Much has already been written about it. Books full. But few take the time to read it. And once they have read it, at the end of the book they no longer remember what was in the front. You read a novel for pleasure. A technical book is more of a study. A summary of the most important issues should then be included in a summary. Is it possible to go through it quickly?
But what does servant leadership mean? Be subservient, but you already do that, right? The word serving should be seen as an umbrella concept. It means more. It's not one-sided either. Service to the manager goes both ways. To the employees and to the management. The question now is how this should be designed.
Business purposes
It must be clear to everyone involved in a company what the business goals are. Only then will those business purposes have added value for them. Based on this basis, servant leadership can be the right force. This is reflected in giving employees direction in achieving the desired business objectives, optimizing their working conditions and using available resources.
Analyze
Sitting quietly behind your desk and waiting to see what happens is no longer possible. As a manager, you are expected to play an active role. One of these is that you think about processes and procedures. Depending on the company, there are many questions you can ask yourself. Some examples are.
Are the employees still motivated?
Do employees need further training?
Are all deliveries still on time?
Are there more or fewer complaints?
Are complaints handled correctly?
Are the company objectives still up to date?
Are the contacts with suppliers still up to date?
Etc.
Record as many of these types of questions for yourself as possible and work on them periodically. Analysis serves all stakeholders and facets of the company.
Deliver performance
As a manager you are responsible for the performance of your employees. It is your job to ensure that they perform optimally. Not to the maximum, because no one can maintain that. In consultation with the employees, look for the right balance in performance compared to the company objectives. Your serving role is to discuss it in a consultation and ultimately reach a solution together. Only then will the new performance objectives be supported by all employees. The employees will then comply with this.
Inspire
You don't inspire by asking questions unilaterally or imposing standards unilaterally. Inspiring is an interaction between you as a manager and the employees. Employees may engage in activities that are inconsistent with company objectives. Then it is interesting to know why those activities are carried out. Then it may be that there is an idea in those activities, but it may also be that it is taken as a starting point and tries to unleash a different vision, which is linked to those activities, but focused on the business objectives. With good substantiation and support you can inspire employees.
Talents
You hire someone because they have one or more talents. You want to make optimal use of those talents. But that employee may have less talent in other areas, even though that is part of the position. Now you can pay attention to those less good talents and try to improve them. That does not really have a positive effect on the employee himself. It is better to pay attention to the good talents that contribute to the whole. And perhaps those good talents can still be further developed. As a serving manager you must see the big picture of the employee. On balance it must be positive. You are then the manager who must further support the employee.
Facilitate
You can only facilitate if you know what your employees need to perform optimally. And that can be different for each employee. Facilitating employees therefore has a broad basis and requires efforts from the manager. Some examples are.
How do I support the employee to achieve the performance?
Can the employee make sufficiently independent decisions?
Does the employee feel responsible?
Does the employee have enough time to deliver the performance?
Etc.
Such questions form the basis for servant leadership.
Team spirit
You have your own interests and company interests. But company interests take precedence over personal interests. After all, everyone has to eat that. Of course, as a serving leader you must also have empathy for the individual. And if he or she performs slightly less well, colleagues could compensate for that. As a manager, you must try to get that employee back on the right path, but if that doesn't work, then you have to say goodbye. The team should never suffer because of an individual. This is at the expense of the spirit, atmosphere and performance.
Protection
Employees want to be busy with their profession. All other influences such as meetings, rules, procedures, etc. distract from their work and affect their performance. Make sure that if elements of those factors are important, you convey this in a different way. Let employees practice their profession as much as possible. You serve them by protecting them.
