role. It’s especially important for servant leadership. Empathy means being able to put yourself in another person’s shoes. It allows you to see things from their perspective.

This is a vital skill to practice if you’re looking to become a transformational leader.

4. Work on your self-awareness

Charismatic leaders may be charming and great at communicating their ideas. But it’s important that they are also strongly aware of their own limitations.

Developing your self-awareness means noticing how you act and what you say and the impact it has on those around you. Part of this is also recognizing where your actions don’t align with your ideal vision of yourself and determining a clear path to rectify this.

5. Learn to use your influence for good

Persuasion is a part of being a good leader. It means being able to convince others that your thinking is the right path .

This skill might be seen as a slightly different leadership style from servant leadership. But there’s a place for persuasion as a servant leader.

Here’s an example. If your team is divided on an issue, you may need to bring your skills of persuasion and influence into play to land on a unanimous decision.

6. Start putting others first 

An autocratic leader is one who looks out for themselves primarily. That’s the opposite of the servant leadership model.

To be an effective leader, it’s important to develop your selflessness. This means you look out for the goals and well-being of others before you think about your own goals.

Of course, there’s a line to respect. You still need to look after your own well-being. But the point is to deprioritize your own agenda.

Doing so will improve employee engagement, which is a factor known to increase employee performance by as much as 73% .

7. Keep the organization’s goals in mind

The servant leadership approach still centers around achieving organizational goals. This is true even while prioritizing team engagement.

As such, it’s important to keep these goals in mind. Don’t let the interests of any individual move the needle to a point where you are no longer following these objectives.

Your job as the leader is to guide the team toward a decision that makes sense with the company’s vision in mind.

8. Learn how to develop others holistically

Other leadership styles have different approaches to developing employees. Usually, the goal is to improve employee efficiency and productivity. This is true for democratic leadership or autocratic leadership.

Efficiency and productivity are still important under the servant leadership model. But it’s just as crucial to coach each team member so they can develop better:

• Decision-making skills
• Communication skills
• Big-picture thinking

Developing your direct reports more holistically will improve team capabilities. It can also increase employee engagement.

Engagement is great, not only from their perspective (as they feel more fulfilled by their work) but also from the viewpoint of the company. Businesses simply measuring employee engagement have been shown to increase profits by as much as 24% .

Employ servant leadership at any level

It’s not necessary to have a highly influential role in your company to start practicing the servant leadership style. But it’s a practice that has a huge impact on employee well-being and engagement.

Lead projects by supporting the rest of your colleagues, addressing their needs, and providing resources and support. This can create positive results at any level.

Practice your communication skills, develop empathy, work on your self-awareness, and be sure to focus on developing your employees more holistically. Do this, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a capable and effective servant leader.

Need someone to speak with about your servant leadership development journey? Request a custom demo to speak with a coach .

Lead with confidence and authenticity

Develop your leadership and strategic management skills with the help of an expert Coach.

Aída Lopez Gomez

Aída Lopez Gomez is a BetterUp Care Coach, MSc Clinical Psychology and Researcher. She specializes in mindfulness, meditation and compassion, resilience, self-care, stress management, alignment, communication skills & persuasion, and mindset/behavioral change. "Perfect is the enemy of the good," said Voltaire. Sometimes, we desperately seek the best, not realizing this search has lost its initial purpose. Aída finds valuable the power of acceptance and self-compassion; and how they allow us to identify what we want and draw up a plan of action with more clarity.

Types of leadership styles to maximize your team's potential

It depends. understanding the contingency theory of leadership, refine your approach with these 7 leadership theories, self-awareness in leadership: how it will make you a better boss, 7 key leadership behaviors you must have, are people born leaders debunking the trait theory of leadership, what is a leadership development program and why do you need one, humility in leadership: the unsung skill of great leaders, 5 top companies share their best leadership development practices, similar articles, everything you need to know about strategic leadership, need to move faster and smarter level up with distributed leadership, top-down vs. bottom-up management: what is the best fit, coaching leadership style: examples and skills to get started, what makes a good team, and how can you build one, democratic leadership style: how to make it work as a team, what are self-managed teams (and how can you create them), rational persuasion: how to influence your team through logic, the transactional leadership style still has a place, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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What is leadership?

All leaders, to a certain degree, do the same thing. Whether you’re talking about an executive, manager, sports coach, or schoolteacher, leadership is about guiding and impacting outcomes, enabling groups of people to work together to accomplish what they couldn’t do working individually. In this sense, leadership is something you do, not something you are. Some people in formal leadership positions are poor leaders, and many people exercising leadership have no formal authority. It is their actions, not their words, that inspire trust and energy.

Get to know and directly engage with senior McKinsey experts on leadership

Aaron De Smet is a senior partner in McKinsey’s New Jersey office, Carolyn Dewar is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, Scott Keller is a senior partner in the Southern California office, and Vik Malhotra and Ramesh Srinivasan are senior partners in the New York office.

What’s more, leadership is not something people are born with—it is a skill you can learn. At the core are mindsets, which are expressed through observable behaviors , which then lead to measurable outcomes. Is a leader communicating effectively or engaging others by being a good listener? Focusing on behaviors lets us be more objective when assessing leadership effectiveness. The key to unlocking shifts in behavior is focusing on mindsets, becoming more conscious about our thoughts and beliefs, and showing up with integrity as our full authentic selves.

There are many contexts and ways in which leadership is exercised. But, according to McKinsey analysis of academic literature as well as a survey of nearly 200,000 people in 81 organizations all over the world, there are four types of behavior that account for 89 percent of leadership effectiveness :

• being supportive
• operating with a strong results orientation
• seeking different perspectives
• solving problems effectively

Effective leaders know that what works in one situation will not necessarily work every time. Leadership strategies must reflect each organization’s context and stage of evolution. One important lens is organizational health, a holistic set of factors that enable organizations to grow and succeed over time. A situational approach  enables leaders to focus on the behaviors that are most relevant as an organization becomes healthier.

Senior leaders must develop a broad range of skills to guide organizations. Ten timeless topics are important for leading nearly any organization, from attracting and retaining talent  to making culture a competitive advantage. A 2017 McKinsey book, Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths (Bloomsbury, 2017), goes deep on each aspect.

How is leadership evolving?

In the past, leadership was called “management,” with an emphasis on providing technical expertise and direction. The context was the traditional industrial economy command-and-control organization, where leaders focused exclusively on maximizing value for shareholders. In these organizations, leaders had three roles: planners (who develop strategy, then translate that strategy into concrete steps), directors (who assign responsibilities), or controllers (who ensure people do what they’ve been assigned and plans are adhered to).

What are the limits of traditional management styles?

Traditional management was revolutionary in its day and enormously effective in building large-scale global enterprises that have materially improved lives over the past 200 years. However, with the advent of the 21st century, this approach is reaching its limits.

For one thing, this approach doesn’t guarantee happy or loyal managers or workers. Indeed, a large portion of American workers—56 percent— claim their boss is mildly or highly toxic , while 75 percent say dealing with their manager is the most stressful part of their workday.

For 21st-century organizations operating in today’s complex business environment, a fundamentally new and more effective approach to leadership is emerging. Leaders today are beginning to focus on building agile, human-centered, and digitally enabled organizations able to thrive in today’s unprecedented environment and meet the needs of a broader range of stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, and communities, in addition to investors).

What is the emerging new approach to leadership?

This new approach to leadership is sometimes described as “ servant leadership .” While there has been some criticism of the nomenclature, the idea itself is simple: rather than being a manager directing and controlling people, a more effective approach is for leaders to be in service of the people they lead. The focus is on how leaders can make the lives of their team members easier—physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Research suggests this mentality can enhance both team performance and satisfaction.

In this new approach, leaders practice empathy, compassion, vulnerability, gratitude, self-awareness, and self-care. They provide appreciation and support, creating psychological safety so their employees are able to collaborate, innovate, and raise issues as appropriate. This includes celebrating achieving the small steps on the way to reaching big goals and enhancing people’s well-being through better human connections. These conditions have been shown to allow for a team’s best performance.

More broadly, developing this new approach to leadership can be expressed as making five key shifts that include, build on, and extend beyond traditional approaches:

• beyond executive to visionary, shaping a clear purpose that resonates with and generates holistic impact for all stakeholders
• beyond planner to architect, reimagining industries and innovating business systems that are able to create new levels of value
• beyond director to catalyst, engaging people to collaborate in open, empowered networks
• beyond controller to coach, enabling the organization to constantly evolve through rapid learning, and enabling colleagues to build new mindsets, knowledge, and skills
• beyond boss to human, showing up as one’s whole, authentic self

Together, these shifts can help a leader expand their repertoire and create a new level of value for an organization’s stakeholders. The last shift is the most important, as it is based on developing a new level of consciousness and awareness of our inner state. Leaders who look inward  and take a journey of genuine self-discovery make profound shifts in themselves and their lives; this means they are better able to benefit their organization. That involves developing “profile awareness” (a combination of a person’s habits of thought, emotions, hopes, and behavior in different circumstances) and “state awareness” (the recognition of what’s driving a person to take action). Combining individual, inward-looking work with outward-facing actions can help create lasting change.

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Leaders must learn to make these five shifts at three levels : transforming and evolving personal mindsets and behaviors; transforming teams to work in new ways; and transforming the broader organization by building new levels of agility, human-centeredness, and value creation into the entire enterprise’s design and culture.

An example from the COVID-19 era offers a useful illustration of this new approach to leadership. In pursuit of a vaccine breakthrough, at the start of the pandemic Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel increased the frequency of executive meetings  from once a month to twice a week. The company implemented a decentralized model enabling teams to work independently and deliver on the bold goal of providing 100 million doses of vaccines in 12 months. “The pace was unprecedented,” Bancel said.

What is the impact of this new approach to leadership?

This new approach to leadership is far more effective. While the dynamics are complex, countless studies show empirical links among effective leadership, employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability.

How can leaders empower employees?

Empowering employees , surprisingly enough, might mean taking a more hands-on leadership approach. Organizations whose leaders successfully empower others through coaching are nearly four times more likely to make swift, good decisions and outperform other companies . But this type of coaching isn’t always natural for those with a more controlling or autocratic style.

Here are five tips to get started  if you’re a leader looking to empower others:

• Provide clear rules, for example, by providing guardrails for what success looks like and communicating who makes which decisions. Clarity and boundary structures like role remits and responsibilities help to contain any anxiety associated with work and help teams stay focused on their primary tasks.
• Establish clear roles, say, by assigning one person the authority to make certain decisions.
• Avoid being a complicit manager—for instance, if you’ve delegated a decision to a team, don’t step in and solve the problem for them.
• Address culture and skills, for instance, by helping employees learn how to have difficult conversations.
• Begin soliciting personal feedback from others, at all levels of your organization, on how you are experienced as a leader.

How can leaders communicate effectively?

Good, clear communication is a leadership hallmark. Fundamental tools of effective communication  include:

• defining and pointing to long-term goals
• listening to and understanding stakeholders
• creating openings for dialogue
• communicating proactively

And in times of uncertainty, these things are important for crisis communicators :

• give people what they need, when they need it
• communicate clearly, simply, and frequently
• choose candor over charisma
• revitalize a spirit of resilience
• distill meaning from chaos
• support people, teams, and organizations to build the capability for self-sufficiency

Learn more about our People & Organizational Performance Practice .

Is leadership different in a hybrid workplace?

A leader’s role may look slightly different in remote or hybrid workplace settings . Rather than walking around a physical site, these leaders might instead model what hybrid looks like, or orchestrate work based on tasks, interactions, or purpose. Being communicative and radiating positivity  can go a long way. Leaders need to find other ways to be present and accessible, for example, via virtual drop-in sessions, regular company podcasts, or virtual townhalls. Leaders in these settings may also need to find new ways to get authentic feedback. These tactics can include pulse surveys or learning to ask thoughtful follow-up questions that reveal useful management insights.

Additional considerations, such as making sure that in-person work and togetherness has a purpose, are important. Keeping an eye on inclusivity in hybrid work  is also crucial. Listening to what employees want, with an eye to their lived experience, will be vital to leaders in these settings. And a focus on output, outcomes, results, and impact—rather than arbitrary norms about time spent in offices— may be a necessary adaptation in the hybrid era .

How should CEOs lead in this new world?

Just as for leadership more broadly, today’s environment requires CEOs to lead very differently. Recent research indicates that one-third to one-half of new CEOs fail within 18 months.

What helps top performers thrive today? To find out, McKinsey led a research effort to identify the CEOs who achieved breakaway success. We examined 20 years’ worth of data on 7,800 CEOs—from 3,500 public companies across 70 countries and 24 industries. The result is the McKinsey book CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest (Scribner, March 2022). Watch an interview with the authors for more on what separates the best CEOs from the rest .

Getting perspective on leadership from CEOs themselves is enlightening—and illustrates the nuanced ways in which the new approach to leadership described above can be implemented in practice. Here are a few quotes drawn from McKinsey’s interviews with these top-level leaders :

• “I think the fundamental role of a leader is to look for ways to shape the decades ahead, not just react to the present, and to help others accept the discomfort of disruptions to the status quo.” — Indra Nooyi , former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
• “The single most important thing I have to do as CEO is ensure that our brand continues to be relevant.” — Chris Kempczinski , CEO of McDonald’s
• “Leaders of other enterprises often define themselves as captains of the ship, but I think I’m more the ship’s architect or designer. That’s different from a captain’s role, in which the route is often fixed and the destination defined.” — Zhang Ruimin , CEO of Haier
• “I think my leadership style [can be called] ‘collaborative command.’ You bring different opinions into the room, you allow for a really great debate, but you understand that, at the end of the day, a decision has to be made quickly.” — Adena Friedman , CEO of Nasdaq
• “We need an urgent refoundation of business and capitalism around purpose and humanity. To find new ways for all of us to lead so that we can create a better future, a more sustainable future.” — Hubert Joly , former chairman and CEO of Best Buy

What is leadership development?

Leaders aren’t born; they learn to lead over time. Neuroplasticity refers to the power of the brain to form new pathways and connections through exposure to novel, unfamiliar experiences. This allows adults to adapt, grow, and learn new practices throughout our lifetimes.

When it comes to leadership within organizations, this is often referred to as leadership development. Programs, books, and courses on leadership development abound, but results vary.

Leadership development efforts fail for a variety of reasons. Some overlook context; in those cases, asking a simple question (something like “What, precisely, is this program for?”) can help. Others separate reflections on leadership from real work, or they shortchange the role of adjusting leaders’ mindsets, feelings, assumptions, and beliefs, or they fail to measure results.

So what’s needed for successful leadership development? Generally, developing leaders is about creating contexts where there is sufficient psychological safety in combination with enough novelty and unfamiliarity to cultivate new leadership practices in response to stimuli. Leadership programs that successfully cultivate leaders are also built around “placescapes”—these are novel experiences, like exploring wilderness trails, practicing performing arts, or writing poetry.

When crafting a leadership development program, there are six ingredients to incorporate  that lead to true organizational impact:

• Set up for success:
• Focus your leadership transformation on driving strategic objectives and initiatives.
• Commit the people and resources needed.
• Be clear about focus:
• Engage a critical mass of leaders to reach a tipping point for sustained impact.
• Zero in on the leadership shifts that drive the greatest value.
• Execute well:
• Architect experiential journeys to maximize shifts in mindsets, capabilities, and practices.
• Measure for holistic impact.

A well-designed and executed leadership development program can help organizations build leaders’ capabilities broadly, at scale. And these programs can be built around coaching, mentoring, and having people try to solve challenging problems—learning skills by applying them in real time to real work.

What are mentorship, sponsorship, and apprenticeship?

Mentorship, sponsorship, and apprenticeship can also be part of leadership development efforts. What are they? Mentorship refers to trusted counselors offering guidance and support on various professional issues, such as career progression. Sponsorship is used to describe senior leaders who create opportunities to help junior colleagues succeed. These roles are typically held by more senior colleagues, whereas apprenticeship could be more distributed. Apprenticeship  describes the way any colleague with domain expertise might teach others, model behaviors, or transfer skills. These approaches can be useful not only for developing leaders but also for helping your company upskill or reskill employees quickly and at scale.

For more in-depth exploration of these topics, see McKinsey’s insights on People & Organizational Performance . Learn more about McKinsey’s Leadership & Management  work—and check out job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

• “ Author Talks: What separates the best CEOs from the rest? ,” December 15, 2021, Carolyn Dewar , Scott Keller , and Vik Malhotra
• “ From the great attrition to the great adaptation ,” November 3, 2021, Aaron De Smet  and Bill Schaninger
• “ The boss factor: Making the world a better place through workplace relationships ,” September 22, 2020, Tera Allas  and Bill Schaninger
• " Leading agile transformation: The new capabilities leaders need to build 21st century organizations ," October 1, 2018, Aaron De Smet , Michael Lurie , and Andrew St. George
• " Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths ," 2017, Scott Keller  and Mary Meaney
• “ Leadership in context ,” January 1, 2016, Michael Bazigos, Chris Gagnon, and Bill Schaninger
• “ Decoding leadership: What really matters ,” January 1, 2015, Claudio Feser, Fernanda Mayol, and Ramesh Srinivasan

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Rethinking Leadership: Are You Willing to Be a Servant Leader?

Leadership is more than strategy and vision—it's about the success of others..

Posted April 22, 2024 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

• We tend to think of leadership as all about planning, vision, and strategy. Have we been misled?
• Leaders should support others to successfully reach a common goal.
• The tough part is developing the motivation to make this a rewarding process.

By Fabrice Cavarretta, professor of management at ESSEC Business School

Management positions are no longer the stuff of dreams . Is it because we were misled about what they really entail? I explored this in a recent paper in Organizational Dynamics , suggesting that maybe we need to rework how we think about people management.

Our era has an ambivalent relationship with leaders. The classic middle manager role is no longer as desirable. Even the idea of “ leadership ” raises suspicion due to its negative associations: In the world of work, it conjures images of Silicon Valley’s excesses, of workers as cogs in a wheel, of hypocritical political leaders.

Despite this, we need people to take on leadership roles in their respective “ecosystems": parents (family ecosystem), managers (team and workplace ecosystem), teachers (school ecosystem), elected officials (government ecosystem), etc.

What Does Leadership Really Mean?

In Western culture, we tend to conceptualize leadership using an outdated model called Taylorism, in which a leader = vision + planning. In doing so, we’ve forgotten the ultimate goal of leadership: that the leader achieves fulfillment through the success of others.

This means that leaders shouldn’t forget the reality of their work, which is supporting people in order to successfully execute a common mission. Once they understand this, the difficulty then lies in developing the motivation to make this a rewarding process.

Misunderstandings and Growing Pains

Some individuals will accept and seek out this responsibility, but they don’t always have the right reasons. They might be motivated by the promise of a promotion or the desire to have everyone follow their vision.

They might also be a bit naive going into it and continue to focus solely on their technical work: the engineering project manager who remains the best engineer but not the best manager, the sales manager who is the top salesperson but not the top manager. They might also accept in the hopes that they’ll quickly get rid of the people-related problems and focus on what they think of as “real work,” typically their vision and strategy.

These misunderstandings mean that not all leaders really appreciate what it means to manage people, leading to problems and disappointment. They end up feeling like their work is thankless and feel discouraged. This limits both their satisfaction and their effectiveness.

It’s true that people management is complex: People lose motivation, tell tales, quit or don’t show up, complain. Of course, it can also be rewarding, but it can be hard for leaders to keep enjoying the heart of their work.

Becoming a Servant Leader Means Getting Your Hands Dirty

Leadership is a process, and it involves getting your hands dirty to a degree few recognize. For most jobs, people go through training (sometimes lasting years). By contrast, when assuming a leadership position, it’s often a switch that happens without much specialized training, or perhaps with a few days of training from time to time.

People may also not recognize the learning curve involved. This calls for a shift in mentality: In my paper, I note that aspiring leaders “would want to consider approaching leadership as a learning subject, as something for which one keeps on learning significantly over time.” This can entail learning through programs like executive MBAs and reading literature in fields like psychology, sociology, and anthropology. This could help correct any lack of motivation and incorrect assumptions about leadership.

Another mental shift is considering the belief system and values associated with leadership. I previously developed the idea that sustaining effort over the long term is like planning for a long trip, and that we can look at this process like a performance loop: effort - performance - pleasure - motivation - effort. In other words, leaders need to get into the mud with their team and do the hard work of people management before they see the benefit to their performance—so it helps to enjoy putting in that effort.

I suggest encouraging leaders to become “the engineer of their social system,” evoking the learning curve involved and the fact that there needs to be a significant amount of effort before seeing one’s work come to fruition.

This also entails embracing the true servant nature of the job, therefore developing an emotional, aesthetic taste for dealing with humans, activities that can otherwise be perceived as painful. This could help leaders avoid becoming frustrated or checking out of their responsibilities, and keep their eye on the prize: the pride of taking charge of the relationships with those they manage.

By reworking how we talk about leadership, we can help aspiring leaders be better prepared for the realities of their work and stay motivated over the long term—an important goal in challenging times.

A version of this post was published in French at ladn.eu .

Cavarretta, F. (2024). Weary of the harsh realities of people management? Leadership development as cultivating a taste for muddy situations. Organizational Dynamics , 101028.

Researchers from ESSEC Business School in Cergy, France.

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Social Change and Servant Leadership Models

This essay about the Social Change Model (SCM) of leadership development explores how this framework nurtures leadership qualities across individual, group, and community levels to promote societal change. Originating from UCLA in the 1990s, SCM emphasizes a value-based, three-tier approach that encourages self-awareness, collaboration, and community engagement among leaders. It highlights key personal values like consciousness of self, congruence, and commitment, which are essential for ethical and effective leadership. At the group level, it focuses on collaboration, common purpose, and handling controversy with civility, stressing the importance of inclusive and constructive group dynamics. Finally, it elevates the role of citizenship, urging leaders to act with an awareness of their broader impact on society. This model has practical applications in educational settings and various organizations, aiming to cultivate leaders capable of driving significant social change. The essay discusses the implementation challenges and the necessity of a shift in traditional leadership training to embrace a more comprehensive, community-focused perspective.

How it works

Leadership is often viewed through the lens of guiding teams and influencing others to achieve specific goals, but it encompasses so much more when aimed at fostering social change. The Social Change Model (SCM) of leadership development is particularly intriguing because it was designed not just to promote leadership skills but to encourage positive societal impact. This model, developed in the 1990s by researchers at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, outlines a process that intertwines personal growth, group dynamics, and broader community engagement.

It champions the idea that effective leadership can indeed transform society for the better, operating on individual, group, and societal levels.

At its heart, the SCM is grounded in values-based action. It starts with individual values—each person is encouraged to engage in self-reflection to become conscious of their own beliefs, values, and emotions. This self-awareness is crucial because it informs the way individuals motivate themselves and interact with others. The model asserts that leadership begins from within and that a deep understanding of oneself is critical to effectively leading others. This includes an alignment of one’s actions and values, referred to in the model as congruence, and a strong personal commitment to participating actively in the leadership process.

From the personal, the model expands into how individuals interact in groups. Here, the values emphasized include collaboration, a common purpose, and managing controversy with civility. True collaborative efforts require understanding and harnessing the diverse strengths and viewpoints of all group members. A common purpose helps unite these efforts under a shared goal, ensuring that everyone is working toward the same end. Meanwhile, controversy with civility is an acknowledgment that conflict is a natural part of any group endeavor, especially when stakes and passions run high. The SCM highlights the importance of handling such conflicts constructively, without diminishing diverse viewpoints which are vital for comprehensive and inclusive decision-making.

The outer layer of the model focuses on the community or societal impact, emphasizing citizenship. In this context, citizenship is about recognizing and acting on one’s obligation to the wider community and considering the broader implications of the group’s actions. It’s about seeing beyond the immediate group and understanding the interconnectedness of various societal elements. Effective leadership, according to the SCM, should aim to uplift not only individual group members or the immediate team but also positively influence the wider community and society.

This holistic approach to leadership is particularly applicable in educational settings, where the next generation of leaders is being shaped. Educators are encouraged to integrate the principles of the SCM in curricula and campus activities, thereby instilling these values early on. Students are taught not only about leadership in the traditional sense but also about their potential impact as leaders on wider social issues. This method fosters a sense of responsibility and a desire to actively contribute to societal improvement.

Moreover, the SCM isn’t just theoretical. It has practical implications and has been implemented in various organizations and institutions seeking to promote leadership that is both inclusive and effective. For instance, community service groups, student organizations, and nonprofit entities have utilized the SCM to structure programs that enhance the leadership skills of their members while also addressing specific social challenges.

In today’s globalized world, where societal issues are more interconnected than ever, the need for leaders who can navigate complex landscapes and foster positive change is critical. The SCM serves as a blueprint for developing such leaders. It emphasizes the importance of leadership that is not only goal-oriented but also ethically sound and socially conscious. This kind of leadership goes beyond achieving short-term objectives; it involves building communities that are resilient, inclusive, and forward-thinking.

Despite its many strengths, the SCM is not without its challenges. Implementing such a comprehensive model requires a significant shift in traditional leadership training, which often focuses more on individual achievement and less on collective well-being. It also demands continuous effort and commitment from both leaders and participants to reflect on and engage with these values consistently.

In conclusion, the Social Change Model of Leadership Development offers a robust framework for cultivating leaders who are equipped to make a significant impact on society. By emphasizing the interconnectedness of individual, group, and societal values, it fosters a comprehensive approach to leadership. As we face increasing global challenges, from climate change to social inequality, the principles of the SCM provide a solid foundation for nurturing leaders who are prepared not only to face these challenges but to drive meaningful, lasting change.

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